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 their higher cost and thus a smaller market. But with
limited funds, we chose this option, to help us on our taxes. Which provided us a larger tax refund from both
Federal and State. We choice to stay with suris only, to focus on one breed, and use that as our
marketing tool and we can't forget about Toya's 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 up 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 to make sure to get the best deal. Sidney III had one alpaca owner who sold huacayas forward us
a great deal, from someone that he 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, which they 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 girl named 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.