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Alpaca Breeder Farm

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Howdy.
We're Chuck and Nancy LaBresh of Silver Thunder Alpacas and we invite you to come and explore the new frontier in luxury-fiber livestock right here in Northeast Tennessee. The old timers call this Upper East Tennessee, and it's the very best part of Tennessee, otherwise known as the Greatest State in the Land of the Free. We're just six miles out of Greeneville, Tennessee and five miles from the North Carolina line (whose ridge tops we can see from our rocking-chair front porch if we look toward the rising sun). Silver Thunder Alpacas is raising wonderful huacaya alpacas near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in land settled early in the history of this great country. We love Tennessee and it's proud heritage. Hey, Davy Crockett was born right here in Greene County. How cool is that?

We came here because it's green. We wanted our alpacas to have rolling green pastures and ourselves to enjoy wonderful vistas of farms, fields and mountains. We love the seasons. And the ever-changing climate. And it's green. Did we mention it's green? We love Tennessee. It's our home.

And we love our alpacas. We changed our whole lives to raise these amazing animals. We left behind the hustle and the traffic and the crowds of suburban Los Angeles and searched out a place where we could live in open land with room to breath and raise critters that are a joy to be around.

We started small. Bought our first alpaca in California and boarded her at the farm we bought her from for the whole first year. I tell you, that was the best way to learn how to care for alpacas: Like a whole one-year apprenticeship. Births, shots, breeding, shearing . . . we saw and did it all. Had our first alpaca baby born to us: Gingerbread, born on Christmas Eve, 2003. (What a Christmas present!) That year we drove 90 miles each way every Saturday. (Since there is no edge of town in LA., unless you go really, really far.) And that's how we learned to care for alpacas. (I highly recommend this learning method to anyone - and you can do it here at Silver Thunder if you'd like!) Then we looked for a place to raise the alpacas on our own (because that's how you fully become an expert.)

Eventually we made our location choice, sold the house, loaded up everything. And we came to Tennessee. We exchanged California brown for Tennessee green. We brought 3 alpacas out from California. And we started to grow our herd. Slowly. One baby at a time. Learning from every one. We didn't rush things. Just spent our time wisely, building our farm, growing our herd and growing in knowledge and experience. With that experience came the confidence that nowadays we know what we're doing. We love alpacas. We know about alpacas. And therefore we have something to offer others newly interested in alpacas. We know what someone just starting out feels like, because "we were one". To that we've added experience. And a desire to pass it on to others.

Now it's five years later, and we have 10 babies under our belt. The herd has grown to thirteen. Not from buying more alpacas, but from breeding our own. (Well, we did purchase one more this year, a stunning Jr. Herdsire named Dazzler. You'll have to come to the farm to see why he's so stunning. But in his only two shows, he's taken home two blues and a Reserve Championship, so the judges think him stunning as well. Anyway . . . ) We make really good alpacas here. Good, solid, straight, even pretty we like to think. And we'd like to introduce them to the world. We're now ready to start selling. Thus we've signed up for AlpacaStreet.

So take a look at our animals. Take a look at our website: silverthunder.com (Lot's of good alpaca info there.) And please come and visit the farm. We'd love to show you our alpacas. We'd love to show you their wonderful fleece and the products we make from it right here on the farm. And we'd love to show you Tennessee. Come on over! You'll have a great time.

Thanks,
Chuck and Nancy


Proud members of:
AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association)
ARI (Alpaca Registry, Inc.)
SeAA (Southeast Alpaca Association)
CABO (Carolina Alpaca Breeders and Owners)
TAA (Tennessee Alpaca Association - we designed their website, check it out: tnalpaca.org)
Pick Tennessee Products
and now
AlpacaStreet Breeder Program