View more photos from the Goehrigs' ranch.
Mette and Tom Goehrig trudged across one of their pastures, parting a mob of nosey alpacas.
"They're like potato chips," Mette said of the animals. "You can never have just one."
At least, that's how it's been for the Goehrigs their 20-acre farm is home to 43 alpacas now, as well as 15 llamas and 13 sheep.
Francesca, a small white alpaca, nudged Mette's arm, asking for attention. Mette obliged, clarifying that Francesca's affectionate nature is an exception to the usual alpaca personality.
"They're very cat-like," she said as she scratched Francesca's long neck. "They can touch you, but you can't touch them."
Mette donned a visor featuring alpaca silhouettes and a button reading "Oh, Spit!" (She insists, by the way, that alpacas and llamas usually only spit when aggravated, and more often than not just at each other during feeding time.) Tom sported boots, jeans, and a trucker hat over long hair swept into a ponytail.
"Once they know you're not coming in to mess with them, they want to be in your business," Tom said. "They want to know what you're doing. They want to hang with you. But they don't want to be touched."
You could say the Goehrigs are the alpaca experts. For 11 years now, they've raised llamas, alpacas, and Icelandic sheep on their Ranch of the Oaks in Lompoc, where they run a custom carding mill. They process fibers from their own animals, as well as fibers sent in by clients, to make yarn. The Goehrigs' mill is one of maybe 10 in California, Mette said, and they sell to clients from all over the United States.
Both Tom and Mette grew up around animals and were involved in 4-H. Tom is a hand-spinner, and Mette is a knitter.
"The joke is that his hand-spinning couldn't keep up with my knitting," Mette said. "But the reality is, we wanted something to be able to stay home and work, as opposed to going somewhere else."
Their 20-acre farm wasn't enough to accommodate cattle or horses, and they already had sheep and llamas. When Tom's mother talked Mette and Tom into attending an alpaca symposium up north, they returned home with an alpaca of their own.
According to Mette, "The rest is history."
Their alpaca collection has since grown exponentially. They breed their own animals (they currently expect nine baby alpacas and three baby llamas, called cria, in the next couple months). They also rescue neglected animals from around the area.
The couple works from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, managing the land, its animals, the fiber, and the business all on their own. Outside, they're responsible for maintaining the land, as well as feeding and shearing the animals. Inside, they make the yarn.
As for the mill itself, it's quite the impressive setup. Large machines crowd a warehouse where the fibers are washed, dried, combed, and spun. Sometimes the Goehrigs just sell the yarn, averaging in price at $18 to $25 per skein, and sometimes they knit or weave it into other products, such as shawls or rugs.
"If we didn't enjoy it, I can tell you, we would not be doing it," Mette said of the business. "It allows us to stay home, but I don't think we're ever going to retire wealthy because of it."
Tom added: "You do it for the lifestyle. You don't do it for the money."
Mette agreed. "We enjoy it most days," she said. "It's like any job. Every once in a while, we say we're going to sell the place and move into a condo. But we'd kill each other."
For the most part, Ranch of the Oaks is just Mette, Tom, and their many, many animals. But once a year, they host a weekend event called the National Alpaca Farm Days, during which alpaca ranches across the United States open up to the public to educate people on the industry.
This year, the Farm Days are scheduled for Sept. 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sept. 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ranch of the Oaks will host guided tours of the mill as well as spinning wheel and knitting demonstrations, and it's free.
Tom said they see as many as 1,000 visitors come through on the National Alpaca Farm Days.
"The primary thing is for fun, for people to see it," he said. "The secondary is, we hope they shop."
Ranch of the Oaks is located at 3269 Crucero Road in Lompoc.
Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at [email protected].