Welcome to the Stirling Ridge Alpacas website – thanks for giving us a visit!

Located near Moscow, Idaho, we are a small farm nestled in the rolling hills of a beautiful area in the panhandle of northern Idaho called the "Palouse." Our location has the distinct advantage of being in close proximity to the Washington State University Veterinary Hospital (WSU). Our alpacas are under the care of Dr. Ahmed Tibary, a world-renowned camelid vet specializing in reproduction. It is routine to bring a female alpaca in for a pre-breeding ultrasound to find out if there are any reproductive issues, and if not, to determine the opportune time for breeding. Once bred, females are periodically checked several times during the first 60 to 90 days to assure they have retained their pregnancy.

Many out-of-state breeders (and even one from out-of-country) have used our boarding and special services. We board your animals and take them back and forth to WSU for their medical appointments. You will not find a better vet than Dr. Tibary to determine what is going on if your girl has some reproductive problems.  It is much less expensive to board your alpaca with us than to keep it at WSU for $18/day.  We will email or call you the same day as your animal's appointment to let you know what happened at the visit and what the doctor recommends next and get your approval for the next step.  Read the comments from our happy customers down below in the "boarding" section.

Now, instead of just looking at our website, we have a guest room available for you if you’d like to give us a personal visit. That’s even better!


BREEDING
If you choose to breed your females to one of our handsome studs, the pre-breeding and post-breeding ultrasound checks at WSU are included in the stud fee. Also included in the stud fee is 75 days of boarding your female at our farm. We offer a 30 day live birth guarantee.

BOARDING AND SPECIAL SERVICES
We have space available to board your animals. The cost is $3 per day. They will be given the same careful attention we give our own alpacas. If you would like to use our special services in keeping appointments at WSU for your alpaca, we charge a mileage & time fee.

Here are comments from some farms that have used our boarding and special services:

Christine Perala Gardiner, Suri Futures, Sandy, Oregon:
"Thank you for a great service! I really think your service was excellent. We appreciate your attention to detail. Hard to improve!"

April Works, Alpaca Vista Suris, Poulsbo, WA:
"Deb has done a marvelous job handling our alpacas and keeps us well-informed about their health and well-being. We will use their services again if the need arises."

Brenda Trammell, Enchanted Acres, Benton City, WA:
"We really appreciated the fast and accurate updates. Thank you so much for your care of our alpaca. You really helped us out in a pinch!"


SALES
We want a good match between you and any alpaca you choose from our farm. We want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase. Every detail pro and con will be given you about each of our alpacas BEFORE you buy. We don't want you to be surprised by anything after the sale! Terms are available.

TRAINING
We are in the process of training each of our animals. After initial halter training, our aim is to have each one come when called, put their nose in the halter voluntarily, lift their feet on command for toenail trimming, and stand when asked. Several of our alpacas have accomplished some of these goals. We would be happy to consider working with your animals. Cost will be based on the time invested and successful outcome of training.

VISIT
If you are in the process of considering whether you should get into alpaca farming, a visit to the farm is highly recommended for some hands-on experience. We’ll show you around the barn, inspect the animals, and coach you on basic care of alpacas. Our guest room is available for overnight stays, including a nice, hot country breakfast, (continental on Sundays) at $95 for two people per night (call first for availability). If you bring your animal to breed or board with us, or buy an animal from us, your stay is free.


It is estimated that the entire world population of alpacas is about 3 million. By comparison about 228,000 alpacas live in the U.S.* As of April 2012, there were a little over 15,000 alpaca owners registered in the U.S. with the Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI).  To put this in perspective, consider that in the U.S. alone there are 6.9 million sheep and more than 96 million cattle.** With the first imported alpacas coming to the U.S. in 1984, this is still a very young industry in breeding stock and fiber marketing and is considered one of the best livestock investments available anywhere. These animals are quite easy to tend, profitable to market, and just plain enjoyable!

* Figures from The Alpaca Registry, Inc., www.alpacaregistry.net
** Figures from Agricultural Marketing Research Center, www.agmrc.org