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About Us:
Here at Finca Serena Alpaca Ranch, it's
so quiet and relaxing! That's what everybody says who visits our
small Alpaca Ranch in Southern Maryland. We believe that this
environment is a key contributor to the health and personality of our
herd, the other ingridients are: loving care, good food, lush pastures
and a clean environment.
We started raising Alpacas in
2004 with only three boys, we fell in love with them immediately and
soon after the boys arrived the girls came. We currently have 10
Alpacas Huacaya and Suris.
There are two
types of Alpacas, Huacaya (fluffy teddy bear looking with crimpy soft
fiber) and Suri (long curley and soft dredlock looking fiber).
An
alpaca can be expected to have a life span of about 20 years. Gestation
is 11.5 months and twin alpacas are rare. Alpacas are ruminants that
eat grasses and chew cud. Adult alpacas are about 36" tall and
generally weigh between 100-200 pounds. Alpacas are gentle creatures
without incisors, horns, hooves or claws. Clean up is easy since
alpacas deposit droppings in only a few places in the pasture or
paddock. Fencing for alpacas is more of a design to keep predators out
than to keep alpacas in. Fencing should be woven type however high
tensile will work fine as long as you have no predator problems. You
can pasture up to 5 alpacas on 1 acre of ground and we recommend that
pastures or paddocks be rotated often.
Alpacas produce on of the
world's "finest" of natural fibers. Each year we shear the alpaca
without causing injury. The fiber produced from a Suri alpaca is as soft as cashmere and
warmer, lighter and stronger than most wools. Alpacas produce fiber in
more colors than any other fiber producing animal. There are 22 basic
colors with variations and blends. This fiber was once reserved for the
Incan Royality but now is available to spinners and weavers around the
world.
Alpaca Myth vs.Truth
Please keep in mind that each and
every farm is different. The following information is supplied as a
direct result of building our farm. Here are some of the answers we received
to our questions as we visited many farms before making the decision to
purchase our first alpaca.
ALPACA
- Myth vs. Truth
Alpacas are easy to care for. - TRUE if your comparing them to dairy or
other livestock farming. FALSE if your comparing them to sitting on the
back porch relaxing with a beverage. Alpacas, like any other livestock,
require your work and care. You will need to go to the barn every day.
You will need to provide fresh water, quality grass hay and
supplemental feed and minerals. You will also need to scrap up the
alpaca poop a minimum of once a day. This will help with parasite
control. Obviously the number of alpacas you have dictates the amount
of poop you scrap. Each alpaca will poop approx. 2-4 lbs. each day.
Alpacas
poop in 1 spot in the pasture. TRUE however there will be multiple
spots. FALSE if you believe they will never make a spot in the barn.
You can expect 3-4 areas that the alpacas will poop in. It is TRUE that
they will utilize the same areas each time. If you shut your alpacas in
the barn for any reason they will poop there. From then on plan to
scrap this area every day so your barn stays clean.
I can buy a
alpaca and immediately start making money. FALSE do not plan for this.
Plan to own your alpacas, market your farm, attend festivals and shows
and then you MAY sell your first alpaca. Many people who enter into the
alpaca business think they will be rich and this is just not true. In
this respect alpaca farming is like any other farming, the more you put
into it the more you will get out of it. We consider ourselves to be
successful in many respects. We work hard at it and we believe that
alpaca farming is a much easier way to farm and make a living than
other types however, you still have to work at it.
If you build
it they will come. FALSE do not expect people to break down your
door just because you own alpacas. We market our farm at
festivals, farm markets, on the internet and local advertising. This
brings people to our farm. We live off the beaten path so it is rare
that people will just drive by and stop because we have alpacas in the
pasture. When this occurs we always invite them in for a visit
regardless of if we are busy or not. Be friendly, market your farm,
operate ethically and build a customer base. This is what it takes to
be successful. Also, my success and your success may be measured on
different levels.
Finca Serena Alpaca Ranch, Maryland - 443-498-8476 - alpacasfurless@gmail.com
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