About Us

Rosehaven Alpacas is a story about a how we started a new adventure for us. The story continues....

Rob and I work in the crazy world of New York City and Los Angeles and over 15 years ago decided to get a weekend place somewhere in the Mountains. Looking for over 2 years we finally found a place in Callicoon, New York. We have 40 acres and are nestled between the river town of Callicoon and the little vibrant hamlet of Jeffersonville, in an area known as the Beechwoods directly across from the first hole of the Villa Roma. As much as we love our jobs in the City once experiencing the calmer gentler atmosphere of country living, (or perhaps revisiting our childhoods) we wanted to be there more. We slowly started looking for something that would allow us to make a living in the country. We looked at restaurants, stores, apartment buildings, anything that could give us a living. Not once did we think about livestock. We have a few horses but they are more an activity than a possible business. 

One day Rob was driving back from Jeffersonville and saw a moving cloud on the roadway in front of him. As he slowly approached, he was surrounded by strange long necked, alien creatures all staring at him, and making weird low noises. He helped the escaped creatures and their human friends back into the pastures. He came home laughing and telling me about these funny looking but fascinating creatures he had "bumped into". We had seen a few signs in our area for an alpaca farm but really never paid attention to it. Well you know how that goes, once you hear about something new, it seems every corner you turn and every place you see, all have something to do with the subject. To the point where you don't understand how you didn't know about it before. That was the case for us and "alpacas".

We started researching on the web and found a lot of information. We really got hooked by an online auction - I saw an alpaca I fell head over heels for from Chase Tavern and knew I was in big trouble! Rob knew it too. Then we started to go to a few farms. We really didn't go to that many when we knew we were ready. We started at Brookhollow Alpacas and Hilltop Alpacas, however, the story took a slight detour at that point. In a strange series of events - that I would love to tell you over a fence and a cup of coffee. It turned out that my lawyer, who I dealt with on a daily basis owned alpacas! Amazing!! So our first purchases came from that farm and we have all stayed good friends (Riverside Alpacas).

Right from the beginning Rob and I have been drawn to the greys and blacks of alpacas from that first on-line auction. So our first purchase&& was a light fawn and a deep dark brown! Go figure, we like all alpacas!

Now, we still have a dilemma because we still work in the city and our house in Callicoon is just too far to commute. So where do the alpacas go and how do they thrive? We looked into agisting, but our business plan was to grow the herd quickly over the first 5 years, so that really didn't work for us. Rob's father offered a better plan. He has had animals all his life, notably horses and goats. He lives in a lovely location between Sugarloaf Village and Warwick, New York. So the alpacas stayed with Rupert and Roberta Baron as the herd grew. It's literally half way between our one house and the other. They, along with Rob's sister Lysa and her husband Don, (who live close by) took care of the alpacas on a daily basis. (oh I forget our nephew Keith, and he will be very upset if I don't single him out... he helped too!).The herd grew till they were busting out the sides of the place, and we knew we had to move them. We ended up agisting some of our herd at another place too - that's how much the herd had grown. It was time for the move to Callicoon. Rob worked very hard retrofitting our old barn on the property for the girls, and in our north fields we outfitted that for the males. All that fencing! Wow!! but finally it was done and with the help of our new herd manager Jerry Murphy, the alpacas have all come home to Callicoon. Life is peaceful up there, especially at night in the paddock outside the barn, with alpacas cushing, and the full moon beating down on the farm. very peaceful. 

We've had a great time meeting and knowing alpaca people. We have become part of the "Agistor Sisters" and now have a bunch of farms on our farm.  Two farms are from Long Island, one how lives in an apartment in Queens, her sister who lives in NJ and an honorary "member" who has her own farm in Rockland County.  We email together, we learn together, we agist together, travel to shows and most important laugh together!  We even had an agistor Thanksgiving this year which was really fun for us all and heartwarming (which we needed since it was so cold outside!)!

Rob and I will continue on in our education and fascination of alpacas. We invite you to come and visit us at the Callicoon Farm and see all the alpacas. Come and meet them in the scenic Beachwoods valley as the alpacas cush on their hill and watch over the golfers as they tee up on the first hole of the Villa Roma Golf course. Life is grand.

Michele & Rob