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Alpaca Breeder Farm

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My 12 year old daughter Kali, an animal lover, had seen an Alpaca Owners and Breeder's Association (AOBA)commercial on Animal Planet that described the growing US Alpaca Industry. After a thorough web search for information on the industry, we decided to visit several Alpaca ranches in the Northern Illinois area. Our first visit, as well as the place we finally bought our alpacas, was at the Andean Vista Ranch, Barrington, Illinois. The owners, Gail and Paul Wasserstein were welcoming to us as visitors. It was easy to tell that they were passionate about their Alpacas as well getting others excited about potential of the industry.

It did not take long before our family decided it was a very interesting investment alternative but more importantly a wonderful learning experience for my daughter. Since my wife and I are both college professors at small liberal arts colleges in the Chicagoland area, we decided that it would be a great opportunity for Kali to find out that you can make a living at something that you are passionate about—animals. My educational and practical background is in business, in particular, the area of entrepreneurship. My wife's educational training, on the other hand, is in Biology. It seemed only natural the we could combine the business and biology aspect of our careers in the family business. This would not only provide a great opportunity to learn as well as a business investment but also give us a chance to do something together as a family.

The Midnight Moon Alpaca Ranch herd began in August 2008 with the purchase of two Suri Alpacas, Carmen Electra and Sequoyo. Our small, but growing herd, is domiciled at the Andean Vista Ranch in Barrington, IL (AVR). We are planning to keep our foundation herd to 5-7 animals stressing quality over quantity. Thanks to the generous advise and hard work by AVR's Gail, Jeremy and Paul, I have become what my wife refers to "a gentleman alpaca farmer".

We look forward to many more years in the Suri alpaca industry!