We are Small-But we are Growing
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Lucky Acres Farm is the home of the Gloria and Joe Williams, Stephen, Niki and Lily Schaffer. We are a small alpaca farm located in the upstate of South Carolina. Please come for a visit, we love sharing our country life style with others. Located half way between Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA in Townville SC.
We are just 3 miles from I-85 at exit 11. Take route 243, go 1.5 miles. Turn left onto Milford Road (the second left), go 1.5 miles. At the stop sign, go straight. This is our shared driveway. We are the log cabin on the right.
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Miss Scarlett and Miss Mammie are the latest addition to our farm. We had learned about a fellow alpaca breeder who had lost six of her alpacas to a neighbor's dog attack. We also knew that several other alpaca farms had donkeys to protect their herd, so we brought home two. They are a wonderful addition to the pasture. Miss Scarlett is very friendly and Lily can feed and pet her anytime. Miss Mammie is not as hands on, but loves to "sing" to us whenever she sees us outside. After feeling at home we hope that we can halter and lead one or both of them. Lily wants to ride a donkey and they are certainly large enough for a child to ride.
We have our alpaca boys divided into two pastures, older boys ready for breeding, and young boys or junior herdsires. Both groups have a gelding for company, and now they each have a donkey for their protection. Our girls have Mr. Pebbles our big llama in their pasture. Now we sleep a little better at night knowing that we have done all we can to protect our alpaca herd from preditors.
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This is Sabrina our youngest cria. She was a surprise us. When the Vet ultrasounded her Mother we were told she was not pregnant. What a wonderful surprise. She was born late in the season, mid-December and late in the afternoon. Both of which are not good things in the alpaca breeding business. We had taken Lily to the first Christmas parade in Townville and when we returned there she was. She was slow to grow and we have been supplementing her with a bottle twice a day with vitamins. As the pastures are not growing yet and the hay does not have as good nutrition as grass we felt this was the best way to assist her growth. So far, at two months old she seems fine. She plays with the other crias and can run to keep up with her mother. We wre blessed with three females this year.
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This is Candy and her newest cria Cleopatra, Cleo as we call her. She is beautiful, grey and white. Our herdsire Majestic Knight is her sire. She has a very spunky personality and wiggles to get down each time I pick her up to weigh her. At one month of age she is already eating grain with her mother and sister. It is wonderful to watch the family group together. If Cleo is not romping with Georgia, she is with Candy and Cinnamon Girl. They often are in a different part of the girl's pasture just being together. We have been blessed this fall with two really great female crias.
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This is our second cria this fall. Georgia is a gift we almost didn't have. She is the daughter of Miss Clover and our borrowed herdsire Alejandro. She is named for the University of Georgia at Athens as they saved her mother's life. About 2 months ago one morning we found Miss Clover in the pasture very sick. She was taken to UGA and stayed for 2 weeks. It seems that she had an electrolyte imbalance and now has to have salt water every day. Now she is doing very well and a great mother. Georgia was born about 2 weeks early but never missed a beat and now is the same weight as Cleo. It is a pleasure to watch them play together and boss the older ones around. We are very greatful to UGA for saving her life.
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We were asked to participate in the first time upstate SC farm tour for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. We were very happy to do so and Joe made this picnic area for guests to enjoy. We had a wonderful day and our guests said they did as well. It is a pleasure to try to bring a positive experience for anyone who is interested in learning more about our farming way of life. Many families were taking advantage of this experience and visiting the farms on the tour. I hope this will become an annual event.
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The SC National Heritage Corridor sponsored a bus tour that visited our farm as part of the "Apples and Alpacas" tour. We have been fortunate this year to have several bus tours make a visit to our farm. We love having people come to see the alpacas and educating them about our lifestyle. We serve refreshments and give them a visit with the animals. Everyone said they had a good time and were extremely complementary in their comments. I hope they all enjoyed the experience and will come back to visit again.
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