Actually, it’s more like 120 alpacas here. I ran across this wonderful operation last week in the Willamette Valley south of Portland. For one thing, they grow barley sprouts to feed the animals—25 tons a year—something they tell me is being done on large scale by some dairies, especially in Europe. It’s not all the food for the animals (they also graze), but a significant amount—high in protein, produced on site, a win-winner. No fossil fuels used.
They were shearing the alpacas and I shot photos.
Wings and A Prayer, 18100 S. Hwy. 99W, Amity, OR 97101
https://www.wingsandaprayeralpacas.com/index.html
About Lloyd Kahn
Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the
Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include
Shelter,
Shelter II (1978),
Home Work (2004),
Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008),
Tiny Homes (2012), and
Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
Actually, it’s more like 120 alpacas here. I ran across this wonderful operation last week in the Willamette Valley south of Portland. For one thing, they grow barley sprouts to feed the animals—25 tons a year—something they tell me is being done on large scale by some dairies, especially in Europe. It’s not all the food for the animals (they also graze), but a significant amount—high in protein, produced on site, a win-winner. No fossil fuels used.
very cool that they (and apparently others) are growing barley sprouts for the animals. Never heard of that before.
nice bunch of animals.
We have a handful of these crazy camelids at our place. Having spent long days as a roustabout shearing these beasts, it aint all fun and games. For one, they weigh a fair bit. Second, when they get cranky, they spit their bile all over you. Not fun. The other 364 days of the year are all god though…
Wow, cool. I have friends that live in Salem and I bet they'd get a kick out of seeing these alpacas.