Who raises Alpacas and why?
The types of people that are Alpaca breeders vary from doctors, lawyers, business people, and cattle farmers, to name a few. (We moved to the country four years ago, from a gated-water front 55 home community. We started with a goat given to us by our best friend as a “house-warming” gift. Our lab dog and the goat became friends immediately. One night while our family was away, the dog, who learned the open the front door, and the goat entered our home and had a “party” of their own. Needless to say, we almost had barbequed goat for dinner after having to burn all of our bedding. Then, we decided to buy a $10,000 steer for our daughter to raise for FFA. After many trials and tribulations, the steer was sold for hamburger. We couldn’t do that very often!) Some Alpaca owners and breeders raise Alpacas as a full-time business while others only commit part-time. Alpaca breeders cover an array of people from young families to empty-nesters, people looking forward to retirement to full-time
