Anglesey Alpacas began at the start of of 2016 when we bought a small starter herd. Tim and I (Elaine) had decided to move to Anglesey and work on a new venture together as a complete change from our previous careers. We looked at different possibilities but we kept coming back to alpacas. They are so lovely, have such incredible fleeces, are gentle on the land, and are friendly and inquisitive animals. As soon as we saw alpacas we knew we wanted some of our own.

 

Following a move to larger premises we had our first cria (baby alpacas) born the following year, Iwan, Luna, Olaf and Morgan. This was incredibly exciting but Iwan who was our first cria had been born premature and nearly died Little Iwan's Story  so we really felt like we hit the ground running! There were tough times in the early days as neither of us had a farming background, everything was such a steep learning curve and we were both working full time as well, however I have always loved animals and dreamed of having my own farm. I have given homes to many rescue animals over the years and wanted to continue to do this on a bigger scale. Having a farm meant I could follow my dreams.

 

Many of our animals are rescues or rehomes - some of which have come from awful situations. We are happy that we have been able to rehabilitate them and integrate them into our herd where they recover and flourish in the company of their own species. Three years later and we have a herd of 40 alpacas, all colours and sizes and with individual personalities to match. Learning how to care for these beautiful animals has been very fulfilling, and we have made many friends with other alpaca breeders along the way which has made the journey informative and fun!.

 

The alpaca community in the UK are very supportive of each other and this has helped us enormously. Now we are staring to work with the alpacas doing 'Alpaca Therapy' and this is very rewarding work. Having been a teacher/Lecturer for 25 years means I am still interested in Education and am looking forward to forming links with Schools, Colleges and Universities. We love what we do, we are meeting lots of new people doing our Alpaca Activities, and it's great to see how much others enjoy our alpacas too, it's magical to see the effect they have on people. However without doubt the best part of the job is spending quiet moments with my alpacas where their soft humming and gentle manner is soothing and relaxing, and they never stop making me smile!

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Thanks for reading and we look forward to meeting you!

Elaine