Whispering Willow Ranch

Ken has had some experience raising animals: steer and Barbados sheep. I always dreamed of raising animals but never had the opportunity to. Not wanting to go into this blindly we began our quest for knowledge. Visiting ranches and asking questions and just listening to the experience and love flowing out of the mouths of alpaca owner/breeders was one way a lot of information was gained. Visiting the websites of ranches and reading the information they had available was another. Seminars, with hands on lessons and books are still atteneded. Halter show, talking to ranchers and judges, taking notes and starting all over again! The learning never ends. Looking around the ranch, it could be seen that there was a lot of work ahead. An old barn that needed gutting and updating, sheds to move or tear down, fences to build and a "swamp" that needed to be dried up, leveled and graded, drainage pipes and ditches installed so it would work as a pasture. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jumping four years ahead in time we find ourselves still learning something new every day about these majestic creatures. The alpacas have a unique way of never running out of ways to teach us something new. We find ourselves loving the animals as much, if not more, today as we did in the beginning. We can say with confidence we are a long way away from knowing everything about alpacas. I believe that is what keeps us in the alpaca industry. We enjoy the shows we attend and the wonderful people we have met along the way. We have begun to do our own breeding here on the ranch and durring the summer of 2008 we recieved our first cria from those breedings. We are very happy with the outcome; we are very excited about the cria that are coming in '09.