BULLY HOLLOW ALPACA FARM
by Anita Cohan
Reprinted from Penn Lines, a publication of Warren Electric Cooperative

WARREN COUNTY is full of fun, interesting and different things to see and do.  For something truly unique, just get in the car and take Route 62 south, about nine miles off of Route 6, and you’ll run into a beautiful country setting that might resemble the pastures of Peru. It’s there you’ll find the Bully Hollow Alpaca Farm, where you can catch a glimpse of the furry South American animals themselves.

Named for Bully Hollow Creek, which runs along one side of the property, the farm is an educational and enjoyable adventure for all to enjoy. Started by Walt and Monica Snavley and their four teenagers, the farm deals in Alpaca sales, breeding and boarding, and in the soft fleece that these animals produce.

“We had this large barn and pasture area and wanted to farm something,” recalls Monica. “I started to do some research in 2005 and found the alpacas to be very interesting.”

Alpacas are domesticated South American mammals that come from the camel family. Closely related to the llama, alpacas also resemble sheep, but are larger and have long, erect necks. They are approximately 36 inches tall at their shoulders and weigh between 100 and 200 pounds.

Before the Snavleys started their own farm, they visited nearby farms in Titusville and Bradford and got some valuable hands-on experience.

“The alpaca farmers were so willing to teach and have such a great networking system between them,” Monica relates. “We decided to invest in the alpacas.”

They purchased their first alpacas in 2006 and now have seven, including one “cria,” or baby alpaca, born in April.

Alpaca care is fairly simple. Pastures are cleaned daily. The alpacas pasture graze and are fed hay, supplemented with grain in the winter months. They also get a monthly de-worming shot and undergo quarterly blood testing and toe-nail clipping. A female alpaca starts breeding at about two years of age. Gestation is  is 11 months, so they can produce an offspring once a year until they pass away. Life expectancy is approximately 20 years. They are intelligent and easy to train and handle. Alpacas have a herding instinct and need the companionship of other alpacas to thrive.

The price of an alpaca can range from $1,500 to $500,000, depending on the conformation and fleece qualities. Fleece sells for $2-6 an ounce. And then there are the stud fees, which can draw $3,500. Alpaca apparel is softer and less scratchy than wool, making these furry animals very valuable.

The Snavleys have Huacaya alpacas, which have fluffy fleece with a waviness or crimp. Conformation and fleece-judging competitions are held to establish the value of an alpaca.

“Judges look for a certain number of  crimps per inch in the fleece,” explains Monica. “It doesn’t have to be cleaned or groomed for a show. They are just looking at the quality of the fleece.”

There are 22 different natural colors available in alpaca. The Snavleys send the sheared fleece to a mill for spinning. The alpaca are sheared once a year and yield 5 to 10 pounds for fleece. The shearings are separated by body part — neck, body and legs. Each is used to produce a different product.

Monica hopes to have a local knitter use her yarns to produce apparels. Then she can open a shop in the barn to offer yarn and clothing.

At the Ag Awareness Day program, Walt spoke to a woman from the area that does spinning.

“This is something we may think about doing in the future,” adds Walt. “Right now we both work full-time jobs and just do not have the time to do the spinning, too.”

They do take the animals to events to show them for educational purposes. Someday they would like to see a category at the county fair to enter the alpaca for showing and judging. There are competitions in Syracuse and Cuba, N.Y., that may be in their future plans.

“We love being outside and this has truly been ‘a life of loving what you do,’ as it says on our business cards,” relates Monica.

For more information, visit their Web site at www.bullyhollowalpacas.com

Copyright © 2007 Warren Electric Cooperative

More Than A Business: BULLY HOLLOW ALPACA FARM
Tidioute couple has discovered that raising alpacas is as much about a lifestyle as it is about farming
By LYDIA COTTRELL lcottrell@timesobserver.com Times Observer
POSTED: September 22 2009.  Used with permission

Alpaca farms are not just a business, they are a lifestyle, according to Monica and Walt Snavley.

The Snavleys are the owners of Bully Hollow Alpaca Farm, located about six miles north of Tidioute on Route 62.

What started as a search to find something to fill their barn turned into a business and a passion for everything alpaca.

"We had the barn and we had the pasture," Monica said, "and Walt had a degree in agriculture engineering. He wanted to farm something."

Monica admitted that her first instinct was to get horses. However, with a full-time job and four teenagers at home, she knew finding time to ride would be nearly impossible. The Snavleys thought about other animals including pigs, but Walt said, "Monica didn't want to raise anything she had to eat."

After a suggestion from a friend, Walt and Monica began to research the idea of having an alpaca farm. Visiting other farms, the Snavleys learned about the business and the lifestyle.

The two most common reasons people get into alpaca farming, according Monica, is either for the fleece the animals produce or breeding the animals.

"They produce a beautiful and soft, like cashmere, fiber," she said. "The goal as a fiber industry to get more alpaca farms going to keep an American manufacturer."

Currently, much of the goods made from alpaca fiber are made in Peru and imported.

Bully Hollow Alpaca Farm is a member of the Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America, which allows the Snavleys to send the fiber harvested from their herd to the cooperative for a small fee. The cooperative then produces goods with the fiber which the members can sell as their own product.

Per scientific studies, Monica said, "Alpaca fiber is stronger, softer and warmer than wool."

Although the fiber is a major part of the industry, an alpaca is shorn only once a year and can produce five to ten pounds of fleece.

Breeding is also a major part of the alpaca industry. To give an idea of the profitability of breeding, the father of Bully Hollow's Holly Berry and grandfather of Kinkade sold for nearly $500,000 as a top of the line herd sire.

The Snavleys bred one of their females, Lizzy, with a male from another farm. They chose the male based on the positive physical traits they wanted to see in the offspring. The farm with the male receives a fee for the breedings.

"Although, the cost of breeding has gone down," Walt said, noting that in the past, a breeding could cost $1,500 but now costs around $800.

Monica has found herself fascinated by the genetics involved in breeding. For example, Monica admits that Lizzy's legs are spindly and her face is not well covered with fleece. By selecting a male with the attributes Lizzy is lacking, the new offspring improves the bloodline.

"That's what you want to do when you breed, you want to improve," Walt said.

Aside from the fleece production and breeding of alpacas, the show ring world is another aspect of the lifestyle. Bully Hollow won three ribbons at the Western New York Alpaca Show, including a first-place ribbon for Black Velvet, who was bred at Bully Hollow.

"That tells me that our breeding program is doing very well," Monica said.

After delving into the alpaca farming four years ago, the Snavleys are getting into the retail aspect of the business with the opening of Knit & Purl Boutique. Monica is working on her own crafts made from alpaca fleece and importing others from Peru.

The Snavleys are excited about their farm, and are ready and willing to accept questions from anyone. The couple celebrating National Alpaca Farms and the grand opening of Bully Hollow Alpaca Farm and Knit & Purl Boutique on Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will welcome the public to meet the alpacas and learn more about the animals.

For more information visit www.bullyhollowalpacas.com or email bullyhollowalpacas@zoominternet.net
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