The Alpacas

In the Fall of 2008, Vicki and I went to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds to attend the New York sheep and wool festival in Rhinebeck. It was there that we became interested in Alpacas for on the farm. Previously, we were considering miniature donkeys, but upon investigation, we found that they are difficult to handle at times and would really not give us any type of a return on our investment except to be able to watch them. The alpacas, however, would afford us some of the finest fiber available for processing or selling. Our plans were to process the fiber into skeins, dye it and knit items we could then sell in the hospice gift shop to help raise funds for hospice. We would also be able to sell some of the fiber or yarn to help recover some money spent for their keep here on the farm. We also found that having alpacas was very therapeutic and promoted a serene calmness within us as we watched them eating grass. It was then that we both decided we would have alpacas on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm as soon as we could. We found Alpacas-4-Pets in Coxsackie and got to know Isabelle and Ralph Acampora, the owners. We visited their farm several times and arranged to buy a pair of her rescue alpacas. Shortly after bringing them to the farm, we found another baby alpaca in Monticello which was eleven months old and beautiful, so we bought him, expanding our herd to three males.