A is for Alpaca!

Saturday, Matt and I made a journey into outer Chillicothe in search of alpacas...

This story actually begins a few months ago, when I saw Sherri, the Alpaca Lady, on the morning news talking about AlpacaFest and the many uses for these wonderful little animals. Instantly, alpacas were added to the list of creatures that I can look at and immediately smile. Sometimes at work, I'll just look at alpacas if I'm feeling grouchy or if others are having a lame day, I'll email them pictures of alpacas. Yes, this whole alpaca thing has become sort of an obsession.

So why am I so crazy about alpacas? Aside from their cuteness and charm, they're sweet natured and gentle. The alpca is also a useful creature and is soft and comforting to the touch. Finally, they're kind of goofy looking. It's another one of those instances where God shows a sense of humor by creating something so charming and funny looking.

This whole alpaca obsession came full circle on Saturday, having made a trip to an area alpaca farm in order to see these creatures up close and personal. This trip was also quite educational as we had over an hour to just ask questions and learn. Alpacas need relatively little space and only cost about $200/animal/year to feed and maintain. In this part of the country, they need regular worm treatments to avoid parasites that can bore through the alpaca stomach and into the spinal cord. Furthermore, just off the breeding and the fleece, you can get a nice return on investment.

I'm not saying this is something that I'll definitely do in the future, but I am toying with the idea of perhaps having a couple of alpacas running around one of these days. Maybe some land, a herding dog or two and alpacas. That would be nice.