Banking on alpacas - Locals seek wealth, harmony in breeding

| Sunday, April 27, 2003 10:00 PM PDT ∞

HENRI BRICKEY
Staff Writer

MURRIETA ---- A growing number of urban refugees is finding a unique way to finance getaways into the country ---- and possibly to pay for retirement, as well.

Corporate castaways are ditching their stock options and spending their savings on a rare llama native to Peru, the alpaca.

Until two years ago, Rick Horn, a former professional sky diving instructor living in Murrieta, had never given alpacas much thought.

But it didn't take long after Horn learned about the animals for him to quit his fast-paced job, sell all his stocks and turn his 5-acre property into an alpaca ranch. After certifying sky diving instructors for 25 years, Horn says the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 made him reconsider his globe-trotting lifestyle.

"I wanted out of the rat race," said Horn, who flew around the world certifying sky diving instructors. "I essentially lived on United Airlines."

Then his wife, Pati, told him about alpacas, an animal valued for its high quality fleece, which she learned about in a magazine article.

With quality alpacas selling for $15,000 to $25,000 each, the Horns saw an investment opportunity, if they could find a way to breed them.

"At first it seemed really ridiculous, but the more we researched it the more sense it made," Horn said recently from his ranch in Murrieta, All American Alpacas.

Two years after bringing home his first pair of alpacas, the Horns' herd has grown to 35 and he says he'd never go back to the lifestyle he lived before.

A national trend

California has one of the largest alpaca populations in the world, with almost 2,800 of the roughly 45,000 alpacas registered in the United States, according to Alpaca Registry International, a Montana-based agency that keeps a database of alpacas to establish bloodlines and create a list of pedigrees ---- much like the American Kennel Club does for dogs.

Erin McCarthy, marketing director for the Colorado-based Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, says alpaca breeding has become an attractive alternative for people fed up with the stock market and looking for a secure investment.

"A lot of my customers are corporate refuges trying to break out of the corporate world," McCarthy said.

Fifty percent of the alpaca breeders that McCarthy comes in contact with say the primary reason they purchased alpacas was for financial investing, she said.

"Seventy-five percent of the people in the alpaca industry have no (previous) livestock experience," McCarthy said.

The story is one Horn says he sees all the time ---- the disenchanted, middle-aged corporate employee fed up with the 9-to-5 grind comes to him looking for an alpaca and a better life.

Most of his customers are people trying to get back to a more basic way of life and achieve a better understanding of living naturally, Horn said.

"Where are all the old hippies from the '70s? They're here in Southern California," Horn said. "People are wanting to get out of the city, out of the rat race and into a more serene way of life ---- and this is it," Horn said.

But at $15,000 to $25,000 a pop, buying a breeding-class alpaca isn't cheap; and that's part of what makes them so appealing for people who invest in them.

And the good news for "alpacapreneurs," as some people in the business refer to themselves, is that the price for alpacas will likely continue to remain stable for many years into the future, McCarthy said.

The overall alpaca population is likely to remain low for several reasons, one being that alpacas can only give birth once a year, and rarely have more than one "crias" ---- baby alpaca.

And other steps have been taken to prevent the overpopulation of the species.

"The Alpaca Registry has been closed, so no new animals can come into the country and be registered," she said. "Most of the breeders here are small-time and they felt this would level the playing field."

Like a vacation

One of those small-time breeders is Tally Hoffman, an advertising representative with The Californian who recently got into the alpaca business after seeing an ad in the paper for a herd of alpaca being offered at a price she could afford.

Hoffman, 56, had just sold her house in San Marcos and was looking to get a few animals for the 5-acre ranch home in La Cresta she bought a year ago.

Three months after bringing her alpacas home, Hoffman said she is adjusting fine to the lifestyle.

"It's better than the stock market," said Hoffman last week while stuffing the fleece from one of her freshly shorn alpaca into a sack.

But it's not the precious fleece that Hoffman is banking on. Her husband will spin that in his spare time.

For alpaca owners, the money is in breeding.

But even if the offspring of Hoffman's alpacas come in at the low end of the gene pool and don't fetch much money, Hoffman said the experience is still worth it.

"I'm hoping to make money, but if I don't I still have 20 wonderful pets," Hoffman said. "It's like a vacation all the time here."

Easy to care for

"What makes the alpaca more attractive than other types of livestock is you don't have to milk them, you don't have to fuss with them. They're easier to take care of than dogs and cats," McCarthy said.

An alpaca's diet consists of hay and the occasional mineral supplement, costing about the same to feed as a dog. Another bonus for the alpaca rancher is the minimal amount of care the animals require ---- basically limited to shearing, worming and vaccinations.

Native to the Peruvian highlands, alpacas are hardy animals capable of withstanding extreme cold. A simple ramadalike structure is enough shelter for here in Southern California and they even have this neat habit of pooping in the same place, making cleanup much easier. Not that alpaca dung is so repulsive. Because of their diet, the small green pellets are virtually odorless.

A herd of five to 10 alpaca can live comfortably live on 1 acre, making them an ideal choice for someone with a small ranch hoping to get their hands dirty raising an animal.

And forget about the horse trailer. At just over 100 pounds, alpaca can ride comfortably in the back of a pickup or even a station wagon.

Most of the work associated with raising alpacas is the fencing, Horn said. But it's not to keep the alpacas in ---- they don't take much interest in jumping fences ---- it's to keep predators out. Horn takes several steps to protect his alpacas from marauding coyotes and stray dogs.

A 6-foot fence, electrified on the outside, surrounds his alpacas' play area. Then there's Rose and Lillith, two guard llamas, which coyotes will not approach. The llamas stay inside with the alpacas.

Outside the gate, Horn's two pet German shepherds roam the property to keep outsiders at bay.

Contact staff writer Henri Brickey at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or hbrickey@californian.com.

4/28/03