Saturday, June 9, 2012
No that's not a Llama, it's an Alpaca...
I am not a Llama, I am an Alpaca!
If you own Alpacas, you have been asked this question numerous times - - Is that a Llama? So many times that you can almost sense when it's going to be asked and have to prepare yourself to answer polietly. When I worked summer jobs in the National Forests out west, we were always asked "When do the deer turn into Elk" or the best "Do you Rangers have to climb the mountain and paint it white in the summer!" (I kid you not).
So, I suppose I was prepared for the envitable Alpaca vs. Llama question. What we weren't prepared for was... "Is that a donkey?", "Is that a camel" - all from adults. Or the cute, "Is that a puppy" from a 3 year old little girl.
For many folks at Interlaken Old Home Days - this was their first opportunity to get up close and touch an Alpaca and feel how soft they are. And it was a great opportunity to educate people about the benefits of Alpaca ownership, why we think Alpacas are better (and we aren't biased at all) and tell them about our farm "Owl Ridge Alpacas".
I'm sure the question will come up again, and we'll repeat our standard answer "No, that's an Alpaca," and just maybe we'll have to post a sign that says all the things Alpacas are not (i.e. Llama, Donkey, Puppy, etc.) but at the end of the day it's all worth it. We had fun and all of the people visiting our booth had a great time and got to experience (many for the first time) a wonderful and beauitful animal!
Brandon watching the booth!