Did you see the CBS News the other day?

[Rick]

Hello group,

Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news? I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.

I'm just stunned by this segment. Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s. They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.

Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com

[r***@yahoo.com]

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news?  I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment.  Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s.  They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michiganwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.comwww.FiberArtFest.com

Didn't see that on the news but I do see lots of commercials on TV
about alpaca farms, profits, etc...

Randy

[Rick]

Post by r***@yahoo.com

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news?  I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment.  Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s.  They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michiganwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.comwww.FiberArtFest.com

Didn't see that on the news but I do see lots of commercials on TV
about alpaca farms, profits, etc...
Randy

I shake my head at those commericals. The whole alpaca business plan
relies on other people jumping on the band wagon and selling more
alpacas. Of course, the more animals available slowly degrades the
price over time and the cycle continues.

Rick

[Joe]

Post by Rick
I shake my head at those commericals. The whole alpaca business plan
relies on other people jumping on the band wagon and selling more
alpacas. Of course, the more animals available slowly degrades the
price over time and the cycle continues.

Up here in Canada they had a news report about people in Canada and the
US who have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into pigeons.

That's right folks.... pigeons.

The pitch was that wealthy sheiks in the middle east would buy them as
lures for falcon hunting, and then the pitch changed to growing them for
the food market.

It was like a ponzi scheme where some were getting paid and having their
pigeons bought by the "pigeon king" who would then sell them as initial
stock and breeding stock to new customers.

Farmers in rural areas, Amish, Mennonites were amongst the trusting
souls who invested heavily in their initial stock then went out and
built huge pigeon barns (coops) to house the birds.

Eventually it went pigeons north (belly up) and many people had no
choice but to kill the pigeons because they could no longer afford the
feed bills and their were no customers.

One farmer had over thirty thousand that his family had to kill in one
weekend.

Someone came up with the idea of just releasing the pigeons but since
they were homing pigeons they just came back.

[r***@yahoo.com]

Post by Joe

I shake my head at those commericals.  The whole alpaca business plan
relies on other people jumping on the band wagon and selling more
alpacas.  Of course, the more animals available slowly degrades the
price over time and the cycle continues.

Up here in Canada they had a news report about people in Canada and the
US who have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into pigeons.
That's right folks.... pigeons.
The pitch was that wealthy sheiks in the middle east would buy them as
lures for falcon hunting, and then the pitch changed to growing them for
the food market.
It was like a ponzi scheme where some were getting paid and having their
pigeons bought by the "pigeon king" who would then sell them as initial
stock and breeding stock to new customers.
Farmers in rural areas, Amish, Mennonites were amongst the trusting
souls who invested heavily in their initial stock then went out and
built huge pigeon barns (coops) to house the birds.
Eventually it went pigeons north (belly up) and many people had no
choice but to kill the pigeons because they could no longer afford the
feed bills and their were no customers.
One farmer had over thirty thousand that his family had to kill in one
weekend.
Someone came up with the idea of just releasing the pigeons but since
they were homing pigeons they just came back.

Hah, we used to get "stuff" in the mail from the pigeon king wanting
us
to raise birds. It was quite the scheme as all the breeding pairs
had
to be bought from the "KING".

Surprisingly we passed as we just have a few pigeons, didn't want more
and definitily didn't want to get caught up in a scheme like that.

Randy

[Susan Gawarecki]

Wow, alpaca breeders couldn't ask for better publicity! Why don't we
plant a few stories about the big bucks to be made by raising llamas?

Susan G

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news? I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment. Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s. They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com

[r***@yahoo.com]

Wow, alpaca breeders couldn't ask for better publicity!  Why don't we
plant a few stories about the big bucks to be made by raising llamas?
Susan G

I try not to lie.

Randy

[Rick]

Wow, alpaca breeders couldn't ask for better publicity!  Why don't we
plant a few stories about the big bucks to be made by raising llamas?
Susan G

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news?  I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment.  Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s.  They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

They only make money if they can convince others to raise them and
then resell them as well. It reminds me of when I was a kid and
people would come around door-to-door trying to sell franchises to
perfumes and dish soaps sales. When they were asked if they sold any
actual product, they would alsways say, "It sells themselves." but
they pushed and pushed for the franchise sale. I think alpacas are
the same thing. Considering the price you have to pay for an alpaca,
you would never get your money back in their wool and must push the
sale of the animals. Its truly unfortunate for those who have sunk
their life savings and borrowed money only to find that they have a
difficult time selling these critters in hard times like this. In
fact, our camelid vet noted a substantial decrease in calls in our
area of the country due to people selling off their herds and trying
to recoop some of their losses in alpacas.

