2023/2024 Alpaca Owners Guide

• Farm Tour ticket $10 per person for 1 hour guided tour. • Max 20 people per hour = $200 per hour • Two tours/per day = $400/day • Tours 5 days a week = $400/5 = $2000/week or $8000/month • Alpaca Yoga ticket $25 per person for 45 minutes of yoga. • Hire instructor. $10 per person to the instructor. • 25 people per class. 2 classes/ weekend April–October. • $750 profit/weekend • Professional Photography • $150 per hour with 1 alpaca haltered • $100 per hour just for the background of the farm. No haltered animals. • These prices are low for photography, but gives you a starting point. If you have a bigger farm and can pack in more people, do the math! Can you charge more based on your area? If

talking to groups of people is not in your comfort zone there are other options. Do yoga and let the instructor lead.Have sit and stitch events with no formal tour talk. Do you want to keep people out of your pastures? Let them do a self-guided tour outside of your fences. They can feed the alpacas or take pictures safely outside of the pasture. It can look any way you want. Make it work for you! Don’t forget that most of these peo ple will spend money in your farm store, multiplying your revenue per event. If only half of your 200 guests spend even $25 in your store that is $2500 gross each week in addition to your ticket sales. If you don’t have a farm store, do NOT let that stop you from starting with agritour ism. Use some of your revenue to grow into having a store. You can even start a farm store by setting up a tent with ta bles. Again, make it work for you.  What do you have to lose? In short, just go for it. Start with

something that feels semi-comfortable. Let’s be honest, if you’ve never had visitors on your farm, nothing may feel comfortable at first. Be prepared to market your event consistently and in many formats. Getting people to your farm will take time and work, but will be well worth it. Don’t give up. Talk to others who have agritourism businesses about marketing and growing your business. Lastly, before you dive into anything too big, make sure to check your zoning laws and talk to your insurance agent about being properly insured. Make a plan. Try it. Adjust and grow!  Shelly owns Good Karma Ranch in Iron Station, North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte with her husband Mike. They have been raising huacayas for 12 years. In addition to breeding, they have a thriving agritourism and retail business. Shelly currently chairs the AOA Marketing Committee and enjoys helping other farms find additional sources of revenue to grow their business.

Agritourism adds consistent, controllable income to your farm business.

Photo courtesy of Maui Alpaca

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