During my fascinating drives throughout the countryside of Oregon for work, I have come across a wide variety of alpaca farms. At first I was greatly puzzled by this phenomenon, since what little I know about alpacas, aside from their general quirkiness and occasional ornery tendencies, is that they are an animal from the arid South American highlands. It seemed a bit odd that an animal from South America’s Andean plateaus could find a home in rainy Oregon, but it seems that many people like breeding alpacas, presumably for their wool (as I do not imagine their milk or meat would find a ready market). When one recognizes a pattern as consistent as alpaca farming in the rural Willamette Valley, one wonders why it has not attracted any attention from sports teams. I imagine a team like the Sherwood Alpacas would be quite a popular one for those who are fans of the animal (of which there appear to be many in the area).

Having written before about my appreciation of the elpehants of Thailand [1] and the donkeys of Jordan [2], I figure it would be worthwhile to write a little bit about the alpacas of Oregon, even though I have not had the chance to ride any of them yet, nor do I know if they can be ridden at any of the many farms devoted to their breeding. In my mind I tend to consider alpacas as being rather similar to llamas, animals that are more placid than camels but generally of the same sort of spitting and stubborn tendencies. Of course, given that my knowledge of alpacas is not profound, I may be wrong about their personality. After all, I thought rather poorly of donkeys until I had the chance to ride one in the ruins of Petra, and I found donkeys to be friendly and engaging and very eager to please, which was completely contrary to my expectations. Since then I have been a great fan of the Palestinian donkey and a bit upset that Naaman’s faithful mount has such a bad reputation when it really is a sweet tempered animal.

Admittedly, alpacas look very cute [3]. Also, their wool appears to be at least somewhat sought after as far as clothing is concerned. I’m not quite sure about the connection between a small Peruvian beast of burden and the rainy hills of the area south of Portland, but for some reason a lot of people like growing alpacas. I suppose that alpacas are rather quirky and nontraditional, and that this is sufficient appeal to someone who owns a bit of land and wants to do something unusual with it. Of course, since Oregon is a pretty unusual place filled with rather quirky people with odd interests, it is perhaps unsurprising that alpacas should fit Western Oregon just as much as hipsters and microbreweries. I suppose that Oregon’s interest in hops and microbreweries and its interest in alpacas and their wool stem from some bizarre combination of quirky do-it-yourself sustainable living. If anyone can give me any other reasons why alpacas would be so prevelent in Oregon, I would like to hear, but that’s a good enough reason for me, at least for the moment. I suppose we can all appreciate the quirkiness of the alpaca and marvel that it has found such a ready home in the countryside of rural Oregon.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/elephant-riding-in-mae-hong-son/

[2] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/a-donkey-tale/

[3] Here is the website of one of the alpaca farms I happen to have seen during the course of my travels in the area: http://www.alpacasoforegon.com/