Curious about daily life on an alpaca ranch? Check out our Alpaca Newbie Blog!
Attend the 2009 'Paca Party Pen Sale June 27th & 28th!
This will be the Alpaca Event of the summer! Admission is free. Hours are 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday & Sunday, 6/27/09 & 6/28/09. For details, CLICK HERE!
Announcements
Twisted Lock Alpacas is hosting our first ever Pen Sale! We've been wanting to do this for a while, and we think we've finally found the perfect weekend for this type of event. On Saturday, June 27th and Sunday, June 28th, we'll host the 2009 'Paca Party Pen Sale from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free, and there'll be lots of great alpacas at fantastic, one-weekend-only prices. Also, we'll have games, contests, crafts, demonstrations, and much more.
We'll have a Silent Auction, featuring a vacation trip to an ocean-front resort in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, along with lots of other cool items.
There'll be a Name the Cria contest, where attendees vie for the honor of naming one of our cutest newborns, with prizes awarded for the best and most creative names.
You'll get a chance to see our 2 llamas, Fernando Llama and Dolly Llama, and see exactly how they contrast and compare to alpacas. We'll have fiber samples from each, as well, to further demonstrate the quality, fineness, and wonderful, soft hand of alpaca fiber.
Should you wish to purchase an alpaca or two, or some of our wonderful crafts and goodies, we accept cash, check, or credit cards, so bring all the above!
For directions & details, go to this page.
We've started a Blog! For two reasons - doing regular updates to a web page which is designed to be static is cumbersome and tedious, and because I wanted a forum which would allow for a more informational and instructional approach, versus the more 'marketing' approach of a typical web page - I've decided to publish The Alpaca Newbie Blog.
The blog is designed around an "Alpacas in the Real World" approach. What I mean by this is that you will find stories and examples of what life is like on a working alpaca ranch. This means there'll be a vivid accounting of the real-life ups and downs of alpaca life - information that just couldn't be had when I first started researching alpacas.
You see, virtually every alpaca breeder's web page provides you with the standard alpaca propaganda - the benefits of the lifestyle, the tax incentives, the benefits of 'alpaca compounding', etc. While all this information is valuable, it's just not what you're looking for. When you begin researching alpacas, you want to know what it's like to live and work with these beautifully bizarre creatures, right? How does birthing work? What kind of care do they need, and how often? What's the daily routine? What's involved in making breeding decisions? How do you name your crias? These are all questions that are addressed in the blog.
You'll find loads of information, which I'm quite sure you'll find helpful in deciding whether the alpaca business is for you. I hope you'll take some time to visit the blog site, which is http://www.alpacanewbie.com. The blog will largely take the place of our old Updates page, which I will leave in place for those who would like to read some of our early history.
Twisted Lock Alpacas is now in the embroidery business! Need shirts, hats or other garments embroidered with your ranch logo, company artwork, or beautiful alpaca graphics? Call us...we can make it happen for you.
We are proud to announce that we have opened a sister ranch in Marion, NC - Twisted Lock Alpacas East! Twisted Lock East is owned and operated by Cathy's Dad, Allen Lowery. He also responds to Al, Dale, or just "hey, you with the face!" Initially, our joint focus for Twisted Lock East will be on quality, blue ribbon winning suri alpacas. Twisted Lock East will also be the east coast home and center of operations for our 2005 All American Futurity Color Champion huacaya herdsire, Patagonia's Tehuelche, 2002 Futurity Color Champion suri herdsire, Silvestre, and multiple color champion huacaya, Breitling.
We've made it our mission to spread the word about the wonderfully positive impact raising these beautiful creatures has made upon our lives. We constantly strive to research and absorb as much information as possible, and, in turn, to disseminate as much information to others as we are able. Education is fundamental to a thriving alpaca industry. All visitors to our ranch receive a free copy of our 32-page educational guide, 'Alpaca Business - A Guide to Early Success'. This booklet is based on our research and experiences beginning with our first alpaca ranch visit, through our incredibly successful first year in business, and on to successfully breeding and showing our "Blue Ribbon Alpacas".
The idea for Twisted Lock Alpacas began as a joke. My wife Cathy and I were sitting in front of the TV one evening - me surfing the internet on my ever-present laptop, and Cathy watching her game shows or soaps or something - when we saw a commercial for ilovealpacas.com. Very sarcastically, I said "That's right, Cat, we'll get rich and have a wonderful lifestyle - we'll raise alpacas". Never for a moment did I think we might seriously entertain the thought. Just for fun, I Googled alpacas. A little while later, I told Cathy that the whole concept actually sounded pretty interesting, and that I'd like to go see an alpaca face-to-face (you know - just for fun!).
The next day, we dropped in on a local alpaca ranch (ok, by local I mean an hour away). And when I say 'dropped in', I mean dropped in unannounced. I later found that this is bad - to show up without an appointment. While it is easy to get the impression from the TV commercials that the typical alpaca ranch is a medium-sized (or larger) commercial operation - one on which, at any time, you could expect to see substantial interaction with the animals - in reality, most alpaca ranches are relatively small. In fact, the average herd size of a typical alpaca ranch (in the U.S., at least) is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 12 animals. As such, you'll find that most alpaca breeders may be busy with other things. They may have full or part time jobs, either on or off the ranch. If it's a weekend, they may be spending quality time with family, or they may be working with the animals on a task that is best accomplished uninterrupted - halter training, veterinary visits, breeding, etc. Most breeders welcome visitors, as long as they're scheduled. So please, be considerate and understanding. Call first. But I digress.
As I was saying, Cathy and I visited a local ranch. We were (okay, I was) immediately hooked. The next week, we visited another, then another. I spent many, many hours over the next few weeks researching the husbandry and business aspects of alpaca ownership. There's a lot of information out there, but much of it is 'candy-coated', in my opinion. I found it difficult to get beyond the whole 'alpaca lifestyle' type of information - to find out not only what alpaca breeding is really like, but what the alpaca business is like, as well. It is this information I will attempt to pass on to you, the prospective alpaca owner/breeder/investor, within this site.
Suffice it to say, after examining the similarities and differences between alpaca breeding and a Ponzi or pyramid scheme, I concluded that they are not the same, and alpacas can make an excellent investment/venture - provided one is willing to work (and work and work and work) diligently to achieve success. Alpaca breeding is not for the faint of heart, and not for the squeamish. But if you are a true animal lover, love to learn, have the financial resources, and don't mind a little hard work, I can think of few ventures you are likely to find more exciting or fulfilling.
Five weeks after our initial ranch visit, we bought our first four alpacas. We haven't looked back.
Twisted Lock Alpacas is currently home to over a hundred alpacas and two llamas.
Twisted Lock Alpacas is located in beautiful Shadow Hills, California - just 3 miles from Burbank's Bob Hope Airport. Please feel free to call us for directions and an appointment for a ranch visit.
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