Year End Planning

The end of the year is upon us--don't know if it is just a sign of getting old--but I just don't know how the year went by so fast. As many of you know we just experienced one of the worst storms to ever hit the Oregon coast. It took a while for our electric, telephone and Internet services to be returned to normal; but the alpacas never missed a beat. We went down to check on them several times during the storm and they were just as contented as could be--with torential rains and 100 mile per hour winds howling outside the barn--they are amazing critters.

Part of what comes with the end of the year is our innate need to plan. What do we need to do before year end? Will we buy alpacas or other business equipment before year end or should we do it next year? Several links appear below to help you look at several different scenarios. Two of them are sample business plan spreadsheets--both with an initial purchase of six female alpacas averaging $15,000 a piece--one includes a demonstration of buying all breedings the other includes the purchase of two herdsires.

6 Bred Females With No Herdsire

6 Bred Females With 2 Herdsires

The third pdf is a listing of business plan inputs for various alpaca related expenses.

List of Business Plan Inputs

As you review these reports you will note a very conservative approach. No forms of income are included other than the sale of alpacas and those are reflected at very conservative prices. As you put this type of analysis together for your farm or proposed farm keep in mind what you feel confident your various forms of income will be. Many times over the years as we have been asked by new farms to help them develop their business plans and we find that many give us revenue from agistment, transport, fiber sales, consignment sales, etc. all before they have even started in the business. If you are planning to provide transport services and are an individual who enjoys driving cross country then this alternative has merit. But, if you hate to drive, why include transport services in your business plan? Be realistic in what you are planning. A business plan changes over time. It is not meant to be a static document. It is a guide to your future. When things change your business plan will need to change.

The percentage we use for birth rates (80%) is quite low because we want to plan on the low side--what if you have some females who don't get pregnant (it happens)--there are times when a cria may die (sad but true). There are years where your percentage of males may be greater than 50%--our second year we had 15 males out of 21 births. That didn't fit with our business plan; but all those boys have been sold. It just meant we had to look at our planning in a different light.

As you put your business plan together review the 97 questions the IRS presents in their Market Segment Specialization Program entitled: IRC Section 183: Farm Hobby Losses with Cattle Operations and Horse Activities (despite the name it would be the guideline for any audit involving alpaca breeding operations). The list appears in Appendix D. These are all questions the IRS is going to ask you--if they are already answered in your business plan you will be ahead of the game.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-mssp/a1farmls.pdf

Give a holler if you have questions. David and I wish you the very best as we begin the countdown to 2008 and would like to thank all of our friends, clients and vendors for their part in making this a wonderful 2007.

Tax Time is Approaching . . . quickly

As I prepare for the year end Alpaca Business and Tax Planning seminar being presented jointly with Northwest Alpacas on Friday a couple of IRS links looked very worthy of sharing on the blog.

The first one is entitlted "Tips for Choosing a Tax Preparer".

The individual you select to prepare your return is a very important decision but no matter how qualified that individual may be remember the contents of the return are your responsibility! If you don't know where to turn to find a qualified farm-friendly accountant contact another local farm and ask if they are pleased with their accountant/preparer, check with your local AOBA affiliate, or your state society for CPAs.

The second one addresses the 2008 Standard Mileage Rate--50.5 cents per mile for business miles. Follow the link and you can review a summary of the mileage rates for medical, moving and charitable purposes.

There is still time to sign up for the tax seminar on Friday--just follow the link above. Along with the tax and business planning presentation it is a fun exchange of questions and experiences with participants enrolled from all parts of the country.

Trying to Catch up . . .

We have been very busy and obviously have not updated the blog on a regular basis. Guess we need to learn to post shorter messages.

The big news in the camelid industry right now is a virus that has been showing up throughout the country. Our farm has had no incidence to date but we know farms who have. Luckily all their critters are fine. There is no definitive diagnosis at this point but we wanted to share a link from the International Camelid Institute http://www.icinfo.org/index.html you might want to review and add to your Favorites. The ICI was founded by Dr. David Anderson at The Ohio State University (Peggy's alma mater) in 2001 and is an information repository, veterinarians, owners, academicians, regulatory agencies and others can access and obtain essential information for everyday situations from research.

Will try to do better on updates--several are in the edit stage right now--but wanted to get this quick message off about a great resource whether it be for critical virus information or daily care issues.

We hope all your critters are happily grazing in their pastures and you are having a great autumn in your area of the country.

Way behind on telling you about babies!

It has been very busy on the farm and we suddenly realized the last seven cria had not yet been officially presented to the world via the blog--so here they are.




August 18 - Khani (named after Khani Cole one of our favorite female vocalists) out of Tucker Creek's Chandra and Hemingway's Bogart. She may be a light fawn or beige--only time will tell--but she is dense and crimpy and conformationally perfect.




August 19 - Lollipop (named after the late 50's hit of the same name) out of Tucker Creek's Franchesca and MFI Peruvian Glacial Storm. We realized she is, much to our dismay, our only Glacial Storm cria this year as all the other Glacial Storm bred females sold last year. Not that we are complaining! She is just as gorgeous as her cousin--Chandra and Franchesca are 1/2 sisters out of our incredibly fine Karoline (now owned by Alpaca Woods Ranch in Snellville, GA). Karoline had a male this year out of MFI Peruvian Impact--Alpaca Wood's Augustus--if you are looking for a future herdsire--he should be worthy of your time and interest.

