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Effective Advertising - Deconstruction

This is by far the best advertising I have seen for alpaca fiber. I asked Vanity Apparel if I could write about it and they kindly said "Go ahead".

So what makes this effective?

1. The documentation in plain numbers of how many fiber producing animals there are in the world. Not just the United States, but the whole world. When you look at the numbers, it brings the idea home that there just aren't that many alpacas out there.

Those of us who live in Washington and Ohio tend to lose sight of that fact. These two states have the lions share of alpacas in the US and that makes it difficult to point out there just aren't that many to the local buyers of product.

2. The micron report. Out of all the alpacas out there, how many have the micron that the alpaca that provided its fleece has? This tidbit adds a sense of exclusive luxury.

3. The soft yet targeted rebuttal to mass production. I like how the individual alpacas whose fiber is included in the product are listed along with their micon. This lets the consumer know just how special their product/item is. A pride point to be talked about.

4. A website to verify the statistics that were quoted if one is in doubt.

5. All the statements are positive. No bashing of other fibers or other ways of processing. Just the positive aspects of this fiber, processed this way.

Weaning, or what happened to the milk bar?

Tank got an extra month with his mom because I did not want to put him in with the big boys all by him self and Pinon was too little to wean.

So the day came like any other day. We took the little boys for a walk, practicing their halter training skills, and their picking up their feet tolerance, as well as being poked and prodded and fiber looked at.

But wait! They were let out in the big boy pen. What a blast. Running and jumping and looking at all the new things. It did not hit home that they were separated from their mommies until night fall. Then, then we had whining. Poor things. I would have been more sympathetic, but the one doing the whining was Tank. The older, much bigger cria. Little Pinon was somewhat upset, but took it in stride.

The mothers did not look back. They would occasionally come to the fence to touch noses with their cria, but for the most part, it was peaceful on the girl's side.

Now it is a week later and everyone has adjusted. Now on to the new crias, the first one is due late March.

Triangle loom weaving

I am working on a shawl on the tri loom using my homespun black alpaca yarn and some pretty blue wool with some shiny beads.

I love the contrast. I am using two two ply strands of yarn. I found that the two strands work better than a single large strand when using alpaca.

It is slow going at the moment because the black is hard to see without good light. The window side is great, the other, not so much. Will have to figure out another way to light the loom. It is 7 foot across the top, so it a mite big to be lugging around, expecially with the shawl already started on it.

Washing Alpaca

The way I wash alpaca fiber is simplicity itself.

1) Fill the container of your choice, bucket, sink or tub with warm water.

2) Add a small amount of dish liquid or shampoo, swish around.

3) Add fiber and swish it around. I find it is easier to put it in a lingerie bag before putting it in the water, but have done it without just fine.

4) When you think the water could not get more disgusting, drain the water, take out the fiber, and refill the container with the same temperature water. Swish the fiber around. This is a rinse. There will be many.

5) Repeat the rinse step until the water looks clearish after you have swished the fiber around. This is a matter of taste. I like my fiber super clean so keep going until I get that clear water.

See? Now wasn't that easy?

Alpaca Fiber 101

There has been talk on some of the email lists about what alpaca fiber is, what it does, and what it is used for.

First, let's start with what it is. Alpaca fiber comes in two different varieties as defined by the breed. There are huacayas, they are the fluffy ones and suris, these have the dreadlocks.

Huacayas have crimp. There are a many different styles of crimp within the huacaya. Think of all the different kinds of crimp with sheep breeds.

non-existent crimp,
low amplitude, low frequency crimp,
low amplitude, high frequency crimp,
high amplitude, low frequency crimp
high amplitude, high frequency crimp

The take home message is that if you want a certain style of crimp, ask the Shepherd what kind the alpaca fleece in question has.

The suri has no crimp, and is slick. It should also be shiny. Work with suri like you would silk or mohair. It has great drape.

Now softness is another question. Alpacas have quite the micron range, everything from 15 microns or less, to brillo pad. Again, ask the shepherd if you cannot get a sample or pet the fiber.

I have been spinning and knitting with alpaca for over 9 years. I have made socks, hats, scarves and a felted it. It has memory if you choose the correct fleece. You would no more expect silk to have memory, so why would you use suri and expect it to. If you are buying yarn, ask what kind of alpaca it came from. It does make a difference.

