Somewhere during our research we mentioned our plans to Jim’s sister and her husband, Linda and Brian Thurston. Brian immediately saw the investment potential and the tax advantages with alpacas plus they both thought the animals were great so they jumped into this adventure with us. In addition to being full-time parents, all four of us have busy careers: Jim owns Black Bear Graphics Screenprinting and Embroidery, Amy owns Carrabassett Soap Company, Brian has been an engineer with National Semiconductor for 20+ years and Linda owns a nursery school called The Learning Loft. We all came to the conclusion that alpacas would be a great addition to our lives. We named our farm Good Karma Farm and agreed to make all of our decisions based upon the idea of creating good karma.

Now came the hard part – which animals to buy. We liked so many animals and all of the breeders we met were people we would be happy to buy from. When you’re new at this, the breeder support is important. We wanted to buy from someone who would be there when we needed help and would show us how to give injections, trim toenails, etc. The problem was that everyone we met was great! Finally we realized that we had to jump in with both feet and make a decision. In March of 2004, we bought a bred female named Fiesta from the last farm we visited and 2 bred females, Gypsy and Sweet Georgia Pie, and a male named Diego from the first farm we visited. Some of the factors that helped us decide upon an animal were the quality and color of their fleece, whether they were good mothers with plenty of milk, what their previous crias looked like and what herd sire they were bred to. We also tried to buy animals that were easy to work with.

So now we are official alpaca owners and like many people had a lot of work to do to bring them home. We already had a large three-sided shelter so we could check that requirement off the list. We have 14 acres but only about 1 acre of field so we needed to clear some more land. Once the land was cleared and stumped, then the fence could be installed. We decided to go with an electrified 6-strand high tensile wire fence. This is an attractive fence and very economical compared to other types of fencing. We worry about predators and this fence should help to protect our animals against stray dogs and coyotes.

One last thing we needed to do was decide on a guard animal for our herd. We all agreed that a llama was the way to go because any guard dog we had would end-up sleeping on the couch! We picked a great llama from MaryLynn FitzSimons at Indigo Moon farm. His given name was Brendan but we decided to call him Roger.

Finally the big day arrived. Jim and Amy traveled to Auburn to pick-up Gypsey and Sweet Georgia Pie with the mini-van. We were a little apprehensive about how they would travel but after they were loaded into the van they kushed and began quietly humming. Meanwhile exciting events were happening at Good Karma Farm. We had just pulled out onto the main road when we got a call on the cell phone- there’s a cow moose inside our pasture and she won’t leave! Fortunately for us a friend was at the house and she acted quickly to turn the fence off and open the back gate. Reinforcements were called in and they tried to shoo the moose through the gate but she had other ideas. As all this is happening, Jim, Amy and Georgia and Gypsey are getting closer and closer to home. Finally with little time to spare, our moose visitor finally got the idea and headed into the woods. Talk about a disaster narrowly averted! By the time we arrived the coast was clear and our first two alpacas were home safe and sound and their home was safe and sound, too!

It didn’t take long for Gypsey and Georgia to make them self at home and settle in. A few days later Roger the Gatekeeper llama arrived. He looked so big compared to the alpacas. The animals had a couple of spitting matches but by the end of Roger’s second day the three animals had formed a little herd. We certainly feel better having Roger watching over the girls.

Fiesta’s big day finally arrived. She gave birth to a beautiful girl on July 2, 2004. She weighed a whopping 19.3 lbs and was trying to stand as soon as she hit the ground. We’ve named her Cecelia. Fiesta and Cecelia will be coming home around the beginning of August. We can’t wait!

Finally, everyone is home and we can proudly say we have 5 alpacas and a llama. Throw in a dozen chickens and a rooster and it’s definitely starting to feel like a real farm. Diego, Fiesta and baby Cecelia all arrived the beginning of August and adjusted well. Now the wait began for Gypsey and Georgia to deliver their crias. As it turned out we didn’t have long to wait.

