Sun King Alpacas sits on three acres of land that have been divided into 5 separate, fenced areas, not including a generous space for composting. Besides the house, there are two barns, two shelters and a tool shed. There is one barn for the girls, one barn for the boys, and two shelters in adjoining pastures. The shelters and barns all have automatic watering and movable feeding stations that hang on a rail. On three acres, I'm always close to my animals. I can see and hear them from my back door. Three acres is all that is needed to raise alpacas. More land would be harder to manage, more work, and more expensive. I could have had a couple of horses here but they, also, are more work than alpacas. The house is apart and private with even room for people to work or lay out on a hammock. Also, a three acre alpaca ranch has enough area to support 15 alpacas without wearing down the pasture to dust. Alpacas have padded feet so they do not tear up the ground like animals with hoofs. They eat the grass but do not pull it up by the roots, instead they cut it off with their lower teeth. Alpacas are easy to manage. They weigh no more than about 200 pounds, and are gentle. They can be pastured at 5 to ten per acre.
It is important to give alpacas plenty of space for feeding. They need three feet, or a little more, between feeding stations because, like people, not all alpacas get along well with each other, while others seem to be great friends. Alpacas have individual personalities which makes working with them a delight and a challenge. When people ask me what I do, I tell them, "I raise alpacas," to which they frequently respond, "What's an alpaca?" More and more people are learning about alpacas through TV commercials and newspaper articles so the question "What's an alpaca?" is not as common a question as it used to be.
At Sun King Alpacas, we have some great bloodlines from 3,000 miles away that we are making available to the south eastern U.S. We limit breedings to our herdsires to 5 per year to outside ranchers which is very exclusive compared to many breeders. This keeps us from diluting their bloodlines too much and enables us to deliver the best care to our own and our guest alpacas. We offer a fine Florida experience for Suri females at our ranch. There is plenty of shade, good browsing, and private pasture space with shelter from rain at the Sun King Alpaca Ranch.
Helping other alpaca ranchers is what this very young industry is becoming known for. Sun King Alpacas, with over 5 years of experience within this industry, is ready to help start or improve your herd.
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