Tully
Mountain Suris is proudly owned and operated by Lu Collins and Julie
LaFreniere. Lu earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University
of Massachusetts. She has conducted scientific research at UMass and
Tufts University. Currently she works as an adjunct professor at UMass
and for an educational consulting firm. Julie is the head women’s
coach of cross-country and track & field at UMass.
Since the early nineties, we have bred and shown border terriers and
operate a small kennel (Oban). Although new to the world of alpacas,
we are not new to the world of breeding and showing. We have bred
numerous owner handled champion border terriers and will continue
to breed for conformation, working ability and temperament.
We were intrigued by an advertisement about alpacas, lifestyle and
tax advantages in December of 2002. Upon further investigation, the
lifestyle of an alpaca farm became very attractive to us, especially
since we both love animals.
In the beginning, most of our research centered on the business aspects
of both the alpaca and fiber industries. We searched the web for information,
bought books, visited farms and attended seminars. We devoured any
and all information we could find about alpacas, investment opportunities
and the alpaca business. By March of ‘03, Eric Hoffman invited
us to spend three days at his Bonny Doon ranch in Santa Cruz, CA.
This trip afforded us the opportunity to explore life on an alpaca
ranch and the health/stability of the alpaca and fleece industries
in North America.
By the fall of 2003, we had attended several alpaca shows, fiber festivals,
the AOBA Convention in Louisville, the Suri Summit in Maryland, and
numerous educational seminars with a focus on marketing, tax advantages,
starting an alpaca business, farm layouts, and fleece quality. We
met many wonderful alpaca breeders. Most of the people involved in
the alpaca industry are extremely helpful and supportive.
In September of 2003, we made our initial investment and started our
“herd” and “farm”. It made good business sense
for us to specialize in the rare suri alpaca. Tully Mountain Suris
began with the purchase of four quality females from two suri alpaca
farms.
In the spring of 2004, Tully Mountain Suris competed in our very first
shows. Bouldermont’s Spirit placed second in her light fawn
juvenile class at the North American Alpaca Show (MA). At the MAPACA
Show in PA, Spirit placed third in her class while Breakstone Tiara
was just out of the ribbons (last one standing) in her very competitive
white juvenile class. We had fun, saw fantastic alpacas and met more
wonderful people.
We are very excited about the alpaca industry and growing an exceptional
suri alpaca herd. We have now begun to carve out our new alpaca farm
on 7.5 acres in Petersham, MA. We are more than willing to share our
experiences with you, come visit soon! |
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