One lazy Sunday morning in late August, Amy wandered out to the field, still clad in her pajamas and carrying her mug of coffee, to feed the animals. As she neared the gate she looked out in the field only to see a new and somewhat unexpected little face. Gypsey had her baby! Amy began yelling to Jim to “grab the cria kit, we have a baby out here!” Gypsey’s due date was supposed to be in mid-September but her baby had other ideas. Mustang Sally weighed nearly 19 lbs and is the spitting image of her mother. By 1:00 pm that day, Sally was chasing the chickens around the field. So now we’ve had two girls in a row. Would Georgia’s cria make it three? Her due date wasn’t until the end of October but we were definitely going to be on active baby watch a little sooner than we were with Gypsey!

Another early arrival! This time we had a little advance warning. Georgia’s favorite thing is to have her belly hosed-down and to drink out of the hose. The Saturday of Columbus Day weekend was exceptionally warm and Georgia was crying for the hose. The great thing about hosing the animals down is that it gives you a chance to feel their bellies while the alpaca’s mind is otherwise occupied. Georgia’s abdomen was as tight as a drum. The first thing Amy did on Sunday morning was look out the window to see if we had a cria in the field. Nobody there yet but Georgia seemed to be acting a little funny. Of course, Jim is out of town for the weekend so Amy and Zoe are left alone on cria watch. Trying to remain calm, Amy grabs the binoculars and begins the wait. At 11:00 am we had a new cria on the ground and Jim on the telephone. Another girl! This time a bay black that we named Sweet Loretta. Life is good! Now it was time to settle in for the winter and look forward to our 2005 crias. What a long time to wait.

The winter of 2005 was uneventful. In Maine, with our winters, uneventful is a good thing. Before our girls began delivering crias, we made a delivery of our own. The Dolly Llama came to live on our farm. We anticipated that we’d need another guard llama for our new field so we chose perhaps the most unusual looking llama we’ve ever seen. She’s polka dotted and constantly carries a wad of half-chewed grass in her cheek. Kind of looks like a plug of tobacco. What she lacks in looks she more than makes up for in personality. She takes her guard duties seriously and is incredibly gentle with the crias even when they try to nurse from her. She looks at them like “I’d like to help you out, but my milk producing days are over.” We’re happy to have Dolly on our farm.

Fiesta was the first mom due in 2005 and she delivered her baby in a somewhat unconventional way. Of course it was the hottest day of summer when Fiesta began laboring. We thought we’d have a cria on the ground by noon at the latest. By 1:00 we realized that something wasn’t right. Fiesta had done something unusual in the early spring that may have come back to haunt her. In April, while we stood and watched her she marched up the slope of our wellhead and then rolled all the way over, down the hill. Then she did it again only this time facing the other direction. Did she sense a dystocia then and try to correct it? Uterine torsion? We’ll never know but now in late June we were looking at a labor that wasn’t progressing. In between contractions we loaded Fiesta in the trailer (no more minivan for us) and set off for the vet, 60 miles away. Our vet, Barbara Perkins, delivered Rosalita in our trailer with Amy, Jim and Linda assisting. Fiesta and Rosalita were both fine. Amy, Jim and Linda felt like they’d been run over by a truck! The best part? Another girl.

Gypsey was up next and this time we were all there to watch. Fortunately, an easier delivery than Fiesta’s but again Gypsey was about 10 days ahead of schedule. We’re starting to see a pattern here. Lucille was born on August 18, making us five for five on female crias. How could we be so lucky?

The streak finally ended in September with Georgia’s baby. Our first boy was born while no one was looking. We named him Solimon after one of our favorite places in Mexico. So ended another fantastic year on Good Karma Farm. Everyday it seems we learn something new about our animals and we realize what a wonderful adventure we’ve begun with alpacas. As hard as it will be to sell these animals we look forward to sharing our experiences with new owners and every year will bring new additions to our herd. We can’t wait!

We’ve added a daily blog of our farm adventures to keep everyone up to date with what’s happening. We hope to see you there!