Old MacDonald Learns a New Verse
Alpacas are certainly a hot trend in investing right now. Since Christmas, we have entertained no fewer than 7 groups of farm visitors interested in investing in alpaca breeding stock. So yes, the market for alpacas is still great and the number of alpaca farms is growing!
Traditional farmers are finally coming around to the benefits of raising and breeding alpacas. They already have the land and the animal husbandry knowledge. Those already in cattle or horses are coming around to the benefits to having alpacas as a way to diversify their operations. The Washington Post’s story, Old MacDonald Wouldn’t Recognize This Farm, documents one farm’s move into alpacas and away from hogs and cattle. As the suburban sprawl continues and the price of acreage increases, it is more difficult for cattlemen to justify the huge amount of land it takes to have a profitable operation. John Underwood chronicles some of the problems cattlemen face in our region in his article, Urbanization Impacts Residents Engaged in Animal Husbandry.
With their cute faces and the tax advantages that come with them, alpacas are an attractive investment. More and more people are falling in love with them every day.
My dream is to one day hear preschool children singing, “And on his farm he had alpacas. Eeeiiieeeiiioooo! With a hmm* hmm here, and a hmm hmm there, here a hmm, there a hmm, everywhere a hmmm hmmm…Old Mac Donald had a farm…Eeeiiieeeiiiooo!”
*Alpacas hum. That’s the noise they make.
January 8th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
They do humm— do you ever hymn back? We have one little guy- around 4 months old. He & His mom recently came back home. He hums more than the rest and he seems to like it when i humm— so now, while in scooping in the morning- I humm along with the herd. I think I’m even starting to get the song right!
January 9th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Makes for a fun environment, right? Visitors are enchanted by their humming.