Good Shepherd Farm Alpacas

I guess you could say our farm began many years ago when my
Grandparents Dallas and Nellie Estep first started. With my
grandfather's love for animals and my grandmother’s love for gardening
we now have a beautiful farm for our alpacas. While my family’s main
interest was horses, they had several other animals around when my
dad and his brother and sisters were growing up. Back then they raised
cattle, horses, chickens, and pigs.

The barn that now houses our alpacas was built over 30 years ago by
my grandfather, dad, and uncle. The wood used to build it was timbered
from the property and sent to a saw mill that was family owned. You can
see that the barn is very special to us.

The idea of alpacas started several years ago when my husband was watching
television and the “I love Alpacas” commercial came on. The idea got sidelined
for a while (a three year old and a new born baby) but always remained a
probability. Before it was time for our youngest son to begin preschool we began
to look into the different types of livestock we could raise and then we
remembered
alpacas. We began our research and decided that raising alpacas was what we
wanted to do. I had always been a “crafty person” so having livestock that we
can use it fleece and make so many different items from really interested me.

After reading so much about alpacas on the internet, it was time to visit an
alpaca farm. Then, as they say, “The rest was history” We were hooked! We
visited several farms and purchased our first bred female in December, 2005
from Glory B Farm located here in West Virginia. We boarded they’re until we
had our fencing in place. They arrived on our farm on Groundhogs day. It was
the most exciting Groundhogs day ever!

As I try to put into words the way I feel about these amazing creatures,
something keeps coming to mind.

I AM SO BLESSED!

I am blessed when I have these wonderful animals waiting at the gate for me in
the morning.
That sure beats morning rush hour traffic.

I am blessed when I am at the barn and it is so peaceful, and all I hear is the
quiet hum of my alpacas. That's much better than working in a noisy office.

I am so blessed when I can watch my children and my alpacas play in the same
pasture and not have to worry about our livestock injuring our children.
That’s something you can’t do with horses or cattle.

I am blessed when I hear my son say “Mom, lets go watch the alpacas” Their
even fun
for a four year old to watch! Sure beats putting them in front of the TV for hours.

I am blessed when our local newspaper comes to do an interview and my seven
year
old answers all of the questions before we get a chance to.
Children are so smart and soak in knowledge like a sponge!

I am blessed because my family is so much closer because of our farm.
Before we had our farm, we would only see them on holidays.

I AM SO BLESSED!

I can go on and on….

As I write this, we are anxiously awaiting our first cria (baby alpaca) to be born
on our farm. I thought we were excited when we were getting started. This has
been a wonderful experience for us. We cannot wait to see what the future hold
for us.

We hope that our children will be second generation alpaca farmers.