 | ||||||
| About Altiplano Alpacas, LLC! We are Roberto Ibarra & Marilyn Knudsen, and our ranch name, Altiplano Alpacas, arose as a result of our physical location in the desert of the Southwest, nestled between the High Desert grasslands and the Rocky Mountains at 7,000 feet in elevation, similar to the place of origin of the alpacas in the Altiplano of Peru and Chile in South America, Roberto's place of birth. The seed for Altiplano Alpacas was planted on a bright, chilly November morning in 2004 while we were reading the Sunday morning paper. An article about the joy and relative ease of alpaca ranching in northern New Mexico suddenly struck us as an appealing way to eventually "retire" from our professional city jobs of professor and landscape architect. It answered the call of what we could do in retirement that would still be mentally and physically challenging, yet much less stressful and provide some income. The fact that raising alpacas would also allow us to be engaged in life as stewards of these lovely and gentle animals was too appealing to not explore further. Upon reading that raising alpacas didn't require a lifetime of ranching or farming experience, we were given the green light to delve in. One visit to a local Santa Fe ranch and we were smitten; there was no going back. We then read everything we could find about alpacas, visited several ranches around Santa Fe and Arizona, took classes to educate ourselves, and by July of 2005 the seed was not only sewn, but bore us our first three pregnant females which we boarded with AlpacaWorks in Santa Fe. We still agist with AlpacaWorks (Kent & Susan Sasser) and through that have developed a close friendship with them and many other ranchers in many locals. When you hear "it is more than a business, it's a life style," it really is. It's a way of life with the alpacas and the land, and there is a social aspect also. You will meet wonderful, caring people who are always willing to share knowledge and information, and who will become dear friends. 2006 graced us with three crias, two gorgeous girls and one stunning boy who looks to be a potential herdsire. 2007 has blessed us with three more crias, again two stunning girls and one dynamite boy! AND a Color Champ for one of our 2006 girls! Wow, what a year! If all goes as planned, will have a ranch of our own next year when we will more or less switch roles with AlpacaWorks and they will agist with us as new owners of their present ranch. We will do our very best to provide our customers with the highest quality of service and care that we can, as has been given to us. Not only is it a lifestyle, it's one that keeps on giving! Please take some time to browse through our Website to learn more about alpacas. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us. Marilyn can be reached at mknudsen@rgunwired.net or 505-301-8114 and Roberto at ibarra14@gmail.com or 505-400-6573. We would be happy to hear from you! Another interesting tidbit..... Marilyn was a nurse in the Army Reserve (and a Veteran of the Persian Gulf War) throughout her college years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her nursing background has come in handy more than once when giving injections to alpacas and understanding their medical conditions and needs. |  | News/Events Births, Milestones....Sept 11, 2009: Our most beautiful boy yet, Altiplano's Rico Gold, son of Travesura's Altiplano Treasure,and grandson of 4Peruvian Altiplano Gold, was born to our Moonshadow, our Peruvian female from the Royal Fawn and Felix lines. His fleece drapes in gleaming bundles over his entire body! Treasure has passed on his extreme brightness & bundling to this boy and we couldn't be more delighted! What a happy note on Sept. 11, a sad day in history. March, 2010: We're in the processing of acquiring half ownership of Travesura's Altiplano Treasure so we can continue breeding to this wonderful herdsire. We have heard that all of Treasure's crias have fleece like Rico's! We look forward to co-owning Treasure with Windrush Alpacas, Clovis, NM, and helping our fellow breeders take advantage of this male's fabulous imprint on his crias. April, 2010: If we do not sell several of our animals beforehand, we will take a big part of our herd to Nebraska for the Hartmann auction. We must reduce our herd size until the real estate market turns around and we can sell our house and buy ranch property. Until then, the herd size MUST be reduced. Our loss is very much your gain! We will be selling or sendin: Inka, Gizmo, Vencedor, Color Champion Ariana and her daughter, Anika, Gizmo, Gracie & Sienna. The girls will be bred to Treasure! Who could resist such a fantastic deal as that?! What a winning combo!!! More News.... | | ||
