Why Would Anyone Want to Raise Alpacas?
On a recent search through my favorite new medium, Twitter, I found that several people were asking this question. They had seen the commercials and couldn’t understand why this would be an appealing choice for anyone.
I thought I’d take a stab at answering their question here. People buy alpacas for many different reasons. If you ask 100 alpaca breeders to tell your about their journey that lead them to alpacas, they will all tell you a different story. Here are some of the top reasons why a sane human might invest tens, even hundreds, of thousands of dollars into livestock.
Financial Reasons
- Investing in alpacas has great tax advantages. (read more here and here)
- Alpacas can be insured for theft and full mortality. How many other investments can you say that about?
- Alpacas compound, growing your investment regardless of the stock market’s performance or the economic climate. (read more)
Lifestyle Reasons
- Own your own business. Work for yourself.
- Get out of the rat race, set your own hours, work at your own pace
- Rural or semi-rural lifestyle
- Work with animals
- Work outdoors
But why alpacas?
- They are easy keepers. You don’t have to be a 25-year-old cowboy to handle them.
- You don’t have to kill them. (No slaughter)
- They don’t try to kill you. (Passive animals)
- They have a luxury fiber, perfect for making yarn, fiber arts.
- Have you seen them? Never underestimate the power of CUTE!
I hope that clears up the mystery a bit about why people invest in the alpaca business. If you don’t like animals or if you love the city life and never want to leave it, alpacas probably aren’t for you. My husband and I formerly lived in the concrete jungle. Now we are in a semi-suburban area less than an hour from two different cities. We have had alpacas for nine years and have found it to be very rewarding, both personally and financially. Feel free to contact me, Katy, for more information at alpacas@bellsouth.net. Visit our farm website too!
If you’ve ever thought of raising alpacas (or if you do) leave a comment as to why YOU would do it?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I raise alpacas because I love animals and have a penchant for soft fuzzy things.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
We’re looking into getting alpacas in a few years. Gotta get the “farm” really going first. I knit so I’d like the fiber and I’ve heard that alpacas are (relatively) easy to raise. We just are going to need to figure out something to do with our heat. I’m thinking we’ll just have a big fan or two.
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December 14th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Great post, Alpaca Farmgirl. May I add a couple of things…it’s a wonderful small biz for women. In fact, the vast majority of owners are women of all ages. Alpacas train well and thus easy to handle. Women own and raise alpacas as a livestock and/or textile enterprise. Secondly, buying locally is becoming a strong mantra and interest is growing in buying fiber and fiber goods from local growers. It’s a “green” thing to do.
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July 26th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
You don’t have to wait to have a farm or ranch. Most alpaca breeders will let you agist (board) your alpacas while you are learning the ropes. It’s not as expensive as buying a place to keep them and you can find out how much you love it (and you will.) Find a breeder near you that you get along with who will let you visit often. We have accumulated 10 alpacas with the 11th on the way while getting our ranch ready. Hanging out with my friend/mentor and our alpacas convinced me this was the only way to go in life and contact with these sweet, docile creatures won my animal-shy husband over too. What started as “a couple of alpacas to please the wife” has turned into the next chapter in our lives.