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This is the place where the unique alpaca roams. It is just off the road going to the University of Massachusetts that is a city within itself; where the word zoo is used to describe social lives rather than the home of these animals. Here is where students learn veterinary principles, while still able to see the brick of the library and the cement of freshman towers - the intersection of college life and wildlife which seem to be one in the same.
Here is the Hadley Farm, home to the rare alpaca and gateway to the University.
UMass is a school with an infamous reputation, both for partying and for the ensuing riots that erupt after certain sporting events. The school may not be known for its animal science research or its testing on monkeys in Tobin Hall, but it does have a serious and well-developed Animal Studies Program.
The school offers equine and livestock studies and employs 22 faculty members in the Animal Science and Pre-Vet department, where 86 students graduated from it in 2006. UMass was built as an agricultural school in 1863 and the remnants of its natural background are still alive today.
The Hadley Farm seems like any other farm. It has green grass, stables, animal droppings and an enormous American flag hoisted up in the center. It houses animals, has that distinct smell of horses and the sounds of donkey yelps and horse trots reverberate through each barn.
The Hadley Farm, however, has something no other barn has - the nation's first undergraduate Camelid Studies Program. The Camelid (the species name for alpacas) Study at UMass is run by Dr. Stephen Purdy; its goal is to teach undergraduate and graduate students about the veterinary practices for the development of healthy animals. Dr. Purdy is an experienced camelid practitioner and has a vast amount of knowledge about the animals. Students of the Camelid Program are taught hands-on at the farm by Dr. Purdy and get to work with the animals directly.
The term alpaca is fairly unknown among college students, unless he or she is an animal science/pre-vet major. UMass is known for its Isenberg School of Management or its riots, whether from the Red Sox World Series success or the defeat of the Minutemen in the national title game. Behind where these Minutemen play their football games is a world unknown to many.
The Hadley Farm's Camelid Program is to animal science/pre-vet majors what Curry Hicks Cage is to track runners. It is a practice forum, where students learn what they need to know to go on and be successful in their field. With knowledge of alpacas, a student is being taught an expensive lesson. By managing an alpaca farm, one could make up to $50,000 per year.
The interesting correlation between UMass athletics and alpacas continues with Julie Lafreniere. She balances her roles as girls cross country track coach, alpaca owner/breeder and Border Terrier dog breeder quite fairly. Lafreniere coaches during the day, takes care of her extremely demanding dogs and also finds time to care for her 17 alpacas.
Lafreniere's office in Curry Hicks Cage is covered with track photos and her desk is adorned with a plaque that reads "1992 Cross Country Coach of the Year." When she turns on her computer, a picture of an alpaca appears on the screen. Information about the animals rolls off her tongue as she explains that the importation of alpacas is closed right now. She speaks highly of these animals and wants the alpacas to be her job when she retires. "I like to be busy," she says. "I'm not the type to just retire." Sitting in her office, looking up her alpaca Web site, one can see her passion for these animals and the significance of them in her life. She buys, sells and breeds them.
"I do all of it," she says, and is proud of it.
Alpacas are the animals to purchase if one wants the thrill of buying and selling without "getting involved in the stock market," said Lafreniere. The animals can be sold from $600 to $40,000 and are a breeder's dream. With their thick fur and easy-maintenance lifestyle, they are bought and sold quite frequently.
"It is a rich person's hobby," said Katharine Berthiaume, an animal science student at UMass. The expensive quality that these animals possess gives them a sense of importance to human beings. But alpacas do not feel the same sense of affection towards people. They are not people-animals, they are alpaca-animals. They feel comfortable in herds, with mothers and their babies always close for comfort.
The Hadley Farm itself is a vast expanse of rolling greens and stables that house the animals. It is home to horses, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and the rare alpacas. The animals roam in the fields and are taken care of by those affiliated with the University. There is an abstract sense of nature versus nurture here at the farm. The animals have their natural environment of grassy fields, while being nurtured by subdivisions of animal science majors from UMass.
At a lab run by Dr. Purdy, his students cut the alpacas' toenails and check their body scores to make sure they are healthy. The seven girls at the lab herd the 19 alpacas into the barn to begin their work. Once all are together, the girls have to struggle with the 150-pound animal to get their tasks accomplished.
The alpacas body scores are taken by grabbing the fur on their backs and ranking them one to five (one being emaciated and five being fat).
"This is a measure of how much flesh they have on them," explained Dr. Purdy. A male alpaca named Moose was only at a 2, and a female Hershey was only 2.5. Dr. Purdy replied "that is a little light," and he will have to think about what they are going to do. The animals struggle to get free, kick and scream like little kids throwing tantrums at a toy store.
The two pregnant females are left alone for the most part, especially Yurlita who is due in September.
"She's psychotic when she is pregnant," Dr. Purdy says. Gemma, the other pregnant female is due within the next week and is carefully watched. Dr. Purdy then leaves to get his vaccines for the animals. Their medication is injected into them while they are held by two or three girls. Screams and especially spit fly from the alpacas' mouths.
Spitting is their defense cry and the remnants of saliva cover the barn walls. Dr. Purdy and the students then did behavior testing to see which, if any, of the alpacas want to mate. Two of the males are taken out and walked on a leash toward the females. Everyone observes to see his reaction. Neither of the male alpacas was interested in the females and walked through as if the girls were not there. There was no chemistry for today, and the animals were let back to do what they pleased.
Ninety percent of all alpacas still live in their homeland of South America. There is a small percent that now live in the United States and Australia. From this small number, there are approximately 25 at Hadley Farm. These animals eat, sleep and reproduce just miles from the UMass campus.
On windy days, the smell of horses lingers into the Southwest residential area where every student then begins to complain. How does this urban campus begin to feel like rural farmland? It is because of Hadley Farm. This is the only reason that most know of the farm but have never been there themselves. The research done there is critical to the learning experiences of animal science/pre-vet majors.
So outside the lines of the University lays a piece of farmland that cultivates both livestock and knowledge. Most students are oblivious to the subculture that has been growing at their University since its establishment. The alpacas represent both the development of the University and the roots of its foundation.
Krista Cosco can be reached at kcosco@student.umass.edu
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