My Country Living: 'I'm a long way from banking now'

I have an alpaca trekking business in Wicklow. The idea started about five years ago; I was due to retire from the bank in 2020 and my kids had all left home. I was left wondering what to do with myself.

I knew it had to be outdoors, I always wanted to set up my own business, but I wasn’t sure what that was going to be. I very quickly found out the difficulties of a traditional farm in this day and age, because the capital costs are big and the returns are small.

So I started researching alternative farming and long story short, I came across alpacas during that research. The more I researched them, the more I felt there was an opportunity. I was renting land, but this year I bought this farm near Newtown Mount Kennedy, I have 90 animals on the farm and we’re having great fun. We have 90ac here but we probably only need 25ac. When I started off I only had a car so I had to put a tow bar on that. I didn’t have a trailer so I had to borrow one.

Trekking

This whole process however was literally just spending a lot of money without any income, so I looked for a way for the alpacas to earn their bed and board. Trekking – walking the alpacas on a lead – was the answer. When people arrive for a trek we share our backstory. After, we give them a handling talk on how to handle the alpacas.

Everything works from the alpacas’ welfare backwards, so as long as they’re happy and enjoying it, everything works well. We go for a 3km walk.

You can take selfies, get up close with the alpacas and get the opportunity to feed them too. We get back and we show everybody around because we have the coloured alpacas, the maternity ward and the Suris (breed of alpaca). I do a little surprise at the end of the trek where I produce juice or prosecco with strawberries.

This is my third year and we seem to attract very nice people. It’s such a pleasurable way to spend two hours.

Everybody leaves with a smile and even those people who were dragged along leave with a smile too. The alpacas just imbue happiness in people. The treks have become a full-time business and I now have eight people working for me on the treks. I used to do them all myself but now I can’t do them all.

Five-star home

We don’t ask for reviews but we do get them on Facebook, Instagram and even Google. They’re all five-star reviews. We are now the number-one attraction in Wicklow according to TripAdvisor. This farm is very open.

Banking

I’m a long way from banking now. I worked in the banking sector for 39 years. I had this up and running while I was still working. That was tough. I used to go into work early and try and get out early to work with the alpacas. I was working something like 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

Around August last year I decided that I needed to cop on because something had to give. I took a package and left. People ask me do I miss the bank – absolutely not. I haven’t even had time to think about it. In the bank you’d be taught how to be more cautious with things and I’ve applied that to the business here in a way. I’ll start small and if it works build it up. Like with the trekking for example, I started with five animals and now we’ve 40 animals suited to trekking. Before I set up I visited loads of farms across Ireland and the UK.

My dad has a farming background. He thought I was mad. He worked in the Department of Agriculture so alpacas didn’t fit with the livestock he knew of but he’s changed his mind.

We have plans to grow the business with self-catering cottages, we only recently opened up our gift shop and we are trying to find designers and manufacturers in Ireland who will start working with alpaca fibre instead of shipping it abroad.

We also have agisting, which is like livery for alpacas. This is useful for people who might live in the city and don’t have land. We feed them every day, look after them, check on them and the owner comes up whenever suits them. It’s an opportunity to get out and be in the country and be with your animals. We sit down with them and see what they want to do and what they want to achieve with their alpaca.

Click here for more info.

Read more

'A hobby gone mad' at Amberly Alpacas

Guard alpacas for hire as sheep kills hit hard