Alpacas - Planning Your Alpaca Farm

Chris Lewis - March 2009

When it comes to planning, it's not always what you do that makes the difference between success and failure...it's what you DON'T do that counts. The single greatest factor in determining how well your business will do is having a written plan, with defined objectives, goals and targets.

Most people think they have a plan, but it's in their heads. And that's not good enough - it MUST be written down. It's all too easy to convince yourself later that you're "doing okay" when really, you're nowhere near where you hoped to be. If you have a written plan to refer to, you know exactly how you should be doing at any stage within your business.

When you're planning your alpaca farm, you need to ask yourself some basic questions:
Where you want to be in five year's time?

• How many animals will you have?
• How will you make money from them?
• How will you market your farm?
• How will you sell your alpacas?
• Who will you sell to?
• Will you be in profit?

These points should all be covered in your business plan. Of course, things won't work out exactly as you planned - life has a tendency to get in the way! But you will know when you deviate from your intended path, and you should have a fall-back plan in case you need to make adjustments.

But a plan is not just the roadmap to guide you on your alpaca venture. The very process of writing it makes you think through exactly why you are doing this and what it is going to involve. It's all too easy to get carried away with the idea of having your own farm and raising these charming animals - but the process of detailing how it will all come together will ensure that you approach it realistically.

When you sit down to write your plan, you need to prepare an outline so that you make sure you cover all the relevant areas. These should include:

• Preparing an Introduction
• Writing the Executive Summary
• Confirming the Mission and Strategies
• Describing Your Present Status
• Explaining Your Products and Service Offerings
• Researching the Market
• Presenting the Financials
• Designing the Implementation Plan

If you have thought through all of these factors, and have a plan that accomplishes your objectives, you should be in good shape to start your farm. And, if you need to raise finance, your well-written plan will help you to explain to perspective lenders how your enterprise will work and how you can repay any loans.

Preparing a business plan is an essential part of setting up your alpaca farm. Just as with any other enterprise, if you don't write down your goals and objectives, and the strategy you want to use to achieve them, you are almost certainly doomed to fail. This article reviews some of the key factors involve in writing an alpaca farm business plan.

Visit this site for more details: Alpaca Business Planning Guide

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