This weekend we visited an alpaca farm for my wife’s birthday. She loved it, can you tell? We all did. These lamb-like creatures, indigenous to South America, saunter right up to you with their tall necks and big, smiling eyes. They let you feed them and rub their fluffy heads. Everybody who encounters them, from kids to grown men, ooh and aah.
In their native land, alpacas are raised for their hair, or fiber, and as a food source. “If you go to Peru, it’s on their menu,” says King Fowler, the local farm’s co-owner and a heck of a nice guy. In all, 37 alpacas and three llamas (they’re related) roam this farm in the quiet hills of Lake County, along with a smattering of chickens and ducks. Fowler is a breeder and competitor and just returned from an alpaca show in Kansas City. It’s mostly a business for him, though he says sitting around with your favorite drink and just watching these beautiful animals is “therapeutic for sure.”
What a fun family outing. Best of all, the birthday girl hasn’t stopped talking about her new friends. “They’re sooooo cute!”