Paul and I both grew up in Chicago....yep, city folk. We knew we wanted a more rural life and managed to both find work in Central Wisconsin in 1994. We purchased a small home near water as we both enjoy fishing and the outdoors. Unfortunately, the lake brought more people to the area and we were still striving for a quieter way of life.
We began to search for property with more acreage, but what would we do with this acreage? Alpacas....what is an alpaca? Our niece from Kentucky asked if that was something we would enjoy doing? So the research began...online, visiting farms and going to shows. We were very intrigued and pursued our plans with the purchase of our current home which sits on 5 acres in June of 2006 followed by the purchase of two bred females, Misty and Precious, in December of 2007.
But we still had a barn to put up, fencing to put up and supplies to buy!! Busy, busy, while still working our full time jobs we boarded our two girls and frequented the farm in which they were at. We helped with chores, farm sat, helped with herd health and got to know the ins and outs of daily alpaca farming. We managed to finally bring our girls home with their two cria, Jericho and Gemini, in September of 2008.
Since then, we have grown our herd, immersed ourselves in the alpaca lifestyle and have enjoyed every minute. We made our first raw fleece sale in Sept. 2009 and became members of The Alpaca Fiber Co-Op of North America (AFCNA) in June 2010, followed by the opening of our farm store, which we run out of our home. We purchased a few more girls, have had several crias and purchased half ownership in a 5-time champ stud, GMan, in March 2010. His cria began hitting the ground this year and we are looking forward to more next year.
Besides AFCNA, we are also proud members of The Alpaca Registry Inc. (ARI), The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) and The Great Lakes Alpaca Association (GLAA). We are a small farm and believe that helps us remain better in tune with the needs of our herd. Our daily interactions with them makes them calmer and more comfortable around people. We will continue to strive towards the highest quality and we make our herd our top priority. We believe in showing this same commitment to our customers. We mean what we say....You Get A Lot With A Lotis.
