life... on the farm: Quit Fighting It

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Quit Fighting It

We all have plans for our lives, and often life goes along and we meet those goals. Other times, life fights us and pushes us in directions we were not looking to go.

This past weekend we took two of our best grey girls to an alpaca auction. Our plan all along has been to produce show quality alpacas, with bright and consistent fiber, in a variety of colors. However, we happened to have produced a lot of grey alpacas (and not just any greys, but ones that win in the show ring and their quality is clear when inspecting their fiber). We've noticed over the last year that we have become known for our greys (and not just at this auction, but other alpaca gatherings we have attended). When asked about our grey program we explain how we breed for all colors, but given we have some greys, we get greys (we love the greys, but I also love black and dark brown and J would say fawn is one of his favorites too). We have been fighting this notion that we have a "Grey Program".

Well, I'm done fighting it.

This past weekend we got lots of feedback on our grey program. Many people, ones from big farms in the industry, commented on the incredible quality of our grey girls. Some remembered our grey boy who wasn't even at this auction!

Here we are sitting on this grey fame that we didn't even ask for. We wanted to be known for great alpacas, we never sought out grey as our speciality. But here it is.

The weekend was very emotional. There were highs and lows. In the end, neither of our grey girls sold. On our ride home we decided that instead of being in such a rush to sell off our incredible greys, we should breed these incredible girls and create the next generation of grey!

2 comments:

Kathryn Ray said...: I can't tell you how many people I've met who set out to breed for grey, but aren't getting them. so you must be doing something right. :-); October 31, 2011 at 2:03 PM
oak haven alpacas said...: I know, it's it almost funny? Not for the ones breeding for greys who aren't getting them. I can see how that would be frustrating. But funny how what you set out to do isn't always what is meant to be.; October 31, 2011 at 2:39 PM

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The Adventure of a Lifetime

Our farming adventure began with the purchase of 3 alpacas in the fall of 2007. This eventually grew to an alpaca farm that birthed 23 cria. While we averaged 20 alpacas on a farm at any given time, we hit a peek of over 30 alpacas. We were involved in every aspect of alpaca farming: from breeding decisions, birthing, to attending alpaca shows, and shearing our own alpacas along with making product from their luscious fiber (hand spinning yarn and knitting product). We participated in 24 alpaca shows, and became very involved in the alpaca community.

In 2013 we added hair sheep to our farm.

Throughout this process we continued to tweak and revise our business plan. Our business plan evolved over time, and in 2013 it became clear that our goal was to raise grass fed animals for human consumption. While the initial plan was for this to go along side of alpaca farming, we slowly came to the conclusion our adventure was going to take us somewhere else.

In 2013 we began to sell off our alpaca herd to begin our new adventure with grass fed sheep and cattle.

Our adventure is still unfolding, so please, join us in our adventure of a lifetime as our journey unfolds.