About Us
Sidney and Toya Syndram III
5885 N 650 W
Larwill, IN 46764
(260) 327-3495 Home
(260) 410-4791 Cell
Our Start
Toya and our son Sidney IV were the first to fall in love with the alpacas. Toya was looking for a way to earn some money and eventually work at home. This is what led her to research raising alpacas. After visiting an alpaca event and seeing a suri alpaca with its long dred locks, Toya and Sidney IV decided that's what they wanted to start with. After waiting a year and a half to see if Toya and Sidney IV would lose interest in raising alpacas, Sidney III started doing research on the alpacas. Initially, hesitant of get rich quick schemes (which alpaca raising is not) and weighing all the pros and cons, Sidney III saw this as a good business opportunity, as well as an enjoyable family past time.
Our first purchase was on December 30, 2005 for Diamond Dust, our first white suri male. We bought Diamond from Quest Alpacas on a one year contract. Some would consider this a bad idea to start out with a male or to start with suris because of the higher cost and thus a smaller market. But with limited funds, we chose this option, to help us on our taxes to get a larger tax refund from both Federal and State. We wanted to stay with suris only to focus on one breed, and use that as our marketing tool and we can't forget about Toya and Sidney IV's love for the suris.
We boarded Diamond at Quest Alpacas while we started making plans on how to set up our farm. The first step was to use the third car garage we were building as our temporary barn. We visited many farms and went to a few shows to get ideas on how to set up our barn and pastures. You will find out that there are many different ways, few wrong ways. We found out it's best to ask why they chose to set it that way and then decide what will work best for you. While boarding Diamond, we have learned a lot, by helping Quest Alpacas when they would trim nails, teeth, sheer and provide other general care to the alpacas. You can also go to other farms' open houses, where they demonstrate how this is done and some farms hold seminars to train you. Once again there are many different methods, choose the one that will work for you.
After our first purchase, Sidney III was searching the internet to find some reasonably priced females to make our solo suri into a mini herd. Since we strictly wanted to raise suris, we wanted to make sure that the lineage was free of the huacaya bloodline. We have nothing against huacayas, but there are many suri breeders who want to keep the suri bloodline pure (see Suri Network under our Links tab). And we did not want to limit our market any further. While on Alpaca Nation, he found some leads, but to resist the impulse buy, he contacted several alpaca owners, both on Alpaca Nation and on private alpaca websites. Sidney III had one alpaca owner who sold huacayas forward us a great deal on one of the leads we had also contacted.
Our Second Purchase
Our second purchase was initially for a white bred female (Cactus) and a medium fawn female cria (PGA Dolly) with Sunnyhill/Poplar Grove Alpacas. When we sent an e-mail back stating we would like to purchase them on a two year contract. We were informed that PGA Dolly had been sold to another party that had earlier inquired about her and they had thought had lost interest. Sunnyhill/Poplar Grove Alpacas had offered us another bred white female for the same price (Tell Tayla). After going over everything we thought this was an even better deal, so quickly agreed.
Sunnyhill/Poplar Grove Alpacas is located in Alberta Canada, which prevented us from going and seeing them in person. But with photographs and fleece samples, were we confident we were making the right choice. Unfortunately, when they received the final tests and paperwork needed to transport the girls from Canada to the US. Cactus had a TB test that came back positive, after a retest it was determined that the first test was a false reading, but due to custom laws, the US would not allow her to be imported. Again, to help us get started she offered us a choice of a couple of other alpacas and we chose a bred medium fawn (Cady).
Our Commitment
We want to help those who want to, or are starting out in the alpaca industry. If you buy from us, we will board your alpacas until you are ready to bring them home. To help those who do not want to use credit cards to get started, we will offer interest free loans from two to four years. We encourage all to visit open houses, shows or other events. Not only to see these beautiful animals but also to meet some wonderful and helpful alpaca owners.