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My family was involved with home building and health care.
Their support with
Sun King Alpacas has been crucial.
I worked for the National Association of Home Builders at the housing center in Washington, D.C. in the economics department. We forecasted housing starts and published statistics for the home building industry. It was exciting but the city life was not for me. I moved to the suburbs of Chicago and became Executive VP of Operations for two skilled nursing facilities. That was rewarding but stressful. All through my professional life I carried the memory of the farm my grandparents owned in Florida. My grandparents retired to Palmetto, Florida about 50 miles north of Sun King Alpacas. My grandfather raised cattle and my grandmother raised peacocks. As a child, I visited frequently helping with chores around the farm. It was good. I loved their lifestyle, so I have had a life-long goal to do something similar.
I moved to North Port, Florida in 1999 and bought a house on 3 acres with a barn, a pond and plenty of shade trees. For a long time, I wondered what I wanted to do with this property. I thought of pigs, but my neighbor did not seem to like that idea, and I would not like to butcher them. Cows are big and boring, and I'm just as happy buying meat at the store. Goats have their own set of problems, they eat everything in sight and you can't turn your back on them or they might butt you. They also can be very vocal to an irritating degree. In late 1999, my mother sent me an article about alpacas and I had an "AH-HA" moment, they were ideal. As you can see, I chose alpacas for the lifestyle, as well as the investment. Everything I read said that alpacas could be raised on just 3 acres of land. So I got two pregnant females. That went so well, I began looking for another couple of females. While attending the Florida Alpaca show, a suri breeder friend told me of a ranch that had a female suri for sale. I talked to the owner about the female they had for sale, my ranch, and the booming alpaca market in Florida and she said, "John, you need some boys and I know someone who has some nice suri boys she wants to sell and she is real nice and easy-going." Since I love a good win-win situation, I went out to Seattle to see the two females and 5 boys. They were all fine animals so we purchased them. I continue to keep in touch with my alpaca friends in the NW.
I love ranch life with the fresh air and the clear skies. Raising the alpacas is my priority but living on the ranch offers many other benefits. Gardening is a wonderful thing once you get to understand plants, and how to care for them. On my three acres, we have areas for gardening. We grow all kinds of things year around. We have 15 citrus trees, corn, sugar cane, Caribbean pumpkin, calaloo, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and loofa gourds; all kinds of vegetables. A few chickens and ducks add to the atmosphere, and fresh eggs are great.
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