Retirement means different things to different people. Some play golf, others travel or volunteer, but for one Virginia couple, leaving jobs in data processing and university administration meant finding new love with a herd of alpacas.
Cindy and Bill Bergen tend a herd of nine alpacas at their bed and breakfast near Farmville. The animals are related to llamas and camels but smaller than both – averaging three feet at the shoulder and weighing 120-185 pounds. They’re gentle and make good pets.
“This is Giggles. This is Bunny, Crème Brulee. There’s Trouble. He’s our only boy," Bergen says. "He’s trouble!”
Alpacas are curious and friendly to people and places.
“They nibble the tops off the grass. They don’t yank things up," explains Bergen. "They’re sustainable, because you don’t need a lot of land. We don’t use any insecticides, herbicides or pesticides, so they’re all natural.”
The animals are so gentle that the Bergens invite visitors to feed them by hand.
“Basically when you feed you just want to put a little bit, not a full handful – just in the middle of your hand.”
They don’t bite, and they don’t spit, although they will puff if they’re annoyed.
“They were blowing air at one of the other alpacas, going ‘Get away. This is my human. This is my grain.’ They go poof," Bergen says. "They do not spit like a llama does on an hourly basis.”
Bill adds that an alpaca may kick, but their feet are padded.
“They have two toe nails, and there are little pads, so even if you do get ‘kicked’ full force, you go like, ‘Huh? Really? I didn’t even feel that. What’s your problem?’
Even their coats, which are shorn each spring, are good to people.
“Their fiber is hypoallergenic. They’re not classified wool," says Bergen. "Wool is classified as sheep and goat – cashmere, but these are fiber or fleece.”
The Bergens acquired their alpacas after observing the animals with a disabled child.
“He was non-verbal, and that day he spoke in complete sentences after being out with them.”
So they bought seven acres, opened the bed and breakfast and invited guests to see for themselves. In addition to feeding alpacas, many people enjoy meeting Jake, Jili and Journey – three large, fluffy guard dogs responsible for protecting the herd at night.
“We tell our AirBnB guests – our dogs bark because they’re up at night, they’re nocturnal. And I say we don’t stop them because they’re working and there’s a reason why they bark," Bergen explains. "They can hear about a quarter mile away, so they know something long before we do. Coyotes don’t even really come on the property, because they say, ‘I’m not messing with three dogs!’”
The alpacas, on the other hand, stay quiet for the most part – unless they’re feeling uneasy, in which case they hum!
“When we first got a group of them and they weren’t used to being at this farm. The one hummed 24/7 for almost a week until she settled down.”
And on rare occasions they let out an alarming cry.
“If a trash truck comes by and a paper bag floats into the pasture, they will scream like. ‘There’s something attacking us!’ But they all run to it,” Bergen says.
Due to the summer heat, the retreat is taking a break from tours but they’ll resume in September.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
