My mother Kathryn went to a craft store to get some yarn for knitting a sweater, and she came across some yarn that was extraordinarily soft and beautiful.  After inquiring about it, she discovered it was alpaca yarn. Of course the first question was, “What is an ‘Alpaca’?”  Over the next 11 years we researched this lovely animal. Finally, we decided that when we moved onto a ranch we would raise alpaca, as well as other livestock.     

Though Dan was born and raised in the city suburbs of Alaska, and Kathryn was raised in Oregon on a beautiful farm—two VERY different lifestyles—we both dreamed of raising our children and retiring on a small country ranch.  Before we moved to the ranch, we lived on a 1⁄4 Acre lot in the suburbs of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where all the animals we had were 5 Goldfish, lots of Ants, 4 Frogs, and a Robin and her young; a good start. We also had an orchard, a garden, and a small vineyard.

In 2000, we found a small country ranch—Rockford Bay Ranch—and purchased the 50 acre site, and decided it was time to purchase alpacas.  Our first purchase was 7 alpacas from Montana, including 2 pregnant females, a herdsire, a junior herdsire, and 3 geldings. Then we purchased 3 pregnant females and a junior herdsire from Oregon, followed by 5 pregnant females, 4 female cria and 2 herdsires from Missouri.   We agisted all of these animals for up to 2 years until we moved onto the ranch in 2004.

The ‘Ranch Family’ consists of 12 animal lovers: Dan, Kathryn, our nine children—Daniel, Sarah, Rachel, David, Samuel, Rebekah, Esther, Josiah, and James—and our ranch hand Rob Wilbur. We are all dedicated to caring for these incredible creatures. One immense benefit is that raising animals has made the children responsible for taking care of something besides each other, as the animals cannot fill the water tank, muck stalls, or hay and shear themselves, or cut their toenails and teeth. Then also there is the satisfaction of accomplishment with the day to day tasks. There's always something to do, whether it be halter-training, rotating pastures, breeding analysis or just loving the enchanting creatures up. Ranching is a family undertaking which offers opportunities for every member's involvement.

Our breeding program goals include the production of animals with excellent conformation and fleece characteristics, and the improvement in our herd each year demonstrates this effort. We have been blessed with some of Snowmass’ beautiful herdsires—Reminiscence, as well as Snow Legend that won first place at the 2005 AOBA national fleece competition and first place in the 2006 AOBA Monterrey fleece competition.  Our Huacaya alpacas come in many colors, including different shades of light to dark browns, light to dark fawns, beige, white, and black.

In addition to breeding, selling, and agisting high quality alpacas, we have beautiful horses, Nubian goats, and woolly sheep available as well. (See the Herd List).

We whole-heartedly welcome farm visits and encourage you to come and meet these charming and gentle animals; just give a call first to schedule an appointment (208-769-9999).