Moon Dancing
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Macho
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The Big Alpaca Farm Versus the Little Alpaca Farm - 2007/01/31 18:33
The Big Alpaca Farm Versus the Little Alpaca Farm
We have all heard the voice of the little business that the large business is going to run them out of town. They can’t compete. By a double standard none of us complain when chain restaurants come to town and compete with locals. This same banter goes on in the alpaca industry and it is time to take another look at the situation.
Several years ago at a Level Five alpaca show, I over heard a large breeder say, “Someone is always trying to take us down”. That has haunted me every since. How would it feel to do business everyday on the defensive? There is truth in their statement.
We have all heard or said we can’t compete with the “Big Farm”. We can’t get the same price as the Big Farm. This is not a true statement. We can compete through unity and cooperation with other local farms. The big farm is not our enemy. They have been our mentors. With cooperation, affiliates jointly have as many livestock combinations and quality to offer as a Big Farm. With cooperation regions have as many livestock and the quality to offer as the Big Farm. We can compete without making the Big Farm the adversary. We can compete because we jointly have quality and quantity and can offer choices.
We as an industry all educate the new to alpaca buyers, yet very few of us in the beginning have bought locally. Yet this is what we want to promote. Like the new guy on the block we assumed large equals quality. If the farm I purchase from has had their genetic program in place for 10 years, then they will always be genetically years ahead of me unless I am very careful to assure that I buy the best and breed up to the best. It is a huge step for me to beat the Big Farm in the show ring from which I bought my genetics. They are not going to sell their best, neither would we.
We are seeing the show ring producing variation in which farms alpacas are now winning. I believe that is because the revered imported sires are getting old and or over bred or have died. Once they are all retired then the Big Farm and the Little Farm will all be playing from the same genetic field. We the Little Farm just may have purchased the next generation of leading genetics in the form of a breeding. Maybe we even got it at a discount from a Big Farms donated breeding to a silent auction as their way of serving the industry. And remember many quality alpacas may never go to the show ring.
The Big Farm has spent years and large amounts of money on advertising their business and has put in many more years raising livestock. Many times this is 10 to 20 years more experience then most of us have. They used to be the only place to go to buy breeding stock of any quality. This has now changed with time. As more and more regions and affiliates cooperate to market their quality livestock the playing field is equalized.
There is not a small farm that has bought livestock or a breeding from a Big Farm that does not attach their farm or alpaca to the prestigious shirt tail of the Big Farm‘s advertising. “I bought it at Nordstrom’s or Neiman Markus”. We are benefiting from their advertising dollar and their reputation.
It is time to start looking at the Big Farm as an equal. Through cooperation, regions have the numbers and quality breeding stock to compete in the market place. By doing so this does not take down the Big Farm but we will surely lift ourselves up.
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