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Mountain Brook Farm Submitted by Cindy Mingle Mountain Brook Farm had been a working farm since 1830, primarily dairy, with historical forays into cucumbers, eggs, maple syrup, and pine tree plantations. We became owner/stewards of the 110 acre farm in 1980. Despite Dan’s busy rural family practice and my nutrition practice, a farm must be farmed. The farm, under our stewardship, was at one time a shelter for neglected horses, at others, home for large flocks of Thanksgiving turkeys, briefly a source of farm-raised rainbow and brook trout that fed the local osprey, and for many years was feedlot and breeding ground for Scottish Highlander beef cattle. In 1994, we started casting about for a new agricultural project, wanting to raise livestock that would produce products which could be harvested without slaughter. We were also interested in pursuing a project in which our young children could fully participate. At that time, we were familiar with llamas, but had not yet heard of alpacas. Our neighbors thought alpacas would be great in the neighborhood, especially if it was our expense instead of theirs. They referred us to their sheep buddies, Earlah and Fred Swift in Vermont to meet the Swift’s alpacas and learn from "the pros." 
Our first three young huacaya alpacas were purchased in New England, and a year later Dan had
the opportunity to travel to Peru for an importation sale. It was a four day whirlwind trip
of night flights, visiting ancient sites, shopping for alpaca garments and evaluating 200
alpacas for a selection of six. It was an extraordinary experience on many counts. After
his return home, we had to wait five months for our alpacas to serve their time in quarantine
in both the U.S. and Peru. We were jubilant the day we got the call that they had arrived
in Florida via a Fed Ex cargo plane! Our imported Peruvians became the foundation of
our herd. We currently have a herd of 40-50 alpacas.The alpacas have met our expectations as a family business. I oversee farm operations and Dan continues his work in medicine, devoting his spare time as my farm hand and business consultant. Our children and our extended family have involved in many aspects of farm animal care: shearing, manure, haying, shots, training, showing, birthing, open farm days and so on! We have had the opportunity to travel to alpaca events and meet fascinating folks. In the earlier years, we were quite a sight, pulling out of town in our cantankerous, old motor home with a livestock trailer in tow! And the adventure continues….. |
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