Interview with Alpaca Farmgirl Sherry Watkins
This month’s Alpaca Farmgirl Interview is with long-time Alpaca Breeder and Fiber Artist Sherry 
Watkins of Frostglen Alpacas. Sherry and her husband, Bill run a herd of around 80 suri and huacaya alpacas in Tennessee.
Q: How did you learn about alpacas?
A: I fell in love with an alpaca sweater in London. The feel of it was so glorious. It was outrageously expensive. It gave me the idea to have a couple of alpaca geldings for their fiber.
Bill ran spreadsheet and determined that raising alpacas could be a good business possibility. After working in industry and saving some money, we decided that life on a farm would benefit our children. We liked the idea of teaching them about meaningful work. We had been looking for a farm operation that wasn’t hand to mouth. One that would produce reasonable income.
Q: Over the years, has it been profitable for you?
A: Yes, one daughter went to Cornell and Stanford. Our son had race cars for a while (which was more expensive than Cornell and Stanford). He’s now in construction.
Q: I understand that you started with sheep. Tell us about that.
A: Back then, you couldn’t find alpacas in the United States, so we started with sheep to prepare for getting alpacas. We wanted to get experience. This was before the internet. We made phone calls, wrote letters, networked, and talked to many people trying to import some alpacas. Finally we got to LaRue Johnson who knew some people who had alpacas.
We got the first ones in California with the assistance of Eric Hoffman. Our first alpacas were a gray gelding and a young black male. They did really, really well. It was a particularly rough summer the first year. We gave them little swimming pools to help them cool off. It rotted the fiber but they were having fun.
The sheep thought the alpacas were weird. The ewes would let the gelding babysit. The lambs would chew on his ears and sit down around him.
Q: When did you change your focus from sheep to alpacas?
A: The first year the alpacas did well, so we started looking for females. Groups of importers had started bring alpacas in from South America. In 1990, we went to Ohio to see some alpacas and we were looking at their fiber. The importers asked us what we were doing! Bill had his checklist – a 10 point grading scale for the selection of our alpacas. (Over the years Bill also developed a shearing pattern, which most people use today.)
We bought a bred female and a young female. It was a gradual increase towards alpacas and a decrease away from sheep. We found that sheep required constant vigilance. They were either getting into trouble or having various issues such as hoof rot, or foot scald. Sheep eat well, they eat much more food than alpacas do. You need more space for sheep. Alpacas are more intelligent, easier to train, more food efficient, and have fewer birthing problems. It was an easy decision to go with alpacas over sheep.
Q: People are concerned about their businesses in this challenging economic time. Since you have been in alpaca business for many years, how did economical slumps affect the alpaca industry in the past?
A: During past economic slumps the prices of alpacas went down, sometimes drastically, and that lead to some panic selling. Breeders can use those times as an opportunity to refine their herds. Tighten your belt and hang on to your breeding goals. Use it as an opportunity to study your animals, improve positive characteristics, and you will be in a better position at the end of the slump. Generally they don’t last more than 2-3 years.
Q: So breeders should hold onto their alpacas and work to improve their herd?
A: Yes, that’s why we’re not worried right now.
Q: Sounds like this is a good time to work the fiber side of your alpaca biz.
A: Yes, it is, especially because it keeps the farm visitors coming. They may only think about buying alpacas, but they will buy alpaca products. This creates cash flow. When they get home they will think about alpacas and have your product with your advertising on it.
Q: How long have you been a fiber artist?
A: My mom says I’ve been a Fiber Artist since age 3 when I got into her embroidery silks. When I was in graduate school, (for Physics) I managed a fabric store. I kept the two sides of my life active. I sewed, made my own clothes. I didn’t even think about farming. But in the back of my mind there was a picture of the ideal lifestyle, and that included a farm.
Q: What Fiber Arts do you do?
A: I spin. I am a full-service fiber artist. I grow, I shear, I wash, I card, dye, spin, knit, and weave. I’m not very good at crochet. I also felt, both wet and dry. I tat, make needle lace and bobbin lace with alpaca, linen and silk. (Alpaca is strong enough to use for bobbin) I made my daughter’s wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses (8 of them), and the mother of the groom’s dress. And my daughter made my mother of the bride dress.
Q: I’m tearing up now. *sniff* That is so sweet. And you teach fiber arts too?
A: I teach, and I enjoy teaching.
Q: How and where do you sell your alpaca products?
A: I do craft shows. Generally, I take it on the road. Mostly I like the direct interaction with customers. I like to meet the people, find out what their needs are, and try to fit the person’s personality with their talents.
Q: What shows do you go to?
A: I’m always at SAFF. I do about 12 shows a year. When I go to alpaca shows, I always take at least a sample of all the products you can make with alpaca – roving, yarn, felted products (hat or felt sheet) natural colors and dyed. I also do arts and crafts shows, usually juried ones.
Getting back to small farms. You can have a small, profitable farm with alpacas. Raising alpacas gives you every creative outlet for any talent that you might have: marketing, photography, creative arts, animal husbandry, breeding, and genetics. There’s even more that we don’t know about alpacas. The whole journey is the joy of life. There’s not an end, there’s just more discovery!
AFG: Thanks Sherry for sharing your journey with us. Visit Sherry’s farm online.
Read an Interview with Alpaca Farmgirl Cindy Lavan from Maine.
Read an Interview with Alpaca Farmgirl and AOBA Judge Diana Timmerman.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Lovely interview, very interesting.