Alpaca Business Plan, Part 9 Executive Summary and other parts

The executive summary is quite easy now that you have finished the document. Keep the summary to a page. It is okay to go over and it is okay to just have one paragraph. What is important is to include the important bits. Let the person who is reading it know that you have done your homework, but don't give them minutiae. This is where the elevator speech comes into play. If you can tell the person what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you will succeed in the time you have on an elevator, then you have done a great job.

Now add a table of contents. Most word processors will do this for you.

If you have a very long document, add an index in the back. Most word processors will help you with this.

The final piece is the cover page. This can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish. I put a picture of a cria, my logo, my name, address, phone number and the date of completion.

If there is a item that you think is important and I have not covered it, please add it to your business plan. I have tried to give you the framework on which to start. Good luck and I hope this helped.

She was knitting her life back together

She was knitting her life back together

Each stitch

Each knit

Each purl was pulling her back together


Except she was just knitting

She didn’t like to purl

Just to be obstinate and perverse

She kept knitting

Feeling different

Not knowing, or caring, that is called the garter stitch

A quite respectable stitch


She was knitting her life back together

Figured she had knit enough to cover her legs

Now working towards the head

How much to knit, to ravel what had become unraveled?

To know, one must keep knitting

Until it is done

In the meantime,

She was knitting her life back together


It started out clutching to reality

It became something stronger as it grew

As it grew, it became an epiphany

Beautiful

As it became beautiful, reality grew

Soon, the knitting was done,

She was done

She had knitted her life back together

The Birthday Party

And now, some short fiction!

Polly wanted a new collar according to Mom. One which Polly could wear to her birthday party. I suppose if Polly had been a child she would have asked for a party dress, but I had never heard of a party collar before. Most families don’t have birthday parties for their dogs. My family, on the other hand, celebrates all the dog’s birthdays. There were nine dogs at our house to celebrate Polly’s birthday. Most had even brought presents, although I think their owners thought Mom was a little off too.

Polly’s birthday party had been in the planning stage for weeks. Mom had been on the prowl in the pet stores looking for and buying treats: Prizes for the games and such. She had even gone on the Internet to check out Petopia in the hopes of getting a treat so novel and new that all of Polly’s friends would be in awe.

Polly’s present was a big surprise. Mom wouldn’t even tell me because she thought I might tell. Sometimes it is hard living with a mom who thinks dogs are people.

Well, Mom doesn’t actually think dogs are people, she just treats them that way. Take for instance this birthday party. All the dogs we knew, along with their human parents, are invited. Games are planned and there are treats to give out. Mom did buy Polly a new collar, not a dress, so I guess she hasn’t totally lost it. Yet, it takes a bit of explaining when my friends come over for the first time.

Let me introduce you to my family. My name is Amy, and I live with my parents and Polly and Pepper. Polly and Pepper are dogs. Both of them came from the pound and are of an indeterminate small breed. Unlike most dog lovers with childreen I had met, I was not considered one of the puppies, but rather, the dogs are just little furry people. These are my siblings, so to speak. My parents are human, I think. Dad is an engineer and is quite adept at playing along with Mom’s schemes with the dogs. He also tends to really get into the whole thing and play it up. Mom stays at home and takes care of me and her babies (that would be Polly and Pepper). Mom has several degrees which means that when she translated for Polly and Pepper, they tend to sound very erudite. It can make for a really funny sight.

Polly is long legged and blonde, Pepper is back and white with short stubby legs and slightly roly-poly. Mom thinks Pepper aspires to be a Navy seal or an otter. The only thing holding her back is her intense dislike of water. It is funny because Polly is the thin athletic looking one who mostly likes to sleep, while the short roly-poly Pepper likes to go for loooong walks. Go figure.

But I digress, I was describing Polly’s birthday party…Polly wore her new rhinestone collar, pink of course, on the big day. Pepper was decked out in a nifty new blue collar for her “sister’s” birthday. Mom spent the entire morning in the kitchen making liver pate cake. She was stymied on one thing though, how to get Polly to blow out the candles, so she got Dad to engineer trick candles that blew themselves out. He, needless to say, spent all morning in his work shop, murmuring calculus equations. I think that he does this to keep Mom out of his workshop. She tends to hold her head and start moaning in horror when Dad starts on his math explanations.

