So how's the alpaca farmers doing in this recession?

[Crazy Dave]

I don't see their commercials anymore :shrug:

[tridim]

1. I've just started seeing them here.

It looks like it would be fun, assuming they're not used for food.

[murray hill farm]

14. What are alpacas used for?

Wool? I have always wondered when I saw the ads on TV. It must be costly to keep them...so you would have to get a whole big lot of wool...or whatever?

[madrchsod]

2. the commercials still run on dishnet...

there`s always a market for alpaca

[WillieDee]

3. alpaca market LOL

The only ones making money are those who have alpacas to sell to other suckers. It's a scam.

[Ellen Forradalom]

4. Not necessarily

I know some alpaca farmers. The beasts aren't a sole means of support but like any other large, ruminating piece of capital they can add value if managed properly. Not to mention being much more of a joy than real estate.

[Crazy Dave]

7. And there's a sucker born every minute

Pretty recession proof in that aspect.

[nashville_brook]

5. oh dear -- i've never seen alpaca ads, but i'd be quite tempted!!

it's a long-time dream to farm a few dozen acres with sheep, alpacas and goats.

we all have our weird fantasies. mine involves long-haired farm animals.

[Crazy Dave]

6. Just about any trade that advertises on TV or radio....

...or in the back of magazines is pretty much a pyramid scheme. In the commercials all you see is people saying, "I have so much fun and I make so much money, etc."
If you do a google on alpaca farmers you'll see dozens of news articles and stories of people who get in and make money mostly from breeding and selling the animals to people that respond to those commercials than they do selling the hair which has a very small market demand now made smaller with the flood of new farmers over the last four or five years.

[nashville_brook]

9. my fantasy isn't so much to "make money" -- it's much worse!

i'd spin the wool and weave fabric on a giant wooden loom. i'd make goat cheese and grow asparagus. it's truly a twisted vision -- :)

[Kolesar]

20. So, you are probably pessimistic about Amway

You know, soap smells better than a wet farm animal.

[Warpy]

8. Dunno, but I'm spinning black alpaca right now

two pounds of it, for a shawl and some fingerless gloves. I guess some of us are keeping them in business.

[nashville_brook]

10. get the hell out of town!!! you spin?!

omg. i'm so jealous.

[Warpy]

11. You can learn how to do it in 5 minutes

but it takes a couple of months before you stop producing rope, er, "novelty yarn," and start producing something you can actually use.

I have a Dutch wheel I bought as part of a starter kit. The instructions were in Dutch but "Waat er mis kan gan" was self explanatory with the illustrations and there was enough fibre for me to produce some fine rope, er novelty yarn, until I got the hang of it.

It's one of those great things to do while you're sinking into TV.

[Crazy Dave]

12. You reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Velazquez

And his painting "The Fable of Arachne"



I've actually seen this painting in the Prado and the spinning wheel looked very real.

[AnneD]

13. Well get out of town....AGAIN

I knit. I would love to weave, but I can handle spinning and knitting. Gosh, we really must have been seperated at birth. What a small world....my oh my.

[Warpy]

15. I did weaving first

Then I taught myself how to knit when my weaving stuff was packed up and if I didn't have something to do with my hands they were going to be wrapped tightly around my soon to be ex husband's neck and I'm not beautiful, rich, or well connected enough for an acquittal.

Then I bought a wheel and taught myself how to spin after I moved to NM and could buy wool right off the critter's back.

I learned all this stuff out of books.

[AnneD]

16. And all this time....

I thought your moniker just reflected your quirky personality....::rofl:

I have to laugh about your ex. Some of the funniest conversations I use to have with Nurse friends was how we would off our ex's etc. We would all have great ways to medically kill them but the darn bodies were always a hang up. Since I lived in NM at the time I was more for dropping them in a canyon and letting nature take it's course-you know....circle of life and all. Those were always hysterically funny murders committed over coffee with good friends.

[Warpy]

17. I had a chainsaw then

and I still have one.

Fortunately for men, I'm averse to marriage.

[AnneD]

18. I always tell my older single Nurse friends....

to be careful. After a certain age-all men want is a Nurse and a purse. They look at us and they see dollar signs.

Why use a chainsaw when a wood chipper would do.:evilgrin:

[nashville_brook]

21. weaving and fiber art/craft was big in east tennessee (my "other" home)...

it's one of those things that i didn't have time for as an undergrad -- unfortunately. there were wonderful weaving facilities at ETSU, and lots of people to learn from. it's one of those things that i've promised myself i'd "come back to" -- pottery is also on that list. i did actually do ceramics in the university and am damn glad b/c it doesn't seem so alien to me now. i can totally see myself getting back into it as soon as i find a cheap kiln.

so...spinning in new mexico...good for you! sounds like a wonderful life!

[Mojorabbit]

22. I want a wheel so badly

I suck using a drop spindle. Novelty(cough) yarn is the best I can do. Pitiful results. I have friends who just took to a spindle naturally. I am not so lucky.

[Warpy]

23. I take it you've got the "drop" part down perfectly

I sucked at using a hand spindle until I learned how to do a long draft using a wheel. I can now do both, the hand spindle being a "take with" option when I know I'll be sitting around waiting for an appointment.

I got the basic spinning kit from Halcyon Yarn. It was a great deal at the time: a good, sturdy wheel and enough different fibres to get me started.

[Joanne98]

19. I have a friend who works for an Alpaca farmer.

His boss owns 7 properties. Must be good money.