How Alpaca-Trazz
Got Started
Never being the rural type, Dianne Kirk-Benincasa headed for the bright
lights of Toronto right after high school.
After performing clerical and secretarial jobs which she found tedious,
she successfully sold life insurance, started and managed a carpet and
upholstery cleaning company and then demonstrated “as seen on TV”
products for a dozen years at fairs and home shows.
After 3 car accidents (none of them were her fault) she was looking for
something more…something to invest in for her and her son’s
future. She realized that after 28 years in the city, it wasn’t
Toronto real estate, but didn’t know what it was. Then, in 2002,
while on a break from her demonstration job during the Royal Winter Fair,
she saw the most amazing animals. They had “a camel face, a long
giraffe neck and a big fluffy sheep’s body”. Mesmerized, she
spent each break at the Alpaca Ontario booth asking lots of questions.
After working over 12 hours each day, she researched alpacas on the internet
a couple of hours each night. (On her way home from the Royal one night,
Dianne was hit for the 4th time. Again, it wasn’t her fault. Was
it time to get out of the city?) When the 10-day fair was ending, Dianne
felt let down and lost – she’d never see alpacas again. Then,
remembering that some alpaca web sites had encouraged farm visits, Dianne
went back to the internet to find local alpaca farms. After a few farm
visits which Dianne insisted must allow her to get her hands on the alpacas
and work with them, she realized that not only did she like the animals
even more than she thought she would, but that she could physically
handle them. She could be an independent farmer!
Within months she bought 3 alpacas, left city life, moved to her sister's
farm near Listowel, Ontario, pitched a tent (for the alpacas) and poof
– she became a farmer. All was wonderful until the following spring
when she was hit by a gravel truck. Again – not her fault! (Was
it time to get right off the road?)
 Soon
after, the alpacas were sheared. Dianne called the only fibre mill in
Ontario at the time and booked the earliest appointment to get her fibre
processed – 6 months away! Since then, Dianne and her sister started
their own fibre mill,
Shears
To You, where they did custom processing of all kinds of exotic fibres.
Unfortunately, family and business don't mix, so Dianne has moved
forward with her life and is currently dispersing her last 14 alpacas.
Let Dianne know which alpacas you are interested in so she can help you
adopt her wonderful alpacas and support you in becoming a great alpaca
parent!
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