Polly and Pepper bounced around and were hyper with the smells. Polly started shaking with anticipation, which meant that Mom would pick up Polly to comfort her trauma. Being picked up put her closer to the food which was probably her intention anyhow. Mom can figure out my nefarious schemes before I even get my whole story out, but was blind to Polly and Pepper’s.

The guests started arriving. Henry, a German shepherd mix from down the street was first. Henry went to obedience school, so he was failrly well behaved. He came in with his mom and sat. Sunny, a black lab, was next. It was a mess from then on because Sunny was a happy, yet really dumb dog. He ran around the living room wagging his tail knocking things down. When he knocked down a bowl of dog crackers, it was a mass of puppies on the floor. Bandit, a blue heeler, showed up during the free for all and gladly jumped into the melee. The all settled down when all the crackers were gone and luckily no one stared a fight.

Mom called “Games!” and Henry, Sunny, Bandit, Polly, and Pepper all came running. Mom always carried liver treats or cheese. If she called, all the dogs in the neighborhood would come running. Mom put them in line. “Sunny, you go first, then Henry, then Bandit, then Pepper, then the birthday girl.” The game was follow the leader. Mom was the leader. She went over a chair, under a saw horse, around a tree, then sat a the table. Sunny loved the game and followed mom quite closely, all the while smelling her pockets. Bandit took a short cut back to her mommy and took a nap. Henry followed Sunny on the off chance he was on to something good. Henry was still a rapidly growing puppy. Always hungry. Pepper bounded and leaped over every obstacle with great enthusiasm, remember Mom saying Pepper wanted to be a Navy Seal? Polly thought the whole thing was rather silly and had to be coaxed into participating. Mom gave them all treats for trying and made sure they were at their proper places at the table.

“Cake”, she said, ”is served” Which was Dad’s cue to bring out the cake.

The cake was a vision, at least to the dogs. It was a mound of liver pate with 3 candles on its top. There were dog bones placed all around the top and sides for decoration.

Mom placed the cake in front of Polly. Polly immediately leaped forward onto the table to eat the whole thing. Mom knew her baby, and had counted on this. She had timed the candles to go out about the time the cake hit the table. Mom had measured the rate of burn of the wicks and had cut them to the correct length. Dad’s method was way to complicated, it would have been Polly’s 30th birthday before he would have completed it. The lunge and the candles going out a the same time made it look like Polly was blowing out the candles. Mom also had her hand in Poll’s collar. This stopped Polly from eating the whole thing.

Pieces were distributed to all. Mom fed the parents coffee and cookies. Yuck! I got a coke and cookies. The dogs were all amazingly well behaved, although mom moved Pepper into the kitchen to eat her portion. Pepper eats very slowly and would give her cake away if asked.

This ended the party. It seemed everyone had a good time, no one got hurt, and there were no fights. The humans were amused. Dad wasn’t even pouting about Mom not letting him use his invention for the cake. All in all, a typical day at our house.

Looking forward

I went to the New Mexico State Fair every year we lived there. One year as we were going through the goat barn, we stopped to see the 4H display. One child was raising pygmy goats that, unfortunately, kept dying. She documented all the goats she had raised to get to the one she went to the fair with. I am sure that must have been heartbreaking, but she started over with a new kid each time.

I think of that resolution and focus when I have deaths on the farm. Teddy died on Tuesday and it just about broke my heart. I have other alpacas that need me too, so can't let grief prostate me. We have hit our rainy season, the poop needs scooping or it becomes a health hazard, the hay needs to be in the feeders to make sure they eat. My alpacas are sissys and don't like to get wet to graze. Yet, I still look for him in the field. Intellectually, it is easy to tell one self that life goes on. Emotionally, it is quite another thing.

National Alpaca Farm Days

HomeSpun Alpacas will be celebrating National Alpaca Farm Day September 26 and 27.

Join us to learn more about alpacas and how these lovable creatures can change your life.

Alpaca fiber and products will be available for purchase.

Details to follow.

Reflections on Tubing a Cria

Teddy's mom does not produce enough milk which sometimes happens with first time moms. The predicament came when he refused a bottle. He not only refused, but was adamant in his expression of disgust of the whole thing. After trying for 4 days to get him to drink and waiting to see if his mother produced more milk, we went to the vet for help.

The vet watched the mother and cria interact and came to the same conclusion we had. They were both doing their part, but there was a shortage of milk. Sometimes the cria will only nurse on a teat or two instead of all 4 cutting its own milk consumption. Or the mother may not stand for the cria to nurse his fill. Teddy was going to all 4 teats and his mother was standing for as long as he nursed. So a bottle was attempted and refused with much fanfare.

