We have been in this wonderful business since 2004. All of our animals are BVDV negative. We register all animals regardless of "potential". All the animals that are born on farm get weaned in a slow, stress free (or as near as we can make it so) manner. Then, we halter train them so you have an animal that can be handled more easily. Most purchased females will come with a breeding. Our stud row is pretty darn impressive with 8 x champion and 14 blue ribbon winner Accoyo Impeccable, Impeccable's true black 4 x banner winner (so far at less than 2 yrs old)male named Preacher. Our very robust, fine grey named Primus who took a first place at Nationals this year. Another grey male that started his breeding career is JJA Seismic's Seriously Silver who has absolutely stunning fleece. There are several dark males out of Royal Adonis that were over shadowed by him but have made amazing cria.
Our herd was started on foundation animals that were nicely conformed and had extremely dense fleeces and impressive fineness. I'm so glad I started out with the density because it is soooo much harder to breed for than fineness. We have not been ones that go after buying and breeding to the big names-we simply didn't have the resources to do that. We instead used research tools and hands on and bred to the up and coming males (intro fees are wonderful) that we felt would compliment the hand selected female the best. It worked out well and we have been proud to stand in front or close behind the biggest farms in the country on many, many occassions in the last 16 years.
Joyful Journey Alpacas is a full-time endeavor of Sue Groeschl and probably a 1/2 time job for her husband Jeff. JJA is truly a full service farm in that we offer boarding, training for humans if desired on how to take care of their alpacas. Breedings can be done via traditional mode or mobile or, what we have done several times is what we call a "meet and mate". Since we live in NW Wisconsin, we can be more challenging to get to (although a prettier travel route would be hard to find with our lakes and woods)so we find a meeting place closer to the female and set up our panels. Like all mobile breedings, it is good to have a guy at the females farm to let owners know when she is receptive and give us notice. Then we are on our way! The fee remains the same, however we do ask for reimbursement of gas money-not our time.
We raise our own orchard grass hay and monitor the nutritional levels so that all animals have the optimal quality of food going in. Like all living things, good nutrition is the cornerstone to a healthier life. Quality pellets and fresh well water along with a safe environment helps keep things as stress free as possible. Sue has also been on parasite patrol and has the equipment to make sure the animals inner workings are not loaded down with these nasty things.