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About Us - Our Story
by Michael Reardon
In the Winter of 2001, Darlene saw a late night TV ad about Alpacas, and was very intrigued. She had no idea what these animals were, but needed to find out more about why they were referred to as, "The World’s Finest Live-Stock Investment". She began to research, on-line, everything and anything about Alpacas. She talked about them constantly and I must admit, I thought she was a little crazy at first, but soon began to get interested myself. By the end of March 2002, she had hinted a couple of times that we should get a couple for the back yard. She even went as far as to get a co-worker to call me on April Fool's day to say two had just been delivered to our home. I finally decided to listen closer to her and at least find out more information about the animals and the business. That May we attended an alpaca show in Northampton MA. There we saw many alpacas and spoke to people from different farms. Lou Ferrara from New England Alpacas was more than willing to educate us on Alpacas and the Alpaca Business. We also spoke with Cindy Lavan from Chase Tavern Farm. From this one show we had already fallen in love with these amazing animals and needed to learn more.Next weekend we were off to Maple Brook Farm for their annual Customer Appreciation Day. Again we spoke to many people and again one was Cindy Lavan from Chase Tavern Farm. This meeting with Cindy prompted us to accept an invitation to visit her farm. We made our trip to visit Cindy and Tim at Chase Tavern farm a couple of weeks later. There we spent an afternoon getting our hands on many alpacas and talking about the business. Though it had only been a few weeks since first seeing our first alpaca, we knew we wanted to get more involved with these animals. A few weeks later we found ourselves again at Chase Tavern farm this time ready to purchase some animals. Our house with a half acre lot outside of Boston wouldn't support a farm, so our way into the Alpaca business was as investors. Our initial investment was one half interests in one male and three females. At the time we were happy with the animals we purchased, but didn't know the male would turn out to be the multiple champion Greybeard. We joke at times and say it was our expertise in picking Greybeard. The truth is we were just novices who took the lead from Cindy and Tim and were presented with excellent quality animals and guidance, which we'd like to thank them for.
The next several years were spent helping out at Chase Tavern Farm as much as possible, visiting farms and attending Alpaca Shows and clinics. Basically anything we could do to be involved with Alpacas and learn more about the business. We also continued to re-invest and purchase more Alpacas. Our herd has expanded to include several more breeding females, as well as a Junior Herd-Sire, Christian Gold. He is a true black Altiplano Gold male, who has earned several blue ribbons. He should begin breeding in the Spring of 2006. We always knew we wanted our own farm someday. At this point in our lives, the thought of living in the country and starting our own business was very appealing. So in the spring of 2005 we sold our house in Wilmington MA, and purchased a 1880’s classic New England farmhouse in Auburn Maine, with 26 acres of land. Plans are to begin pasture and barn improvements in the Spring of 2006, and move some of our Alpacas to our own farm by Summer. So our adventure continues. Courses we've taken
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Full Moon Alpacas - Investing in Alpaca Livestock Farming in Maine.
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