I went home after a brief class on tubing and a weight/ounces to feed chart. And two warnings:

1. Make sure it goes in the esophagus and not the lungs: the wrong one will cause death.
2. Be sure to crimp the tube as it comes out so that the cria does not breathe in milk. This can cause pneumonia and possibly death. Every time I tube the poor guy, I am super aware of it going down the left.

So here we are 2 1/2 months later and I can tube a wiggly cria by myself. I can pour 12 ounces into the tube and not spill much. Teddy is healthy and growing. It is such a relief and joy to see him playing with the other crias.

A feeding every three hours 6 am until 9pm sounds okay until you realize that, unlike a human baby, you can't take this one with you. So I plan outings around his feedings.

Teddy is weighed every day to ensure that he is getting enough milk. While the chart is handy, it is not always on the mark. Right now, for instance, he is drinking 84 ounces at 29 pounds and only making a gain of 0.2 or 0.3 a day. The chart says he would be 35 pounds to get this much milk. When he stalls, I add more milk in small amounts, or if it looks to be a large amount, I add an extra feeding. If you feed too much, the excess can cause problems and make the cria ill. You don't want to fill the stomach more than half full. This week he is getting fed every two hours in the morning and every three in the afternoon/evening.

I used the feeding syringes when I first started. That was great when he only had 4 ounces at a feeding. Now I pour into the feeding syringe (sans plunger) with a drinking bottle. Makes it easier to control the flow and wiggle factor. I am looking for an empty mustard/condiment container to feed with. I had purchased these for fiber dyeing, but can't find them right now. The tip fits into the feeding tube directly making the whole process easier.

I have a skill I never wanted to learn, but it is a valuable one. If a cria needs colostrum, I can tube it, if the cria refuses the bottle.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 8 - Financials

Here is the hard part. What do you want to count for and against your alpaca business? That is completely up to you and your accountant. However, I would like to suggest some areas to discuss.

Animal expenses:

Vet visits
CDT
worming
pellets
minerals
hay
fiber testing
ARI registration
Stud fees
Microchips
Tools ( shovels, rakes, etc)
Supplies (1st aid, feed and water buckets etc)
halters and leads
sharpening service
membership in associations
books, videos, and seminars
alpaca purchases
alpaca insurance

If you look at the IRS publication 225 ( Farmer's Tax Guide) you get a feel for the sections.

Income from a purely alpaca standpoint would be from breeding, and selling of animals. If you branch out, then there are many income ideas: fiber, seminars, books, herd sitting, agistment are just a few.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 7, Farm Information

The farm information section is where you detail the accomodations you have made for the alpacas.

Where do you buy your hay?
Who is your vet?
What kind of pastures do you have? What kind of grass is in the pastures?
What kind of fencing do the pastures have?
What kind of shelter is available?
What is their water source?
How will you manage the manure?
Who will do the daily labor?
Do you need insurance?
What kind of pellet/mineral mix are you using?

These are the same kind of questions that people ask new buyers to ensure a good home. I am sure there are more I could ask, but that covers the basics. If you think I left one out, please let me know.

HomeSpun Alpacas has ~3 acres in pasture. It is currently divided into 4 pastures, but we rearrange as needed. The pastures are fenced in with 2x4 horse fence, woven. The pasture provides the majority of feed, but we buy about 2 ton Orchard grass hay for 16 alpaca from the local feed store.

We provide 3 sided shelters in each pasture for the alpacas. There are trough feeders in the shelters to feed pellets in. The pellets are provided by Puget Sound Nutrition Group. Dr Waltner provides the makeup for our area. The water is provided in buckets in the pasture from a well on the propery.

We have 2 vets, husband and wife. Puget Sound Vet Clinic. They have a nice hospital facility and do make farm calls.

I do all the daily labor. My husband and son help on the weekends and nights as needed.

The manure is composted and used in our garden. We have not outgrown the compost output yet.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 6 - Herd Growth

Herd growth has many facets:
How many alpacas do you want?
How many are you planning on breeding every year?
How many will you keep?
How many will you sell?
What is your expected production rate?

What is the ideal number of alpacas for your farm? This could be the maximun number the land will support or the number of females necessary to produce the amount of alpacas you want to sell or the number of fiber boys you need to make product.

