Island Alpaca Company on Martha's Vineyard - Breeding Alpacas for Excellence - Alpacas for Sale

Island Alpaca Company on Martha's Vineyard

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Our Services

Here at Island Alpaca Co., we offer alpaca breeding, alpaca sales, alpaca boarding (agisting), education, and continuing customer support.

We are perfectly sized to offer personalized service and attention, along with a fine selection of breeding stock, and future herd sires.

As always, we are very happy to assist with the purchase of pet-quality/fiber quality/geldings, or an alpaca for an investment, and want to make it easier for you in these current economic conditions. We offer special financing terms for you to consider.

We respect the fact that not everyone can pay cash for an alpaca. They are a significant investment for most people.

Below are terms listed that are just some general parameters to give you an idea of where to start. We work with every customer based on their individual needs, respectfully and discretely.

Click on the subject or scroll down to learn more!

FINANCING
BOARDING/AGISTMENT FOR NEW BUYERS
TRANSPORTATION
GUARANTEES & WARRANTIES
CREDIT CARD PURCHASES
OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS

FINANCING:

We offer FREE financing for up to 12 months with a one-fourth down and timely minimum quarterly payments. Alpacas financed longer than one year will be agreed upon in advance, for up to two years, at a fair market rate.

As is standard practice, ownership of alpaca shall be transferred upon payment in full.

We will be happy to talk about alternative financing that works for you. There are many options available. Let us know what works best for you!

BOARDING/AGISTMENT FOR NEW BUYERS:

There are several ways to invest in alpacas. One of course is to raise alpacas on your own farm, but there are a couple of other options where you can board (called "agisting") your alpacas.

Agistment is currently available to any customer who purchases alpacas from Island Alpaca Farm. Agistment allows our customers to invest in alpacas, build alpaca equity, while they learn more, gain knowledge and confidence. For a new buyer this task can be daunting. Through agistment, the security and health of your investment is assured. Allow us to alleviate your risk and fears while you gain the confidence in alpaca husbandry. Your core herd will multiply, while you build equity and improve the competencies of your business.

Through the agistment program, we will help you to learn what you need to know along the way. Should you wish to have a herd-sire in the mix, we can help you select the best one to suit your needs and budget, and help market your new herd. While you agist we can help you gain the confidence that you need to manage your alpacas at home.

The advantages of agisting are several. One does not have the expense of building a barn and fencing etc. or have to provide daily care.

One can invest "passively" as you would any other financial investment, that is purchase alpacas that are bred, raised and marketed by the farm where they are boarded. With this method you do not participate in the day to day care of the animals. All or most of the decisions concerning herd management are left to the agisting farm. For Tax purposes the IRS considers the investor as "passive" and any tax deductions can only offset profits made in your alpaca business.

Then you have the "active" investment where you board your alpacas but play an active roll directly in all decision making processes. That is, you are actively involved in important decisions such as breeding, showing, sales and marketing. You must document your involvement via phone logs, e-mail, travel mileage etc. In this case the IRS considers you an active breeder and you are entitled to all of the tax deductions for expenses and depreciation with one great advantage. The deductions can offset earned income from any other source such as salaries and commissions.

We offer free board for THREE months with the purchase of female alpacas from our breeding program. Fiber-quality alpacas will be agisted for up to 30 days free of charge if purchased alone or with other fiber quality animals. Daily board fees vary depending on the term from $4 to $5 per day.

How many alpacas should I start with? When should I buy my first. Should I start looking now or buying now and allow them to stay at a farm until I can be hands on in 5 years?

The answer to the last part is probably yes. Alpaca breeding allows for tax-deferred wealth building. An owner can purchase several alpacas and then allow the herd to grow over time without paying income tax on its increased size and value until he or she decides to sell an animal or sell the entire herd. Starting with just two females (one pregnant and one maiden) you can expect your herd to grow to about 13 alpacas (8 female and 5 males) at the end of five years assuming 50/50 male female births and no offspring sold or die during the period. Over a 10 year period with the added assumption of 80% live births your herd would grow to about 52. In my experience a >90% live birth rate is typical so this is a conservative number. Below is a one year cost comparison of raising alpacas on your property vs. agisting. Costs are rough estimates for comparison purposes only. Actual costs may be higher or lower.

	Your Farm	Agisting
Purchase of one pregnant female and one young female	10,000	10,000
Insurance on animals, one year	1,100	1,100
Equipment	500	0
Barn, water, power, fences, etc.	20,000	0
One year's feed	1000	0
Veterinarian, miscellaneous and reserve	1,100	1,100
Board	0	3,285
Total	$38,200	$15,485

As you can see the initial cash outlay is lower for agisting. One could use the money saved building barns and fences to purchase additional females and grow your herd faster, When you are ready to bring your alpacas to your property, you will have a well established breeding herd.

How does a person get involved in selling their wool? Is there really a market for this?

There are several outlets for alpaca fiber and end products:

1. Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America (AFCNA) is our national co-op where one can send fiber for processing and receive credit or wholesale finished goods.

2. The New England Fiber Pool is a for profit company where one can send fiber for processing/exchange for finished goods

3. Cottage industry folks, hand spinners, weavers knitters etc. Check your area for the local spinning guild.

4. Mini Mills. There are several small mills that process a single fleece for roving or finished yarn.

5. Local knitters often available in most areas willing to knit sweaters etc. (for a fee of course, some will trade their services for fiber).

6. Farm store where one can sell alpaca products to the public.

7. Craft shows, County Fairs, and fleece shows and other public events are all good outlets.

TRANSPORTATION:

We will transport animals that are purchased free of charge within a a 150 mile radius, and a minimum total purchase of $5,000. Affordable rates for transport of fiber quality animals. If delivery is outside of this range a shipping charge will be added to the price of the animal or the last payment if payment terms are desired. This charge will vary depending on the distance of delivery. (Alpaca in Packages and discounted alpaca are not included) Please call to discuss.

GUARANTEES AND WARRANTIES:

We offer live birth guarantees and warranties, and full reproductive capability for our females and males (sold as herd sires or jr. herd sires).

Maiden females come with a free breeding at breeding age to any male solely owned by Island Alpaca Co. (Only board fees, and medical expenses apply if any).

Pre-purchase exams are welcomed, and may be done at the buyer's expense.

CREDIT CARD PURCHASES:

Restocking charges for incomplete sales: If a sale is canceled and a deposit is made via credit card access through this web site, a 5% service charge will be retained in order to cover the costs incurred by the credit card company for the incomplete sale.

OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Discounts available on multiple alpaca purchases. Please view our specific discounts, and special package plans on our Sales Pages HERE. Discounts available for multiple breedings scheduled and contracted within a 12 month period.

All alpacas are registered with the Alpaca Registry, Inc.

Standard contracts are used.

Pet/Fiber quality males are sold without ARI Certificates. An upgrade option is available for Pet/Fiber males as specified in the contract agreement, should you wish to stud the animal. Once fulfilled and the upgrade is paid for, then the ARI certificate will be transferred.

If we don't have the terms you are looking for please ask. We are willing to match most any terms and guarantees within the industry. We want our customers to be comfortable and very happy before making the final purchase with Island Alpaca Co.

Phone: 508-693-5554
Location: 1 Head of the Pond Road, Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard
Mailing address: PO Box 1515, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568