By Randena Hulstrand / Staff Writer  - Denton Record Chronical

From Sunday, Sept 23, 2007 Denton Record-Chronicle  Front page

Jim Patrick no longer drives his Jaguar. It sits in his carport under a tarpaulin.

Instead, he prefers scooting around his ranch by golf cart, hauling feedbags to his alpaca pens and maintaining the grounds on his Kubota 30-horsepower tractor.

In 2004, Patrick was working as a corporate consultant and traveled to 36 countries within six months and paid $22,000 in yearly property tax for his Stonebridge Ranch home in McKinney. 

Wanting a simpler lifestyle, he and his wife purchased a home on six acres east of Denton off U.S. Highway 380 and bought three alpacas to qualify for a Texas agricultural property tax exemption.

“We wanted a place to decompress,” Patrick said. “We just had to get out.”

Now, three years later, 57-year-old Patrick has created not just a personal oasis, Patrick’s Pastures Alpaca Ranch and Habitat, but a business that specializes in assisting new alpaca owners get into the business. 

Alpacas, cousins to llamas, are from the Andean Mountain range of South America, particularly Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

“If you look closely at their faces, you’ll be able tell their country of origin,” he said. “Just like you can with people.”

Patrick segregates the herds of alpacas in separate pastures by sex for breeding purposes under the watchful eye of a few llamas, which act as protectors. Also running the grounds to keep the dozens of alpacas safe are seven white Great Pyrenees dogs, all rescue animals.

Ranchers breed alpacas, but they also sell the fleece the animals produce.

“Beyond being cute, alpacas create a crop,” Patrick said.

There are two types of alpacas, distinguished by the characteristics of their fleece. The huacaya is the most common type of alpaca, known for its fluffy, fine fleece, while the suri alpacas have a coat that’s silkier, resembling dreadlocks, he said.

Raising both types of alpacas, Patrick’s Pastures hires shearers from New Zealand once a year in April to shear the animals’ yearly growth.  Each alpaca produces six to 12 pounds of fiber that is then spun into yarn that can sell for $2 to $10 an ounce.

“We can no longer depend on a company to take care of us,” he said, referring to the instability of corporations being unable to ensure retirement plans and financial security.

Patrick’s career has included work as a journalist and futurist, writing and speaking about trends and change.  In addition to writing a syndicated newspaper column in the 1990s, he’s hosted radio shows on KRLD-AM and worked fin executive positions for corporations such as American Airlines.

“We have to understand who we are a mammal first,” he said, “have lost the ability to communicate peacefully.”

Patrick said people could learn from animals such as the alpacas, which are social herd animals that need to be kept with others of their kind.

“It might seem like animals aren’t talking to each other, but they are,” he said.

Patrick’s Pastures is his concept to create a self-sufficient life for himself and his family while still being a contributing member of society ecologically.

In addition to having his own water well and aerobic sewage treatment system on-site, Patrick is investigating solar and wind power to fuel his energy costs. He recycles alpaca manure through a special vacuum, grinding it into fertilizer that he sells or barters for native plants. His future aspirations include establishing a vegetable garden with fruit trees and a stock pond with catfish.

Behind his house, surrounded by alpaca pens, sits Patrick’s Paca Pro Shop. The shop is part office space and part resource for other alpaca ranchers. Patrick sells alpaca medicines and how-to books on raising alpacas, as well as fleece yarn and products such as sweaters, slippers and blankets. Patrick also sells fencing accessories and barns.

“We’re trying to get people to understand how they can earn a living and give back,” he said.

Helping others get started in the alpaca business spans services from assistance in selecting property to fine-tuning a business plan. Patrick’s wife of 39 years, a certified public accountant, helps customers set up their accounting, DBA and LLC partnership applications, guiding them through insurance needs and overall education of how to run an alpaca ranch.

Patrick has helped numerous alpaca ranches get started.

Female alpacas usually begin breeding between 18 months and 24 months of age. Each female produces one baby per year during a reproductive life of about 12-14 years.  

Even though Patrick has made a business out of helping others get in the alpaca business, he said not everyone is cut out for it.

“I tell them you won’t get rich,” he said.

Patrick is also involved with five alpaca partnerships, in which ownership of alpacas is shared with other parties, and the alpacas are boarded Patrick’s Pastures.

Linda Goldsmith, a geriatric care manager in New Paltz, New York, began her partnership with Patrick one year ago under the name, Smiley Face Alpacas.

“Patrick not only knows the alpaca business, but he’s ethical,” she said.

She needed to downsize her space and wasn’t able to care for her animals in New York.

“I realized my limitations,” Goldsmith said.

Upon a recommendation from another alpaca rancher in California, Goldsmith had her 14 alpacas transported to Patrick’s Pastures.

“I sleep well at night knowing they’re being taken care of,” she said. “They’re precious cargo.”

As Patrick enters the pens at feeding time, he calls to his alpacas, “Ruby, Cranberry, Isa-bella, Venus, Q-Tip … I know all their names,” he said, wrapping his arms around one’s lanky neck. “They all talk to me.”

Besides getting closer to nature, Patrick said his ranch has given him perspective on his contribution to society.

“I’m not so important,” he said. “But I’m important to these animals.”