September 9 - a mother and daughter delivery duo - Faiks' Athena and Faiks' Elana presented us with a male, Tucker Creek's Creedence (medium fawn), and a female, Tucker Creek's Clearwater (white), each sired by Hemingway's Bogart. We had been hoping for a trio for the family as Athena's other daughter, Victoria, was also due at the same time--but the R component of CCR did not appear until several days later.

September 14 - the arrival of Tucker Creek's Revival to finish off the three memorable names of the 60's group by the same names commonly referred to as CCR. He is the gorgeous result of a breeding between Tucker Creek's Victoria and EC Sun Tzu.

September 19 - Tucker Creek's Jewell out of El Bello's Eloisa and EC Sun Tzu--what a gorgeous little doll. To date Eloisa had only given us males--Tucker Creek's Spenser from last year is still on our annual watch list. Only one or two males make the list each year. So far he has not disappointed us. And we are certainly not disappointed with the results of this breeding!

And before leaving the pasture we found that Cazie's Octavia was delivering the first cria born to Rising Moon Alpacas out of Preston, NV. Another gorgeous EC Sun Tzu male named Rising Moon Eclipse. We are thrilled to add them to our group of affiliate farms and look forward to many years of mutual alpaca fun and success.

Our breeding season is almost over. Only three more cria to come--all belonging to clients--and all out of Sun Tzu. To say that we have been thrilled with the results of our first breeding season with Sun Tzu would be an incredible understatement. He is doing a magnificent job with crias on the ground ranging in color from white to black--every single one displaying his dense and crimpy fiber as well as his friendly dispostion. Many thanks to Mike Safley at Northwest Alpacas for his personal selection of this outstanding herdsire standing stud exclusively at Alpacas at Tucker Creek. Limited breedings available for 2008.

Don't forget National Alpaca Farm Days are next weekend. Take part in whatever way you can. These unique critters have afforded us a wonderful lifestyle and the industry has only scratched the surface. If you are not already involved--check them out--there is probably a farm near you!

National Alpaca Farm Days - September 29th and 30th

Sun Tzu is at the fence to meet every visitor as they come through the front gate! And he will be anticipating your visit next weekend as Alpacas at Tucker Creek is happy to be one of the many farms throughout the country recognizing National Alpaca Farm Days. It was a program designed by the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association to increase public awareness regarding these wonderful animals and the satisfying and rewarding lifestyle they afford.

If it is not convenient for you to drop by our farm please check the list and find an alpaca farm or ranch near you. http://www.alpacafarmday.com/farmlocator/index.asp

Hours will run from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Please come to enjoy refreshments, demonstrations, and lots of alpacas all in the beauty surrounding the Oregon coast. There are lots of babies to see and you might even get to see a birth--Sun Tzu still has more babies scheduled to arrive any day. Dave Drury will be performing on acoustic guitar Saturday. There will be many prizes including 50% ownership in one of our incredible junior herdsires!!!

Sun Tzu and the rest of the critters and staff at Alpacas at Tucker Creek look forward to seeing you!

Alpamayo Genes galore

Our two most recent crias were sired from 1/2 brothers each of whom were sired by Canada's premier herdsire Jolimont 2 Peruvian Alpamayo IMPB98--our incredible male, Sun Tzu, and his 1/2 brother, MMR Laredo. Each of these gorgeous cria arrived while we were out of town--don't even want to think how many times we have changed our plans waiting for a cria to be born.

Tucker Creek's Jumpin' Jack Flash was born on Friday, August 3rd, out of our sweetheart Iomi and Sun Tzu. He is a beautiful light fawn with energy to spare. Sun Tzu's density and crimp are already demonstrated in his young fleece.

Tucker Creek's Amor was born Monday, August 6th, and is a gorgeous dark female out of true black Chilean, Mora, and MMR Laredo. Just like his brother, Laredo does a wonderful job producing color. Only time will tell if she is going to end up a bay black or true black as her ears and lower legs fade to black. Her IgG was at the top of the scale as soon as they started the process and she is a very active member of the herd.

Ten more babies to go . . . and our first baby of the year, Clapton, is almost four months old and over 60 pounds . . . time to be weaned . . . just in time to go to his new home in Georgia, Alpaca Woods Ranch. Time really goes by fast when you measure it in terms of birthing, weaning and breeding.

2007 Section 179 Increase

Just a heads up . . . The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 was signed by President Bush on May 25th and one of the sections was good news for alpaca breeders and small businesses in general. The provisions of Section 179 in excess of $100,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) were extended through 2010. Originally the deduction was scheduled to be reduced to $25,000 that year. So the new law extended the higher threshold of Section 179 by one year and increased the 2007 limitation from $112,000 to $125,000. The law also increased the annual phase-out of Section 179 from $450,000 to $500,000.

It's nice when tax legistation is in our favor for a change.

Don't forget to sign up for the tax seminar being presented by Peggy and Fred Kraft at Northwest Alpacas on Friday, November 30th.

http://www.alpacas.com/AlpacaInstitute/CourseDetails_ODS5.aspx