In northern Madison County, just across the Kentucky River from Fayette County, a former military turned farm family is busy with agritourism, retail and e-commerce, venue rentals, summer day camps for kids, and yoga classes for adults — and alpacas.
Owner Alvina Maynard purchased 32 acres in 2011. She was new in town and wasn’t looking to compete with neighboring farmers, especially without an agricultural background and no established roots in the community. “I looked for things that were different, so I could have a niche that others hadn’t necessarily established yet.”
Alvina Maynard
She had seen alpacas being ranched for livestock in Peru and Bolivia. She chose to be an alpaca farmer, raising them for meat and leather products and shearing their wool for clothing. River Hill Ranch opened on Christmas Day 2012. “This is a super-supportive state to be in as a business owner in agriculture,” Maynard said. “People tend to seek out small businesses.”
Alpacas have been classified as livestock since the 2008 farm bill. Maynard works with several manufacturers that take the raw alpaca wool and make finished products, including shoe inserts, socks, long underwear, sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves and fleece-lined mittens. River Hill Ranch sells products on the property in their gift shop and online store. Maynard also sells alpaca products on the weekends from mid-August through mid-December at the Lexington Farmers Market. “It is not cheap to care for the animals, give them a haircut, pay for manufacturing and shipping both ways,” she says. “There’s not a lot of room for wholesale markup.”
At one point, River Hill Ranch had more than 120 alpacas on the farm. Her active-duty orders from the Air Force over the past five years made keeping a herd that size challenging. Now there are 17. “We are looking to grow the herd again,” she said. A baby alpaca named Molly was born in May.
Originally from California, outside San Diego, Maynard left at age 17 for Colorado to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. She was commissioned into the Air Force and the Office of Special Investigations, a federal law enforcement and counterintelligence agency for the military branch. During her training in Georgia at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, she met her husband, who is from Clark County. “After we had our daughter, we wanted to be more rooted, not moving every one to three years,” she said. “My family was spread to the wind already. It made sense to make Kentucky our home.”
Wool from River Hill Ranch’s alpaca herd is used to make a variety of products.
Today, her husband and kids are all members of the farm family, helping in the business and getting lots of exercise and fresh air on the hilly property. For example, they move an electric fence every three to five days to rotate pastures.
The words “wool” and “summer” don’t come to mind as a pair, but alpaca wool is a moisture-wicking material and can help regulate body temperature. “I’m wearing alpaca socks all the time, even hiking throughout the summer,” Maynard said.
Maynard hires contractors for seasonal work at the Lexington Farmers Market booth, for camp counselors in the summer and for the agritourism side of the business. The farm offers tours Thursday through Sunday and yoga on Saturday mornings. For kids, Maynard started a ranch camp in 2018 that has grown each year, with two week-long sessions in June and two in July. The final day camp session this summer had 46 kids signed up.
She attributes a fair amount of her success to “becoming a supportive part of the community and finding areas where we can lift each other instead of being in direct competition,” she said.
In October, Maynard and a few of her friends who also own businesses held an all-day retreat. It went over so well they are scheduling two for this year, one for the September harvest moon and another in the fall. Artfully Yours mobile art studio will be on-site, as will vinyasa yoga instructor Cara Thomas and massage therapist Shedara Gibson. The retreats were born out of the mindset of working together. “We admire each other; we all do amazing work,” Maynard said. “We talked about how we can join forces and make it even more magical than it already is.”
She is planning an open house for the public on Dec. 10 to celebrate River Hill Ranch’s 10th anniversary. Said Maynard: “I would like this event to bring together and showcase all the people and businesses that have enabled us to thrive.”