Visit the Golden Heartland Alpaca Farm in Adrian

By SHARON KIESEL

“Sometimes it seems like a frat house around here,” Tina Cochran laughed. She stood in a small fenced paddock, surrounded by the ‘boys’, her three dozen alpacas who all watched her, hopeful she brought them some grain as a treat. She had not, but that seemed to be okay. They milled around her, making soft little sounds of contentment or merely chewing their cuds.

Bob and Tina Cochran do not breed alpacas on their Adrian area, Golden Heartland Farm. Instead, they have what Tina calls a fiber herd. They focus on the alpaca fleece or fiber yield from their animals. They have representatives of the two types of alpacas raised in the United States today. The Huacaya (pronounced wa-ki’-ah), which has a fluffy fine coat and the rarer alpaca, the Suri, which produces a silkier fiber. The fiber of both is very luxurious, almost like cashmere.

“We have a fiber herd,” Tina said. “We started about three years ago, on a shoestring, with three boys and five acres. Now we have 36 alpacas on 20 acres. We want them to live as natural as possible. We don’t show them, though some have earned ribbons before coming here. They are easy to care for….easier than the rabbits I’ve raised in the past.”

Tina said they got into alpacas because Bob refused to let her have goats, specifically, the fainting variety in which she was interested. “I just had to have livestock and I was always into something exotic,” she said. “And, I didn’t want something that ended up getting killed for meat. Then, I saw the alpacas. I knew that was it. But how could we afford them was the question.”

The Cochran’s also have barn cats, two dogs and, a llama. Joshua was suppose to be a guard llama to protect the alpacas. However, he much prefers greeting visitors so the seven year old is now the P.R. llama. The two white great Pyrenees dogs, are the real guards. While very friendly around people, they are careful to stay between the visitor and the alpaca herd. They do keep the occasional coyote at bay.

Golden Heartland customers are people who are just getting into alpacas. The Cochran’s have a special alpaca package which includes the animal, some starter needs and discounts on educational seminars and annual shearing as well as continuing advice. Since the alpacas are herd animals, they will sell only single alpacas to farms that already have alpacas or llamas. For more information, contact the Cochran’s at www.GoldenHeartland.com or call 816-258-0089.

Right: Alpaca owner Tina Cochran receives a warm greeting from her “boys”.

Far right: Included in the group of alpacas, this lone llama is happy as can be. Joshua is seven year old.