Alpacas - Slow Southern Style

Ridgeview Farm, now quietly nestled in the foothills of the north Georgia mountains, actually started in the western Virginia mountains in 1984. There we raised three breeds of sheep, all noted for producing high quality wool: Romneys, Targhees, and the lesser-known Perendales, a prominent New Zealand wool breed.

Western Virginia near the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the most beautiful areas in the United States. It was not, however, a suitable geographic location from which to market prize-winning breeding stock. The economy of the area was poor and there was no likelihood it would improve in the near future. So, in 1986, we moved, lock, stock, and sheep, to Georgia, settling in Dawsonville, about an hour north of Atlanta. Over the next few years, we first sold all the Targhees, then the Perendales as an intact flock, and concentrated on the Romneys. For ten years, we improved our Romney flock by careful selective breeding and competed all over the Eastern United States, winning Championships at the Michigan State Fair, Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, North American International Livestock Exposition, Kentucky State Fair, North Carolina State Fair, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, Tennessee Valley Fair, and the Georgia National Fair. Many Romney flocks in the Eastern United States can be traced back to our award-winning flock. One of our goals with our sheep then, as it is with our alpacas now, was that our breeding stock perform as well for others, both in and out of the show ring, as they did for us.

The last sheep left Ridgeview Farm in 1994. Although we had consistently improved our flock, the price we received for our prize-winning breeding stock was no more than what we had paid for poorer quality sheep ten years earlier. That, coupled with rising feed costs over the years finally caused us to admit we were never going to make any money raising sheep. Also, the Federal government had eliminated the "wool incentive," a program originally instituted to encourage farmers to produce better quality fiber and upon which sheep and wool growers depended to make ends meet. Fred and Linda Walker, always ones to share their vision of the future of the fiber-animal industry, had for years told us that we needed to sell our sheep and invest in alpacas. In 1994, we finally did it, and our only regret was and is that we didn't do it sooner! Now we tell people, don't make the same mistake we did - don't wait; there'll never be a better time to invest in alpacas than now!

Our first (and for the first four years our only) alpacas were suris. We were attracted to them because, like the Perendale sheep we'd had before them, they were rare and had a presence all their own, and because we believed they would do better in the heat of the Southeast. Starting with just three suri alpacas in 1994, Ridgeview Farm's herd now numbers over 60 suris.

When members of AOBA voted in 1998 to close the alpaca registry to non-pedigreed alpacas, we had the rare opportunity to take part in the last importation of alpacas from Bolivia. The 24 alpacas we acquired from the importation included 16 suri females, black, brown, orange, fawn, white and fancies, and Hightower, a mahogany brown suri herdsire who has sired crias with beautiful silky fiber, even some solid black. The Bolivian girls have produced well too, many of their crias taking firsts in their classes. The rare genes represented in these Bolivians and their offspring will play an important part in the alpaca industry for years to come. (We also acquired seven huacaya alpacas from the importation -- one herdsire and six females, because there were not enough suris to meet the demand. We kept and bred the huacayas for two years and then sold them, as a herd, for the same reasons we got into suris to begin with -- they are rare, will always be more rare [and therefore more valuable] than huacayas, and because they do better in the heat of the Southeast than did the huacayas.)

The north Georgia mountains have proved to be an excellent location for our alpacas. They seem to feel truly safe and content here. New arrivals, including the wild and little-handled Bolivian imports, quickly settle in and act as if they have always been here. Visitors to the farm often comment on how quiet and peaceful the alpacas at Ridgeview Farm are compared to those at other farms they have visited.

"Isn't it too hot for alpacas in Georgia?" "How do they do in the heat and humidity?" Those are two of the most frequent questions we get, to which we respond that it is frequently hotter and more humid in Michigan (where we once lived) and New Jersey, for example, than it is in north Georgia, where the climate has proved to be very suitable for alpacas. The summers usually bring temperatures in the 80's with nights in the 60's. We have never had an incident of heat stress in our suri alpaca herd. Our alpacas have shade in the form of trees and roofs, they have access to fans, and they receive plenty of fresh cold drinking water each day.

During the cold months, we worry most about cold rains and make sure the alpacas have a roof they can get under. Even in Georgia, new crias wear coats in January and February, but usually only at night. Birthing is scheduled to end about the end of November and resume in March.

We believe one of the secrets to success in the alpaca business is a strong contingent of quality herdsires, not only to continually improve our own herd but to offer customers a wide selection of breeding options, both in terms of bred females (who they are bred to) and a choice as to which to breed their purchases (we include a free rebreeding with each bred female sold). That is why our herdsires include quality Bolivians and Peruvians, whites, fawns, browns and blacks. We are constantly searching for new bloodlines to add to our "herdsire row." In 2005, we added award-winning brown full Peruvian, part Accoyo, Maserati of PVA, and, in 2006, we have added undefeated four-time white Champion (AOBA, MaPaca, Futurity, and AWE) Snowmass Lightning Locks. We believe we have the finest suri herdsires in the Southeast.

We pay particular attention to conformation and overall soundness in our breeding program; straight legs and backs and good bites are a must. A breeder can easily breed up for fiber quality and quantity, but a bad mouth and bad legs bred into a herd are difficult to breed out. Quality, rather than country of origin, is our criteria for alpaca selection. We have found great success with the Peruvian/Bolivian cross, resulting in a hybrid vigor lacking in many Peruvians and more fiber production sometimes lacking in some of the Bolivians.

We built our alpaca herd for three years before attempting to sell any alpacas. Then we decided that even though we wanted to continue to build our herd, we needed to assure ourselves, before we purchased 24 alpacas from the importation, that alpacas really could be sold. We put out a couple of advertisements and sure enough, we sold alpacas! Still building our herd, we always offer more for sale than we really want to sell, so buyers have a good selection.

In addition to national advertising, we market our alpacas and educate people about these amazing creatures at various types of farming events in the Southeast. Those have included stock dog championship trials, an agricultural exposition whose exhibitors represent every aspect of farming and which is attended by 200,000 people in three days, a fair dedicated to the exhibition of only fiber-producing livestock, and alpaca shows. We compete with our alpacas all over the Eastern United States, winning many blue ribbons and Championships (see our "Shows" tab for our show results).

We have been an active part of the alpaca industry from the time we acquired our first alpacas. The first year, Juanita decided one of the best ways to get acquainted with folks in the industry was to participate in the fashion show at the national conference, so she volunteered to be one of the show's nonprofessional models. Another year, she volunteered to organize the national conference's "Time Capsule" project, collecting and organizing alpaca memorabilia from breeders to be stored away and opened in ten years for a look back at North American alpaca history. In 1998, Juanita headed up the annual AOBA conference's silent auction that raised nearly $30,000 for alpaca marketing. In 1999, we co-sponsored the conference's welcome reception. On the national level, Juanita has served as a director of AOBA and as a director of The Suri Network, an AOBA affiliate dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the suri alpaca. She was also appointed to and served on the AOBA Show Committee's Ethics & Protest Committee and AOBA's Fiber Task Force, assisting in the organization and presentation of AOBA's first Fiber to Fashion Conference. We are also involved in the industry on a local level: Bill has served twice as a director of the Southeastern Alpaca Association and Juanita served as its treasurer for four years. She also served as chairperson of the Southeastern Alpaca Fall Fest for three consecutive years and as chairperson of the Southern Select Alpaca Show 2002.

So, now that you know about us, we'd like to get to know you. Call and schedule a visit to Ridgeview Farm to meet the incredible suri alpaca! Come see quality alpacas thriving in the South, and let us put our 22 years of fiber-animal experience to work for you. We look forward to seeing you soon.

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