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OUR STORY - 2004
I “Lee” having been captured by these wonderful animals in the early
1990’s at a local fair knew right then and there that someday
I would have a herd of my own. But at 20 something and just
barely out of college and with not even a house of my own I
new my dreams of owning my own alpacas would have to wait.
Now some 10 years later with a wonderful family consisting
of my wife Nikki, 9 year old son Austin and 3 year old
daughter Alicia, 4 horses, 2 dogs, and the completion of our
new home the time had finally come.
GOING BACK IN TIME
A few years earlier I had planted the seed for the idea of alpacas in
Nikki’s head, a life long animal lover herself and
equestrian growing up showing horses I presented the idea of
an “ALPACA”. AL WHAT?? This seed is going to take some nurturing. What is
an alpaca?? Oh, do you mean a mini Lama? NO!! Luckily for me
we were attending a small local horseshow where our horse
“Nikki’s Painted Charm” was competing in a barrel race.
There was also a small local alpaca farm there with a few of
their alpacas. I then introduced Nikki to the alpacas and
that was all it took one visit with these wonderful animals
and she too was hooked.
Nikki being one to throw herself into an idea 110%, her quest for
knowledge began. We found ourselves spending hours
researching on the internet, reading books, visiting farms,
and attending seminars as often as we could. Ok so now I am
beginning to wonder if I have made a huge mistake by getting
my wife involved at this point. Her enthusiasm began to
interfere with my already lack of free time. We were running our construction business, building our new house,
finishing my father in laws house, and let’s not forget
raising the children. Alicia had just turned 2, Austin 7 and
now Nikki wants me to attend a two day seminar in NH. “As
if.”
So now “what” tell my wife this idea and dream of mine is not as
important as I had lead her to believe or just man up and
go. Truth be known I felt I couldn’t afford the time and
also couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity. I was only
able to attend one day of the two day seminar “Purchase
Promote and Prosper in the alpaca business” sponsored by
ALPACAS, LLC which is made up of 3 farms one of which is
Lightfoot farms. I am glad I did. In fact, it was the
information from this seminar that made our decision final.
We went from information gathering to business planning.
We owe this final decision in large part to Walter & Doris
Van Buskirk of Lightfoot Farms in Kennebunk Maine.
 It was our visits to Lightfoot
Farms where we experienced what we feel an alpaca farm should
be. At the time it was the home to some 50+ Huacaya alpacas
and we could see this farm was truly different. First they
took the time and carefully researched and selected only the
genetics that were proving to stand the test of time and
consistently producing high quality animals. Therefore their
breeding stock consists of genetics such as Peruvian Bueno,
PPeruvian Felix, PPPeruvian Royal Fawn, Peruvian Hemingway,
PPeruvianCaligula, PPPeruvian Dracula, and many more.
When you step foot on their farm you will see the difference
a carefully thought out breeding program with high quality
animals makes.
We owe great thanks to Walter & Doris for not only enabling us to attend
very educational seminars, but for taking us under their
wing and going way above and beyond what is expected to help
us try to learn everything we possibly can. They are
extremely knowledgeable and a wonderful couple to work with.
We highly recommend this farm to anyone looking to enjoy the
wonderful life of alpacas. It is thanks to them that we are
off to a great start with our high quality Huacaya females.
Our mission is to continue our quest for more knowledge,
and to do our
part in bringing the Nations herd to the next level.
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