I first figured out how many alpacas I could reasonably support on the land. From that number, I worked on the number of females and males that would be ideal for my sales goals. Remember goals are just that, goals, so have a fall back plan if you don't make the sales you were expecting.

Northwest alpacas has a great herd growth calculator. You type in the number of alpacas you have now and it estimates the number you will have in future years.

You can see that the cria add up faster than you think. So have a plan in place to sell as you are growing. This does two things, it puts you in the marketplace and makes you practice marketing and selling. You learn what works and what doesn't before you find yourself in a position of having to make a sale. It also brings in new bloodlines if you buy to replace what you sell. If you don't plan on that, then it puts money in the farm budget.

Now is the time to think about what to do with the boys you will be getting. Will you show them, sell them as fiber boys, or keep a fiber herd? Just something to think about.

I would like a herd of 10 breeding females. If I get 50% boys, then I will need to sell 5 boys a year. I also need to sell 5 females to keep the herd at the ideal size. The females sold could be yearlings, pregnant maidens, and/or the production females. I also have some older females, so am planning on when they will retire to have a replacement in place.

As I am growing to that size, I am selling the females that don't fit my business plan and most of the boys. The number can't be written in stone because while statistics say there will be a 50/50 spilt, I have had years with all girls and ones with all boys. It works out in the long run, but to plan year to year for it is tricky.

An update on the crias at HomeSpun Alpacas

Tank is our middle child. He has been putting on about a pound a day and is a strapping male. Tank is 4 weeks old in this picture.




Teddy was very ill and had to go to the hospital. They inserted an IV - I got to help - and after he came home we took it out too. This is the result. A happy, healthy cria. Thank you Puget Sound Veterinary Group! Drs Scott and Jackie worked hard on stopping this little guy's diarrhea. Everyone there was very patient with me calling and wanting updates.

This is the newest cria. He does not have a name yet, but we are working on it! He is a cutie too.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 5 - Business Products & Services

The business products and services section is where you talk about what you are going to sell. First identify what your products and services are going to be. This may be repeated in the section on marketing, but it is a different slant than what we are focusing on here. Are you in the business to sell and promote fiber boys, fiber products, raw fiber, breeding females, herdsire services, or future herdsires? Huacayas or Suris?

Tell about your criteria for each one. What do you consider a herdsire? What would you consider to be prime blanket? Not all blankets are created equal, the 17 micron fleece will bring more per pound than the 35 micron fleece. What are your standards for an acceptable X?

Address anything unique about your services or products. Think of the people who raise organic vegetables, they detail what is unique about their product and show how it fits into a healthy lifestle.

The following is what I put down as my business products and services:

HomeSpun Alpacas will sell huacaya alpacas for the breeding market. We will also sell fiber and products made from their fiber such as yarn and blankets. We will focus on black.

Our fiber goals for fineness are detailed in the long term goal section.

Breeding Females
Breeding females should be the ones with fine crimpy fiber and correct conformation. They have easy births and plenty of milk. Their crias are healthy and strong.

Breeding Males
The breeding male alpacas also have the fine crimpy fiber and correct conformation. They produce crias that are consistently better than the dam and themselves. They come from a line of alpacas that produce healthy crias. Their fiber stays fine even with the onset of breeding and age.

Fiber Products
The fiber that the alpacas produce is warmer than sheep wool and generally considered stronger. It has been marketed as rivaling cashmere, and the truly fine fleeces do with a micron under 20. There is a wide range of fiber produced by an alpaca. The blanket is the prime and the most marketable. The neck is second. The leg and belly are thirds. Each of these kinds of fibers has their use in the market place.

• Prime The prime fiber is used for blankets, sweaters, scarves and hats. It is soft and able to be worn next to the skin.
• Seconds This fiber is used for socks and things that are not worn next to the skin. It is also used as felt.
• Thirds Thirds are used for rugs, insulation, and as weed barrier.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 4 - Goals

Short term goals are goals you want to achieve in a short period of time. I usually choose a year for this, but choose a time period that makes sense to you and your business.

What are you going to do this year to bring your alpaca business forward? Outside breedings, buy a herdsire, sell females or fiber boys, make business agreements with others for trading are just a few ideas. What do you need or want to avoid?

What do you want to achieve with your alpacas? Lower micron, higher shear weight, easy births, milk production, crimp style, color are examples. Also include things you would like to get rid of.

