About The Ranch
Red Granite Ranch
A highly competitive ranch that is comprised of many things, but two above the rest: good people and good animals.
Today, Red Granite Ranch is comprised of over 400 acres in Northern Colorado at an elevation of 7,500 feet, that contains on original 1800s homestead that formerly ran cattle. The ranch sits at the base of the gorgeous Rocky Mountains on the rolling hills of prairie grasslands. Our views are extreme to say the least. We are approximately 32 miles north of Ft. Collins, Colorado, and 33 miles southwest of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is just a hop, skip, and jump from interstate 80 or Colorado highway 287.
Alpaca ranching in Colorado has many benefits as compared to other areas in the United States. The weather is normally very good for raising alpacas, we do get large amounts of snow but it rarely stays on the ground for long periods of time - the alpacas seem to really love it though.
From November to April, northern Colorado routinely suffers with high winds of 40-60 mph. The alpacas love the snow as we mentioned, but hate the wind. Our dry climate means we have few issues with parasites requiring less frequent worming medications.
As our land is not irrigated we are dependent on what Mother Nature gives us in the form of snow and rain for moisture and grass growth. For the past several years the western US has been in a significant drought and we have to purchase all our hay for our alpacas and horses at significant cost - this makes profitability difficult.
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