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In August of 1999 our wonderful,
crazy, surreal, but unforgettable adventure began! At the time my parents had
cattle that roamed our farm for the past 2 generations and the thought that
“alpacas” could someday take over the cattle was unheard of! But it happened! In
2000 we decided to sell out the cattle and concentrate on the alpacas. The
alpaca’s big brown eyes, We currently own /board a total of 102 females, 4 main herdsires as well as lots of great fiber producing males. We are expecting over 60 cria this year which is going to make this Spring and Summer very exciting! Watching the babies being born and seeing them stand and walk for the first time is one of the greatest sites you’l ever see. If you’ve never witnessed this wonderful event you can check out some pictures of an entire alpaca birth here. One day last summer I was washing my car and a
bunch of the girls came running up to me and pretty much begged for me to spray
them down. On a hot summers day alpacas LOVE water, last summer I got a small pool for them to play in, and they loved it! Our farm name is Mountain Ash Alpacas and we are located about 1.5 hours north of the Montana border in Southern Alberta. If you are ever in the area give us a call, the coffee is always on! Rod, Leslie and Kayla Unruh
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serene and curious personality stole our hearts in no
time at all! Our first herd that we purchased consisted of dual registered
alpacas as well as Canadian registered alpacas and then some we probably shouldn't’t have purchased! But the best part of the group was the twins! Twins
are very rare and they are what grabbed our attention and pocket books! Out of
the original group of 21, our twins, one herdsire and just one other female is
all we have left, we have had lots of fun selling and buying new ones (with many
lessons learned) and have brought the quality of the herd up tremendously. In
2003 we were very lucky to purchase our two studs, Kelowna’s Salute to Cuzco,
and AVA Isaila Valentino. These two males have consistently thrown us high
density, soft, crimpy fiber and we are very proud to own them. From 2003-2006
the whole family got involved, I started to work with other farms and brokered
alpacas, which I really enjoy and still do
here on purealpaca.com I also
got my diploma for website design and have designed websites for Brewster
alpacas, Marion Alpacas, 
M2A Farm and Canadian Comfort Alpacas. My dad, Rod Unruh started to open his doors to
others and boards for many other owners. He also bit the bullet in 2005 and
started to shear his own alpacas to cut down costs. He now shears our 100+
alpacas each year on his own! My mom, Deeny started to sew cria coats, shearing
sheets and did quite well with them. In January of 2006 our family suffered a
great loss, when my mother was killed in a car accident on her way home from
work. My dad who was now on his own had a huge decision to make, many thought he
would sell his home, farm and all the animals to move on to something different,
but I knew better, he was born and raised on this same land and I can’t imagine
him anywhere but here. So before the week was up I decided that my 5 year old
daughter and I were going to move in with my dad for as long as it took to
adjust to something that seemed impossible to adjust to. One of the few things
that kept us going was the alpacas, even when you are going through something
like the loss of your wife, grandma and mother, the alpacas seem to always boost
our broken spirit. None of us can even imagine a life without alpacas outside
the kitchen window.
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