Patty Loew:
Starting tomorrow, the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival gets underway in Madison. There are nearly 250 alpaca farms in Wisconsin and the animals are viewed as an investment. They can sell from $500 to $500,000. This week Steve Doebel takes you to Jean Garvey's alpaca farm in Mazomanie.

Jean Garvey:
There you go. He's a wonderful boy. My name is Jean Garvey and I've been an alpaca farmer for eight years. I raise and sell alpacas. We chose alpaca farming because we wanted something to do on small acreage. What we discovered about alpacas is that they're an excellent livestock investment, that they don't take much acreage and that they are very enchanting animals. There is a difference between an alpaca and a llama. Most people don't know what it is. I'll be glad to tell them. A llama is a large animal and it was bred as a pack animal mainly. An alpaca has always been a small animal and bred for fiber. They definitely have personalities. They hum and talk to each other in a hum, hummm. They like it when you talk softly to them or sing to them. I'm down here talking and singing to my alpacas a lot. If they argue with each other which is usually when they spit this green stuff, the horrible smelling green stuff will come out of their mouth and oh my, it does smell terrible. It smells just awful.

Jean Garvey:
Alpacas are terrific livestock to own because they go potty in the same spot all the time. So we have dung piles. I happen to love to run around and clean up alpaca manure. I'm a very strange person. I can keep track of my alpacas by cleaning up the manure to make sure everyone is healthy. Come on, let's get some apples. Owning alpacas has been life changing for me. I was -- I personally wasn't supposed to see the change of the century. I have certain illnesses and conditions that it's remarkable that I'm still around. But alpacas have given me that incentive and the love of alpacas and the attention and love that they give me gives me the incentive to keep moving and keeping moving keeps you alive.

Jean Garvey:
There you go. There you go. My partner in all of this alpaca business is Roy Lord who is my life partner. The first love of my life. Then there are the dogs and the alpacas. He's the first one. He runs the mill. Our fiber mill processes alpaca fleeces and for us and other farms all over the country. Alpaca fiber has incredible insulative properties. We've walked out after a snowstorm and brushed off six inches of snow off the top of our alpacas because it doesn't melt. They're so insulated that the heat doesn't get away from their body to melt the snow off their backs. He's getting clean now. He says oh, that feels so good. Now he'll shake it off and his fiber will be all separated and clean. This yarn is hand-spun yarn from one of our alpacas, her name is Icy Mocha. If somebody wants to make something out of hand spun Icy Mocha they can do it. Individual animals do have a following. You'll have a hand crafter that wants Icy East fleece this year and next year too, or they can have a throw made out of the fleece from a special alpaca. All alpacas are special actually.

Patty Loew:
To find out more about alpaca farms and this weekend's alpaca festival in Madison, go to our website at wpt.org/InWisconsin.