We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shelly Walsh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shelly below.

Shelly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission is to advance alpaca genetics in the US through education, collaboration, best breeding practices and environmental stewardship while bringing joy to the local community through interaction with and education about alpacas. But how on earth did we get to this place and create this mission?

A move out of the rush of the suburbs into the quiet of the country in 2004 seemed like all we needed to re-set and focus on what we craved most. We wanted more time. We wanted less busy and less obligated. Our days moved from demanding corporate jobs that kept us late and rolled into overly-scheduled, polite social obligations and a self-inflicted pressure to constantly be busy. Change was necessary for us to find more peace and calm. And we knew it and once we acknowledged it, we had to fix it.

We moved to 14 acres in Iron Station, NC only about 20 miles from where we were living. While the move should have been enough on its own to accomplish our goal of finding more downtime, what we didn’t realize was how hard we would fall for the farm. All of our time outside of work was dedicated to making the farm our own. We added llamas, horses and goats to our new farm and quickly learned about animal care as well as both the joy and heartache they bring. We became much more acutely aware of the impact we have on our environment and how important that is to us. By the end 2009, Mike further committed to the farm leaving his corporate job and Good Karma Ranch and the business of alpacas began.

Why alpacas specifically? Aside from their obvious beauty and calm nature, alpacas fit perfectly into the environmentally conscious farming practices we had already begun to incorporate including running the farm on solar power, relying heavily on rotational grazing as well as composting practices. Alpacas also produce a renewable fiber and have no negative impact on our small acreage.

Today we focus our business on raising Huacaya alpacas. Our focus on genetics continues to advance our herd and constantly improve the quality of our animals and their fiber. We focus on the breed standards of the Alpacas Owners Association and bring in genetics from the largest, most-advanced farms in the country. We mentor other farmers as they begin their journey into raising alpacas while we continue to educate ourselves on the latest research from the alpaca community.

We have grown to include not only breeding and selling high quality, registered alpacas, but also focusing on the use of their renewable, soft, hypoallergenic fiber for clothing and home goods. We gently harvest their fiber every April causing them no harm. Moving from farm to fashion with alpaca fiber is sustainable, renewable and low-impact to the environment.

And then the JOY! We realized over time that other people were finding the same joy we found when interacting with our alpacas. From this grew our agritouism business. We encourage others to visit our farm for tours, yoga, and other events to learn about and interact with alpacas. We love sharing our farm with visitors affording them a glimpse into raising alpacas and a glimpse into the joy of their personalities. There is nothing that lights us up more than the smiles and laugther that we get to observe when visitors interact with our alpacas. We recognize not everyone can quit their corporate job and move to the country, but for a little time they can visit our farm and experience JOY. Spreading the joy that we were seeking all of those years ago moving to this land, is now a main focus of our day-to-day at Good Karma Ranch.

Shelly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My story about our mission sums up a lot about what you might want to know about me. My husband, Mike, and I did not grow up on farms. I didn’t even own a pet growing up. It wasn’t until Mike and I had dogs did I know what is was to care for an animal so the fact that we are now alpaca farmers always makes us smile and laugh at ourselves a little. People always ask us how we got into alpaca farming and we sort of say it is one of the things in life that just happened because we were listening to ourselves about what we really needed: peace and joy.

I wish we realized sooner how much peace and joy our farm and alpacas could bring to other people. We spent several years sort of assuming people thought we were crazy. And believe me, some did. We lost friends that didn’t understand what we were doing and felt we were making a huge mistake in our lives. But as time passed, more and more people seemed genuinely in awe of the alpacas. Friends going through different things in their lives would ask to come and just sit in the pasture. Kids we knew lost their anxiety for a couple of hours while spending time in the pasture. And slowly we started to realize we weren’t crazy or odd, but we really found something that could bring happiness to others.

That realization, years after we had alpacas, is what brought us to open the farm officially to the public. At first, we dipped our toe in cautiously and opened just on weekends. I think we were still a little unsure if anyone would really get it or care or have interest. Maybe our friends and family were just being kind to us or were just “our kind of people” but others wouldn’t get it. But, weekend tours did well and the farm grew slowly. Then, during COVID, our business grew so much. People were down. People were cooped up. People were seeking JOY! We opened the farm 6 days a week for tours, yoga, and other events. And our agritourism business was truly born.

I think what I’m most proud of is that we started this small business with literally no experience owning a business or raising animals and here we are growing and learning and working really hard on something that is ours and it’s working. Sure, others have built businesses faster, grown bigger, done more, but considering it is just the 2 of us literally figuring it out and creating and growing in ways that have to satisfy both of us while still maintaining our joy as well as sharing it with others, I feel pretty proud. We’re doing all of it and teaching ourselves as we go. From alpaca neonatal classes, tons of education programs on alpaca care, learning everything we can from bigger farms, to taking social media marketing classes, photography classes, we are learning it all as we go.

There is much more to come at Good Karma Ranch. I know it. We are always planning and figuring out how to offer more experiences and how to improve. We are starting to work with small school groups, private organizations, USO, Veterans groups, corporate team building and have tons of ideas to bring to life. We just got back from a trip to Peru with other alpaca farmers. We spend 12 days on alpaca farms in Peru (16,000 feet is no joke!) and visiting mills learning how it all goes from alpaca to product and it was amazing! What we learned there will be incorporated in our plans for fiber and product in the future.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Honesty and being ourselves. Mike and I both are pretty straightforward and we both are willing to help others. Other alpaca farmers have grown to trust us. We have sold many high quality animals to new breeders for fair prices and have helped them get started offering honest and accurate advice when asked. We are always just a phone call away and they know it.

For our reputation for farm visitors I think it is the cleanliness of our farm, the health of our animals, and the care they can see goes into our operation that gets people to tell others about visiting our farm. Many of our visitors are there through word of mouth.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.goodkarmaranch.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodkarmaranch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodKarmaRanchAlpacas
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodKarmaRanch
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/goodkarmaranch