The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) is giving alpaca breeders something to celebrate this holiday season! Through AOBA’s public relations efforts, a press release was distributed to the media highlighting alpacas as a green business. As a result, Alpacas are being featured as the perfect green livestock on a syndicated television special called “It’s [...]
This post contributed by Monica Klein from A Suri Farm. I have a brother (actually, I have four brothers) who has this goofy hypothesis he calls the “80:20 Rule.” I’m beginning to learn that my brother, John, may not be so far off base in his thinking. His rule says that in the world of [...]
Mariann Marsh, Founder of Alpaca Social interviews alpaca expert Ian Watt, of Alpaca Consulting Services USA, former President of the Australian Alpaca Association. Listen to this audio/video to hear Ian’s secrets for breeding for exceptional alpaca fleece. In this interview he talks about how you can tell if a young male has herdsire potential. He [...]
Tip # 3 – Proven Herdsires Give You A Leg Up Experienced breeders will most likely read the title of this article and instantly assume that proven is the better option here. I will lay-out the pros and cons of both arguments here, and come to the conclusion that proven males are in fact, the [...]
In what can only be described as a brilliant business move, Magical Farms has rolled out an innovative alpaca sales/trade program called “Currency for Classics” . Inspired by the “Cash for Clunkers” automobile program, this program has alpaca breeders trading in, ahem, older model females for younger stock. Numerous jokes spring to mind about trading [...]
Define Your Success We might automatically think of success in terms of $$, but if you think a little harder, there are other ways to define success. Maybe what you want is to be your own boss, to be able to take a vacation when you want to (after you find a ranch sitter), to [...]
When Do You Take Calls? Farmers and Ranchers are often out in the fields working during the day. When do you like to conduct your business over the phone? When is the best time to call you? (Not unsolicited of course. Calls from your suppliers, colleagues, customers, etc.) Online Surveys & Market Research
Photo courtesy of Dutch Hollow Acres. Recently we talked about ways to survive the recession. Continuing with that theme, there are aspects of running a farm business that many of us ”hire out”. Some are things that we can learn to do ourselves. Here are 5 things that you can learn to do for your farm business, [...]
Over the weekend I received an email from an alpaca friend. She was so discouraged about her alpaca business. Full of doom and gloom, I could tell she was thinking of throwing in the towel. Her state of mind inspired me to write about how to survive the economic downturn. Remember that you are not [...]
Full Accoyo herdsire, El Nino, owned by Pacific Crest Accoyo America, passed away in late 2008. El Nino was well-known as an incredibly pre-potent herdsire, siring an incredible number of Champion offspring and putting incredible fleeces on his get. Once breedings to El Nino were closed, a breeding to the elite sire sold for $18,000 [...]
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