If you have read this far, you are probably wondering – what qualifies this woman to be an alpaca farmer? And if you are thinking about taking the leap, you might be asking yourself the same question!  Here are the questions that I asked – and answered – before I got down to planning this new future.

1. Why are you doing this?  Do you love animals? Are you doing this for love or money or both?  If your answer is just for love, the IRS will call you a hobby farm.  And there is nothing wrong with doing it for love!  I’m doing it for love AND money! I’m doing it for my future!
2. Are you prepared to stay at home (or pay someone else) to take care of animals? My daughter will be the farm manager which will allow Gary and I to travel a bit when we retire. BUT if you don’t have someone who can be there for you – you will need to be a homebody!
3. Are you willing to work hard at both the farming and the business side of alpacas?  Everything you read may imply that raising alpacas is easy, but I doubt it!  I don’t know how to not work hard, so I answered Yes.  Time will tell on this one, but since this is a family affair I’ll have help.
4. Do you like people?  After all your customers and colleagues will be people! My life revolves around customers and colleagues – so I think I can handle it.  I’m not much of a salesperson – so I need some help there.
5. Do you have land or can you get land for the farm? And if your land is wooded (like mine) are you willing to clear it and plant pasture?  I have 50 acres, but most of it is wooded.  Will have it clear cut and get paid for it – what a deal!
6. What is your zoning?  Mine is residential/agricultural – whew!
7. Do you have or can you build shelter (barns or sheds) for the alpacas?  We will have to build, but can start with a simple three-sided shed.  The barn will come later. Magical Farms has a plan for a simple shed on their website http://www.magicalfarms.com/sheds.html
8. Do you live near a vet with experience with alpacas?  I live less than an  hour from Cornell where they have a practice for camelids – the alpaca is one of these!  Also, as luck would have it my regular vet is familiar with camelids.  Must be fate.
9. What does your CPA think?  Is he knowledgeable about the tax laws related to alpaca/livestock?  My good luck – My CPA does taxes for at least one other alpaca farm. Find someone who does.
10. Have you ever worked with large animals? Fortunately, I get points for this one too.  Having raised Great Danes who are almost as big as alpacas, I can say YES! The good news is that alpacas don’t bark or bite!
11. Do you know anything about alpacas?  Now here is where I got into trouble. My answer was NO – not a darn thing – when I first asked this question.  But I am nothing if not a lifelong learner.  I CAN learn everything I need to know given time. But I will need the help of an experienced alpaca farmer for practical advice.  All the books and the internet articles won’t give me the complete picture.
12. What skills and knowledge from your current career will you bring to the alpaca farming business? Answering this one takes some thinking, but in the end there are many skills I have that will help me run the farm. More on this later.  And I imagine you will find the same as you explore this question.
13. Can you see this as an investment?  Alpacas cost a lot of money. You don’t want to feel guilty for trashing your nest egg.  I see this as an investment, but not just in making money.  To me this is an investment in my future career satisfaction and since this is a family affair it’s a very good thing for Jayme – my daughter – who will manage the farm. And Gary needs us to be happy – so we all can win this one.  We will strive to make money of course, but enjoy the experience while doing it!

Surprise!  I passed my own test (I likely would have cheated if I had to since I want this so much.) How about you?  So on to planning the future…there are more questions to answer as we move along.

You can use this link Questions to Ask to print out the list of questions for yourself.

Story of Us: Chapter Three