What marketing are you planning? Will it help you achieve your goals? Is marketing one of your goals? What do you want marketing to do for you?

What profits would you like to see? How might you go about producing a profit?

Brainstorm and see what comes up. Don't worry about reality just yet. Dream.

Goals are your destination, worry about getting there after you figure out where you want to go!

Now take all of your great ideas and write them up in a couple of paragraphs. It can help to make concrete, active statements like "We are selling three alpacas in 2010" rather than "We plan to sell three alpacas next year."

Long term goals just take that information a bit farther. Think 5 or 10 years down the line.

What would you like to see then?

What steps do you need to take to get there? What do you need to focus on?

HomeSpun Alpacas Short Term Goals

The initial business focus will be on quality (fleece and conformation) tame, halter trained alpacas. During the first two to three years, we will strive to improve the herd’s fiber.

During this time, we will also be breeding for black. To complement this objective, we will search out the most appropriate black herdsires to breed to our black females. We will also use finely fleeced and crimpy alpacas to bring down the micron and compliment the crimp in our brown females. They will be bred to the most appropriate male, regardless of color.

We will use males that dramatically improve upon the female’s crimp and decrease any guardhair.

Long Term Goals

It is the intent of the owners of HomeSpun Alpacas to build a fiber business selling yarn and products made from our own alpacas as well as building the herd of females to around 10 head.

Our breeding goals are:

• Soundness of body and limb
• Uniformity of fineness and extension of blanket fiber throughout the brisket, shoulder,
• hip, head, neck, and leg.
• Lack of medulation (low percentage over 30 microns)
• Luster or brightness
• Staple length (minimum of 3 inches a year, preferably 4 to 6 inches)
• Volume (the more finer fiber the better)
• Crimp
• Easy births and plentiful milk supply
  
• Good mothers (females)
• Settles females quickly (males)
• Mellow temperament

The fiber goals for micron counts are as follows:

Age Micron
Up to 12 months 16
1 - 2 years 18
2 - 3 years 20
3 - 4 years 21
4 - 6 years 22
6 - 8 years 23
8 - 14 years 26

To achieve our goals we need to:

• Make smart breeding decisions to produce the high quality fiber that is most marketable.
• The males chosen for breeding will have cria on the ground that are an improvement over either parent. The conformation will be correct and the crias will have the same correct conformation and be healthy.
• For the strong fiber, we will find a salable product to produce. Rugs, felt pads, and teddy bears are one of the options on the table as are quilt batts.
• Raise the herd numbers to be able to produce a quantity of fiber that can be made into enough product to not only support the alpacas, but make a profit.
• Refine a product line that will sell on the high end market. Currently focus is on yarn kits, blankets, shawls, and vests.

This focus will allow us to make a profit out of our poorest quality fiber as well as the high quality fiber ensuring there is no waste.

To be continued

I am sick, but will get the short term goals piece done soon. We did have a cria this morning! Light fawn male. Pictures to come.

Alpaca Business Plan Part 3 - Mission Statement

A mission statement is a concise statement about your business' reason for being. Why did you start raising alpacas? What made you think that raising alpacas would be a good business to get into? What are you doing differently from the other farms? What makes your alpacas the "ones"? What are the values or beliefs that guide you raising alpacas? What kind of relationship do you want with your customers and alpacas?

Answer any, all or none of these questions as it suits you.

It should be short and memorable. If you can spell it out in that infamous elevator speech, then you have done well. If you can print it on the back of your business cards, you get the gold star.

Think of it as a tag line with some explanation. Leave out buzz words and fluff. State your goal and what makes you unique. Tell the world why they should do business with you.

I have listed some websites that have good ideas on how to write mission statements if you are stuck.

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitbasics/a/mission.htm

http://www.tgci.com/magazine/How%20to%20Write%20a%20Mission%20Statement.pdf

http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/businessstrategies/article65230.html

Here is the first draft of my mission statement. I think it lacks some pizazz, so will be working on it as we go through the other steps

HomeSpun Alpacas' Mission Statement

HomeSpun Alpacas provides well-rounded support to its customers, from herd health to shearing to business plans, we are there for the customer. Our goal is to breed healthy, quality alpacas and develop a practical program of alpaca education.

For Thursday, think about your short term goals and next Tuesday we will work on long term goals.