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?