I am looking into buying a couple of alpaca geldings for their wool and as pets, I would apreiciate any info. on care (hoof triming, shearing etc.) reasonable prices average annual wool production and Any other stuff I need to know. Also we are getting into to boer goats (because dairy goats just don't pay) I would like to know how much I can reasonably expect to get for weaned kids. thanks

-- Naomi (beebedz@juno.com), August 29, 2000

Answers

I took my two boys to visit an acquaintance who just got into the alpaca business a couple years ago. She has six females. We were petting them, and my son forgot his manners and asked how much they cost. We were dumbfounded to learn than the black one we were petting cost $30,000, as did her sister, and the others were from $12 to $25 thousand each. They are sweet and cute, not as nasty as llamas. It's their hair/fiber that's so valuable. But at $12G for a "cheap" one, I don't guess many people keep them as pets.

-- Shannon (Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary) (gratacres@aol.com), August 29, 2000.

Sorry - I don't want to appear overly critical, but this forum is getting snowed under. It might be an idea to do a little basic research first before posting questions. Finding livestock market prices isn't hard. The issue of cost of alpacas is an example of what you could find out, as is sale price of boer kids. The fact that alpacas don't even have hoofs (hooves?) is also something quite basic.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 30, 2000.

Hmmmmm...for me, using this forum IS a way of doing basic research. I thought Naomi's questions were quite reasonable. Why dig through all the sites & search engines looking for the answer to a question, when you can post here and get the answer PLUS a lot more from these helpful folks?

-- Shannon (Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary) (gratacres@aol.com), August 30, 2000.

I think that each person has their OWN questions and what's important to some are not so to others. I would hope that every question asked here, would get an answer. I have read several question that had the reply "I am so glad that you ask that question" and some of those were of no interest to me. I think the reason I love this forum so much is that we can feel free TO ask almost anything, with the respect and understanding of others.Just skip those that are of no interest to you! Enjoy.

Sorry, Naomi I know nothing about Alpacas and I would think that the price of goats would depend on your area, the time of year and if you have a market for that product.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 30, 2000.

Naomi, put pencil to paper and figure out why you didn't make a profit with your dairy goats, because the same figure will apply to your meat goats. If you have a REAL meat market in your area, then it is by the pound. A 35# kid whether he hits it at 12 weeks in dairy or 6 weeks in Boer is still only going to sell for 35$ in meat sales here. A 65 pound kid at 12 weeks Boer weaning a 5 months dairy will be 86 cents a pound and you can't make a profit at that, unless you have year round pasture/browse. The only profitable goat business is the breeding and selling of purebred stock. Even in Boer, the profit is to be had in selling to other folks who want to get into selling to other folks.........The biggest money in any class of livestock, Horses, Goats, Cows, Dogs is show stock. So don't waste your time thinking that switching from dairy goats to meat goats is going to change the financial drain...Switch to purebred dairy goats, or if you do go Boer than go fullblood. And even then you had better know conformation, extra or cut off teats, bad feet, weak chines, fake paperwork, which registry to buy into, CL, CAE, Johnes, before you take the plunge or you will be very quickly back where you started with unsaleable animals. The unprofitable part of diary goats is folks having them and then not utilizing the product. How much milk did you sell? Soap? Cheese? Colostrum? Semen? Kids? Family Milkers? Meat? Manure? Outside breedings? Show stock? Lease?

Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 30, 2000.

This is kind of humorous, I just got out of the Boers and went back to dairy! Around here the demand for meat goats is good but the prices are the same for dairy or boer kids. As long as they are butcher size they bring around $1.00 a pound (not through the auction). It's harder to get rid of the boer does, but I can't keep up on the request for grade milkers for home use. Regarding alpacas, I know absolutely nothing except that I found a couple free ones just the other day. I think they will end up like llamas, around here every other person has one to get rid of and some are turning them into jerky, which I hear is delicious. I don't think you would have to pay thousands for them, where are you located? I know of a few breeders in my area.

-- Julie (julieamc@excite.com), August 30, 2000.

I'm also interested in Alpacas and would love to know what you find out! We currently have Angora rabbits and hope to soon have some Angora goats....I hope to learn to spin soon too! I think you can find some that are a lot less expensive than $35,000!!! And ask any question here that you want! I thought that was what this was all about!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), September 02, 2000.

You might want to examine both alpaca's and Llamas. While Alpaca's have a slightly nicer wool than a Llama the price for an alpaca is many more times that of a llama. Llamas are slightly larger and would give you more wool also. As for pets, Llamas tend to be a bit more trainable. While you can get a good amount of wool off a llama if you do a full shave on them each spring, Your not going to get rich on it. Although regional, llama and alpaca wool is still a nich market in the US and spinners are just starting to see its value. With onlya couple llamas I doubt your going to make enough on the woold to cover feed and vet bills each year.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), September 05, 2000.