Sat, Nov 21 2009
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Published September 25, 2008 10:45 pm - The weak U.S. dollar, coupled with an Austinburg Township alpaca farm’s reputation for producing quality livestock, have combined to create a history-making sale for the farm and U.S. alpaca industry. Exporting home-grown quality Grand River Alpaca Farm sending six to the United Kingdom in unique deal By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com Star Beacon The weak U.S. dollar, coupled with an Austinburg Township alpaca farm’s reputation for producing quality livestock, have combined to create a history-making sale for the farm and U.S. alpaca industry.
George and Mary Hodson, owners of Grand River Alpaca Farm, have sold six of their animals to a group of investors based in the United Kingdom. The animals are under quarantine at the Hodson’s Windsor-Mechanicsville Road Farm, awaiting export to Canada in early October. After six months in Canada, the alpacas will be considered of Canadian origin and eligible for export to the United Kingdom. This circuitous adoption procedure is necessary because the United States and United Kingdom do not have an export agreement for alpacas and llamas, says George Hodson. Only a handful of U.S. alpacas have made the trip, although there are 10 times as many alpacas in the United States than Great Britain. The Hodsons’ farm, which typically has a population of 50 alpacas that belong to Grand River, is numerically a small player in the U.S. industry, which has a population of about 12,000 alpaca. The animals, natives of South America, were imported into the country until the mid-1990s, when the gates were closed. Because of the limited breeding pool and long gestation period, 111⁄2 months, the population has remained small and demand high. Established 11 years ago, Grand River has focused on breeding quality black and gray alpacas. George Hodson explains that only about 1 percent of alpacas fall into these color categories. In their native Peru, breeders focused on producing white fleece. Seeing the rarity of the black and gray animals, the Hodsons decided to make them the center of their breeding program. A year into business, the couple took a huge gamble on a young black male. The alpaca, Dark Shadow, has proven himself in both the show ring and his offspring (cria). He holds multiple championships, including 2006 reserve herd sire of the year; his offspring hold more than 50 championship titles. “Now it’s international, someone has come from another country and recognized his quality, as well,” George says. Last spring, the farm sent out a mass e-mail to alpaca farms and investors soliciting interest in a gray female from their herd. The e-mail caught the interest of a retired investment banker who was interested in building the quality of his own herd. George Hodson says the e-mail looked conspicuously like the ubiquitous spam of foreign origin, but he decided to pursue this one rather than delete it. “We responded and he requested a lot of information,” George says. “They requested upfront tests, analyses, photos, fiber samples they could evaluate before they would even schedule a visit. We did a lot of due diligence to win this contract.” The investor traveled to the United States in April and made a tour of the farms with stock he was interested in purchasing. “This was a pretty competitive event,” George says. “The last stop was here. He was so impressed with Dark Shadow ... he ended up going with us after visiting all these farms.” The investor liked not only what was for sale, but also at least two animals that were not. “There are a couple of them we will probably regret selling,” George says. “One of the females we weren’t going to sell.” “She was one of our keepers,” adds Mary. In the end, the couple decided selling the animals was a good business decision because of the international exposure they’d receive. 
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