We started Vanity Alpacas in March of 2006. We did it for several reasons but mostly for a change. It took several months of research (Beth did this) before we decided to purchase our first animals in New Mexico. We are located on 1.25 acres in Peoria, Az. just on the outskirts of Phoenix. We call this our alpaca resort because we make use of the front, side and back yards for movement of the animals. In the back yard they are located just beyond the pool, the putting green, the basketball court, the trampoline and swing sets. Beth also has a hair salon with a couple of chairs and a tanning bed.

After all was said and done, we had purchased 12 animals (about 9 more than most farms would suggest you start with) before we had our first cria in May of 2006.  We (John) built a 43 by 16 shaded stall area with all the goodies (water, electric, evaporative coolers) that can be divided into 3 12 x 12 stalls and a small tack room. We used swing gates for all the separation so that it can be re-configured as needed. We built a second smaller covered stall area with all the same goodies to support animals being in the front yard.  All the grass we had put in back in 1996 that we subsequently let die because we didn't want to maintain it, is back.....we hope that we (John) don't need to cut it too often.

We don't expect to make tons of money or get a big tax write-off, but we are very serious about making it a successful business and an enjoyable business. The animals themselves take care of the second part along with the fun of competing on the show circuit, selecting breedings and of course birthing the little critters. By being enjoyable, we're halfway to the successful part as well. Making the business break even and then finally recovering our initial investment will take a lot of work and a lot of patience. Everybody has a different plan when entering a new venture, we decided to buy the best animals/breedings that we can afford with a focus on genetics and fleece quality.

Our Vanity Alpaca business goals are listed below. We try to keep these simple, precise and measurable. Although we take somewhat of an engineering approach to this business, it is farming and the animals don't seem to always have the same goals in mind....so we have had to be flexible:

1. We want the quality of our crias to fall into the top 10% of all alpacas tested based on skin biopsies and fleece characterisitcs.
We achieve this initially by acquiring high quality females, we skin test them, fleece test them, then we breed to top 5% males. This process doesn't happen overnight so the real goal initially is to keep the quality of our crias moving in the positive direction. As we strive to meet our goals, our customers can be assured they are purchasing very high quality alpacas based on the testing of our DAMs and the genetics of the service sires.
2. We will maintain a foundation herd of about 8 to 10 breeding females and 4 herdsires. We will offer a very small number of outside breedings each year to our herdsires.
3. Our goal is to sell 5 crias/alpacas a year. Occasionally we will sell foundation females within a package that we know will produce high quality crias.

We started thinking about alpaca products from the start but got serious in late 2008 before starting Vanity Apparel in February of 2009. You would think that the worst time to start a new venture was during the economic crisis. What the heck are we thinking?!?! It was simple for us, working from home, aligned with alpacas, and someone has to start a resurgence of "Made In America" where 100% means 100%.