I'll stick with my low cost, high fiber quality llamas and Icelandic
sheep.

Regards,

Rick Boesen
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com

[r***@yahoo.com]

Post by Rick

Wow, alpaca breeders couldn't ask for better publicity!  Why don't we
plant a few stories about the big bucks to be made by raising llamas?
Susan G

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news?  I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment.  Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s.  They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com-Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

They only make money if they can convince others to raise them and
then resell them as well.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and
people would come around door-to-door trying to sell franchises to
perfumes and dish soaps sales.  When they were asked if they sold any
actual product, they would alsways say, "It sells themselves." but
they pushed and pushed for the franchise sale.  I think alpacas are
the same thing.  Considering the price you have to pay for an alpaca,
you would never get your money back in their wool and must push the
sale of the animals.  Its truly unfortunate for those who have sunk
their life savings and borrowed money only to find that they have a
difficult time selling these critters in hard times like this.  In
fact, our camelid vet noted a substantial decrease in calls in our
area of the country due to people selling off their herds and trying
to recoop some of their losses in alpacas.
I'll stick with my low cost, high fiber quality llamas and Icelandic
sheep.
Regards,
Rick Boesenwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.comwww.FiberArtFest.com

Isn't that known as a pyrimid scheme ?
I'll stick to my few llamas and goats.
And herd of dogs.

Randy

[Rick]

Post by r***@yahoo.com

Post by Rick

Wow, alpaca breeders couldn't ask for better publicity!  Why don't we
plant a few stories about the big bucks to be made by raising llamas?
Susan G

Post by Rick
Hello group,
Did anyone watch the segment on the alpaca farm in PA the other day on
the CBS evening news?  I was amazed on the fact that this person sunk
$56k in alpacas and "expects" to get $15k for two crias a year later.
Note that this person hasn't actually sold any or has much of a herd
to pick from.
I'm just stunned by this segment.  Although they did note that alpacas
could go the way of emus in the 90s.  They did fall short of actually
stating that sales are few and far between for many people out there
these days.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com
www.FiberArtFest.com-Hidequoted text -

- Show quoted text -

They only make money if they can convince others to raise them and
then resell them as well.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and
people would come around door-to-door trying to sell franchises to
perfumes and dish soaps sales.  When they were asked if they sold any
actual product, they would alsways say, "It sells themselves." but
they pushed and pushed for the franchise sale.  I think alpacas are
the same thing.  Considering the price you have to pay for an alpaca,
you would never get your money back in their wool and must push the
sale of the animals.  Its truly unfortunate for those who have sunk
their life savings and borrowed money only to find that they have a
difficult time selling these critters in hard times like this.  In
fact, our camelid vet noted a substantial decrease in calls in our
area of the country due to people selling off their herds and trying
to recoop some of their losses in alpacas.
I'll stick with my low cost, high fiber quality llamas and Icelandic
sheep.
Regards,
Rick Boesenwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.comwww.FiberArtFest.com

Isn't that known as a pyrimid scheme ?
I'll stick to my few llamas and goats.
And herd of dogs.
Randy- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

I don't know about that. But, it does tend to be a vicious cycle that
unless you have other new alpaca owners, you are not going to be able
sustain a large enough base to sell your alpacas. Of course, as more
and more alpacas are in the country and the economy erodes further and
further, it would seem to be there would be a breaknig point somewhere
and the poeple who sunk their life's savings into this or borrowed
against their home that took them 30 years to pay off are going to be
the ones who are going to suffer for it.

Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michigan
www.FiberArtFest.com
www.QuesoCabezaFarm.com

[r***@yahoo.com]

I don't know about that.  But, it does tend to be a vicious cycle that
unless you have other new alpaca owners, you are not going to be able
sustain a large enough base to sell your alpacas.  Of course, as more
and more alpacas are in the country and the economy erodes further and
further, it would seem to be there would be a breaknig point somewhere
and the poeple who sunk their life's savings into this or borrowed
against their home that took them 30 years to pay off are going to be
the ones who are going to suffer for it.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michiganwww.FiberArtFest.comwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.com

Sure, you had to bring up the economy and ruin my day.
I wonder if some folks will start dumping alpacas and/or llamas out in
the
sticks like they've been doing dogs, horses and some pigs around here.
We're seeing and getting lots of reports of large breed dogs being
dumped.
We keep our eyes & ears open for dumped great pyreneese and then
attempt
to get them.
Folks are taking their horses and dumping them in the national
forests.
Pigs are just getting dumped where ever and causing problems.

Randy

[Rick]

Post by r***@yahoo.com

I don't know about that.  But, it does tend to be a vicious cycle that
unless you have other new alpaca owners, you are not going to be able
sustain a large enough base to sell your alpacas.  Of course, as more
and more alpacas are in the country and the economy erodes further and
further, it would seem to be there would be a breaknig point somewhere
and the poeple who sunk their life's savings into this or borrowed
against their home that took them 30 years to pay off are going to be
the ones who are going to suffer for it.
Rick Boesen
Olivet, Michiganwww.FiberArtFest.comwww.QuesoCabezaFarm.com

Sure, you had to bring up the economy and ruin my day.
I wonder if some folks will start dumping alpacas and/or llamas out in
the
sticks like they've been doing dogs, horses and some pigs around here.
We're seeing and getting lots of reports of large breed dogs being
dumped.
We keep our eyes & ears open for dumped great pyreneese  and then
attempt
to get them.
Folks are taking their horses and dumping them in the national
forests.
Pigs are just getting dumped where ever and causing problems.
Randy

I haven't see or heard of people doing that around here Our farm
inherited a few cats about 3 or 4 years ago but that's about all I've
seen of people dumping animals off. It would be more humane to just
put them to sleep then to let them starve to death out in the wild as
domesticated animals not used to fighting for their food.

Rick

[r***@yahoo.com]

I haven't see or heard of people doing that around here  Our farm
inherited a few cats about 3 or 4 years ago but that's about all I've
seen of people dumping animals off.  It would be more humane to just
put them to sleep then to let them starve to death out in the wild as
domesticated animals not used to fighting for their food.
Rick

Count your blessings. It ruins your day when you have to go out and
shoot feral dogs. Or at least it ruins mine. Dumped dogs seem to
pack
up and go wild real fast in order to survive. They don't fear man and
tend
to get real aggressive and mean. Not pretty at all. We had them
running
in packs of 30 or more at a time for a couple of years. Got in the
pasture
and killed a cria as well as most of our poultry. That was a real
expensive
year in animal losses.

Now we have real hot and tight electric fencing and 4 great pyreneese
guarding
the place. Haven't lost anything in the pasture since then. I've
also stock piled
guns and ammo by each door and had to carry a gun with me at all times
for
2 years. Not a good thing while fencing down by our woods and having
the
wild dogs come out and try to eat you.

Randy

[Susan Gawarecki]

But at least it's not Nebraska!

Susan G

Post by r***@yahoo.com
Count your blessings. It ruins your day when you have to go out and
shoot feral dogs. Or at least it ruins mine. Dumped dogs seem to
pack
up and go wild real fast in order to survive. They don't fear man and
tend
to get real aggressive and mean. Not pretty at all. We had them
running
in packs of 30 or more at a time for a couple of years. Got in the
pasture
and killed a cria as well as most of our poultry. That was a real
expensive
year in animal losses.
Now we have real hot and tight electric fencing and 4 great pyreneese
guarding
the place. Haven't lost anything in the pasture since then. I've
also stock piled
guns and ammo by each door and had to carry a gun with me at all times
for
2 years. Not a good thing while fencing down by our woods and having
the
wild dogs come out and try to eat you.
Randy

[r***@yahoo.com]

Post by Susan Gawarecki
But at least it's not Nebraska!
Susan G

You got that right.
There I would probably have to pay taxes on the wild dogs.

Randy