When I Grow Up, I Want to be an Alpaca Rancher

I bet that not many of you know that there is a two-day national celebration called National Alpaca Farm Days.  (Click here to find an alpaca farm near you!)  On Saturday Howard and I celebrated by visiting the High Meadows Alpaca Farm in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee.

I'm not much of an animal person...but, I could totally see myself running an alpaca farm.  Alpacas are clean, cuddly, and just plain cute.  Being the fiber freak that I am, I couldn't keep my hands off of them.  Their fleece is super thick and soft.

At this farm there are 320 individually named alpacas and the head (chew chompin' and spittin') rancher knows them all by name.  It's easy to see how he can remember them - just take a look at a few of their unique faces!  "Howard, I want an alpaca and I want it NOW!"

Random alpaca info:

• They don't have any top teeth (same as cows, who knew!?!) and their bottom teeth have to be filed down occasionally.
• They eat hay or grasses, but will try to chew on anything - they tried to chew on Howard's clothes and lick his camera as he took close-up pictures.  Anyone know how to remove alpaca spit from a camera lens!?!
• They are bred for their fiber. 
• Their fleece is softer and warmer than sheep's wool.  It doesn't contain lanolin which makes it less prickly than wool, but not water repellent like wool.
• The female's gestation period is eleven months.
• Some have been house trained because of their clean defecation habits, which means they have a communal poop pile and they don't graze there.