|
Seven years ago Howard Beaudry fell in love. Twice. The first time it was with his wife, Lisa. The second time he lost his heart to a wide-eyed, furry, four-legged creature with a warm gaze and a little black nose.
His wife wasn't jealous. She fell, too. "I took one look at an alpaca and that was it," says Howard. "There was something about him. Looking at him just made me feel so calm."
Howard and Lisa Beaudry own an alpaca farm, North East Alpacas, on Christian Lane in Whately, with his brother, Michael, and sister-in-law, Marion. They live next door to each other with 18 alpacas, members of the camel family, living in a shelter between their homes just outside their back doors.
"Look at that view," Howard says of the alpacas, some with chins resting atop the fence that protects them from straying and predators. "And there's Mount Sugarloaf rising behind them in the distance. I asked Lisa to marry me while we were on Sugarloaf looking down at the barn."
Howard, a full-time firefighter in Chicopee, says he looks forward to spending all of his time herding alpacas when he retires.
The Beaudrys, Lisa and Howard, are in their forties and expect to welcome seven babies, called crias, this year. They are due between May and October.
The couples started their farm with five females. "Boy, have we grown," says Howard.
"They're beautiful animals to have around," he says. "And the lifestyle we've chosen in raising these guys is what really attracted me. I wanted to do something a little less stressful in my life."
At the time the Beaudrys decided to become alpaca farmers, Howard was running three Subway sandwich shops with his brother. Howard was also working as a full-time firefighter. Mike was a full-time iron worker and still is. Lisa works as a full-time labor and delivery nurse and Marion works full time at Baystate Gas.
"I went to an alpaca seminar in 2000 and when I got back I convinced my brother to sell the Subway shops and invest in the animals," says Howard. "He thought I was crazy at first, but now we all love this life and these animals." The four have been running the farm together since 2001. Before that, Howard and Mike boarded their animals.
Howard says a typical day with the soft, gentle mammals consists of giving them breakfast and fresh water, cleaning their stalls and putting down new bedding, putting them in the pasture and feeding them grain at night before it's time for humans and animals to sleep.
"We're considering getting a guard llama, a guard dog or placing a radio out with the alpacas," he says. "Llamas get along with alpacas and they're great. We're concerned about coyotes around here and a guard llama would be aggressive. She'd challenge any coyote. She'd kick it and scare it away. The alpacas aren't aggressive like that," says Howard. "The radio is another idea. We've been told if we play talk radio all night, predators will stay away from the voices."
Alpacas are native to the Andes Mountains of South America. Lisa says they are prized for their luxurious fiber, which is harvested once a year by shearing.
"We even shear the babies," she says. "As soon as they can stand, we shear them. We do it right away because the amniotic fluid can affect the fiber."
Lisa says alpacas are no longer being imported from South America. "There are 50,000 in this country." "People make sweaters and blankets and the products are absolutely beautiful. They're so soft. Lots of people hand their stuff down from generation to generation," says Lisa, a knitter who sells her alpacas' fibers at the farm.
All of the yarn the couples sell comes from the fibers of the herd. They also sell stuffed animals, finger puppets, hats, scarves and socks, some made with fiber from their herd and some from other alpacas, and Lisa says the products are all hypo-allergenic. "And this fiber is lighter, stronger and warmer than wool," says Lisa.
"You make things with your own alpacas' fibers and you cherish them forever," she says. "This is a scarf made from fiber taken from Maxine. It's so amazing. This is Maxine's scarf."
The Beaudrys shear the fleece once a year and each animal yields about 5 to 10 pounds of fiber. Some of the fiber is sent to a co-op, America's Alpacas, and some is sent to small processing mills to be spun into yarn for knitting, crocheting and weaving. The price of the fiber depends on the quality and weight of the fleece.
The Beaudrys say they love New England. Howard says alpacas adapt well to any climate. "As long as they have a three-sided shelter to protect them from the elements, they're OK," he says.
Besides a three-sided structure, they have an old tobacco barn they'll eventually convert for storage and they are building a new barn.
Each year the Beaudrys welcome new additions to the herd. "When we decided we wanted to move to Whately, we literally knocked on farmers' doors looking for enough land to build two houses and have enough room for a herd," says Howard.
Baby alpacas are born after an 11- to 11-month gestation period. On average, they weigh between 15 and 19 pounds at birth. They often stand within the first hour to nurse. Alpacas live 15 to 25 years. The average grown alpaca weighs about 150 pounds.
"They immediately become part of the family," says Lisa. "Take one look at them and how could they not?"
"The four of us take turns naming the babies," says Lisa. "We went through a presidential thing for a while," she says. "Others are named because of something that's happening at the time of their birth."
Franklin, the couples' big guy; Lincoln, the wrestler; Hayes, the energetic one; Polk, the one with polka dots; and Coolidge, the one they believe will be shown and will "do good things," are named after presidents.
Lisa says Stormy was named because he was born during a storm and Beta was named after a niece. Fantasia, Picket, Gabriella, Cantania, Rhea, Sienna, Ely, Sophie, Maxine, Emma and Anthony are their others.
Howard and Lisa say their 19th alpaca, Artero, spends two months of the year with them and is the herd sire at a breeding farm.
"You just can't help but get in a good mood when you're around these guys," says Lisa.
She says, for the most part, someone is always home and with the herd. "We try to all work different schedules so there's someone here to check on them at all times," says Lisa.
"These guys are great employees," she says. "They always show up for work and they never complain. They're not high-maintenance."
The couples are using six of their 20 acres to raise their 18 alpacas, but Howard says he'd like to continue to add to the herd through birth and purchasing more. He says they'll add another three of the 20 acres to use for herding this year.
He says the best part of raising alpacas is the quality of life it brings to him and his family. Lisa has three children and Mike and Marion have one.
"There's not nearly the stress you get in other jobs when you're working with these guys," says Howard. "It's nice to live on a farm in a great little town, too."
He says he gets to keep his real job and still live his dream. "Someday, I'll just be living my dream," says Howard. "Being part of the poop crew is the worst part of the job and that's not even so bad," he says.
Lisa says she loves meeting the people who come to the farm to visit the animals and buy their products. "It's fun to teach people about the alpacas and watch them fall in love like we did."
She says becoming as attached as she does is sometimes a drawback. "If they get sick or something happens to one of them, it's so hard. It's also hard when someone wants to pay a good amount for your favorite."
The alpaca farmers, who had no experience with the animals before they began their venture, say they all knew they wanted to farm, but didn't want to kill animals. "This was perfect and these creatures are so peaceful and majestic," says Howard.
"We'll grow as we go," says Howard. "We'll see where we end up and with how many. We'll stop when we feel comfortable."
The Beaudrys have plenty of room to grow with their four-legged children and plan to make the most of it.
"Life couldn't be better," says Lisa.
North East Alpacas is located at 127 Christian Lane in Whately.
For more information, to request a tour, visit the farm or purchase products call (413) 665-6677 or (413) 665-6622. Contact Howard, Lisa, Mike or Marion by e-mail at neabreeder@aol.com.
North East Alpacas offers support services, including sales, boarding, stud, farm planning, local transport and financing.
Writen by: reporter Anita Fritz from The Recorder
June 13, 2005
| 
