Bitcoin Forum

Everyone knows the alpaca is the spiritual mascot of bitcoin and I think the title is pretty self explanatory

This is something that's been knocking around in my ideas bank for awhile. Basically the idea is to raise funds to buy an alpaca herd. The obvious candidate for such an investment being Grasshill Alpacas or alternatively is a local company near me called flowerdale alpacas http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/investment.php (http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/investment.php) which offers investment in animals. Not only is this a unique idea there are massive tax benefits with farming especially in Australia and the US. If we raised enough of an investment this could grow into actually purchasing an alpaca farm which would lead to founding a bitcoin tourism industry and hiring workers paid in btc etc

I think such a venture would be both massively popular and a good news human interest story for bitcoin as well.

Ive contacted Grasshill asking about a prospectus for investment but it will be handy to get a better idea of the amount of interest in this as a venture.

Update: Some news and further plans.

*The Alpaca company will be Flowerdale Alpacas so that i can keep an eye on things for the fund.

*The IPO would seek to raise $30 000 worth of bitcoin of which 3/4 will purchase animals while the 1/4 will be invested in interest bearing shares on glbse to provide ongoing dividends and to allow future growth/expenditure without needing to issue more shares. Future dividends would be split in the same manner.

*10000 shares at .5 btc each ?

*The fund will be managed by a third party such as CPA or a fund manager chosen by the shareholders.

*This manager will be responsible for accepting receipts for expenses and allow an independent audit of the fund.

*My initial investment will be 50-100btc.

*There will be extra shares issued in a matching amount to my initial investment that should cover my costs. (Does this sound fair ?)

*I will cover the listing fee.

The Herd

I have spoken to the farmers and we will be looking at 3 decent females for the kind of money Im raising. The money comes not from fleece sales but from breeding and you hope to get an improvement in the herd.

The ongoing costs are as follows.

*$12 per week per animal - $1800/y for 3 animals.
*Each animal needs 8 injections a year of $5 or so each- $150/y for 3 animals.
*There is a $100 birthing fee per cria and we need to cover vet bills - $unknown.
*Insurance

Pros
*The animals (and the fund)  can be insured.
*Tax advantages (I will setup as a sole trader and get the books done by a cpa)
*Decent ROI


Cons
*An animal could die or get a disease.
*Profits not in bitcoin from the herd. (This will be hedged by the extra invested in bitcoin funds.)

Insurance
Insurance to cover death or infertility.  This costs 4-5% of the cost of the animal.


Poll (Vote for a preference)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90595.0

http://img2.moonbuggy.org/imgstore/alpaca-out-of-fucking-nowhere.jpg
I would pay for more incidents like the above picture.

On a more related note that's interesting...What's the tax status of this kind of thing for Canada?

I assume its treated much the same but dont quote me. I googled a few canadian alpaca farms but couldnt find the info.

One more thing-Alpacas are scarce. There are only about 3 million alpacas in the world and only about 40,000 outside of South America.

some tax info; just a basic google search, as I would probably be the least qualified to offer advice on Canadian taxes;
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=alpaca+tax+breaks+canada

I think the idea is very interesting.
What would the income model look like?
Would it be primarily from selling the fleece?
Secondly from running a petting zoo? ohhh, small camping lodges would be awesome!
What is the purchase cost of an Alpaca?
How much land is required per animal?
What are the feed costs?
20 more questions.. let's start there for now. =)

sounds fun!  may i ask how this whole alpaca + bitcoin thing started?

edit: nm watched that vid

this is something i would really be interested in doing.  my parents are looking to buying some rural land in the midwest.  perhaps i can talk them into starting a large farm as my father grew up on one.  it seems like there is a bit of an investment to consider first, but hopefully thats what GLBSE can be used for.


forgive my noobness, but how do i sub as well?  i dont see any options.

You do it by posting in the thread as you have. I don't think SMF has the same type of thread tools options as vbulletin or whatever.

ahh

Sounds like a cool Idea.

The main income is breeding and the fleece is a secondary income. http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/investment.php (http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/investment.php) gives some info at least for australian conditions. Basically it has major tax benefits (deferred tax benefits for 7 years) ,you can depreciate them , and you can also INSURE the alpacas against a disaster.


If you buy 2 pregnant females and they have  a female cria the possibility is you can get your initial investment back in 1 year.


If you were just after a petting zoo you can buy cheap animals for $400 :D

Alpacas can be raised on small parcels of land so you dont need much acreage. They are pack animals so you need at least 2 in a  paddock.

They can be agisted (housed and fed) for $12 per animal per week. Plus vet bills and shots etc - this is why you need some reserve over the cost of purchase.

Even though the initial outlay is similar to getting a bitcoin mining farm the difference is the amount of capital growth you have.

alpacas were on sunday morning today.

So grasshillalpacas would keep and raise them on there land?

$32000 over 5 years from a $10k investment looks good, and I would expect the next 5years to be even better. It would be less then that as well $12/week/alpaca + vet bills I would guesstimate your profit closer to $25000 over 5 years. At the current price it looks like 2500BTC would need to be raised to start. Kind of a big hurtle to reach. How much are you planning on putting out yourself?

Last where can I get that alpaca bitcoin T-shirt in the powerpoint?

This reminds me of the emu craze a few years ago. From the looks of it, it seems to be regaining traction. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-20/news/31214799_1_investment-scam-ponzi-circular-trading

That said, I truly like this idea but, may I suggest, proceeding with utmost transparency?

~Bruno~

I would put up 50-100btc myself and i also have some bitcoin income to buy more shares with. I thought a fair deal is to match my investment with extra shares in the same amount ?

I would not go with Grasshill Alpacas I would choose a local company so I can keep an eye on things. Flowerdale Alpacas is not far from me so that is the company to approach in my opinion.

My thinking with this proposal is to raise extra funds on top to invest and interest earning shares on glbse to supply ongoing dividends on top of the alpaca investment. I would look for a fund manager to handle this part whose job would also involve receiving invoices and remitting funds to me to cover expenses or further outlays/more animals.

The transparency aspect would come from having this third party sign off on expenses and income.

I updated the op with some more plans. If that seems ok we can get the ball rolling soonish. I will donate the 8btc to list.

In total for $15000 we can get  3-4 females. This should provide a well balanced herd and earning potential.

The money is in breeding not the fleece.

Thats where I like having  a third party to hand invoices too and to invest the extra funds.

Is that acceptable for transparency ?

Tax advantages are massive and you can insure them.
There is extra being raised to cover dividends and unforseen costs like vet bills.
The income mainly comes from breeding.
+1 on petting zoo. You can buy pet alpacas for cheap.
Alpacas dont need much land per animal they are pretty self sufficient. They are herd animals and you need at least 2.
$12 a week per animal for agistment plus injections/birthing fees.
Moar questions ?

might invest some coins if you actually set this up. also you might want to renew your domain,

Rassah comes to mind. I would trust him with every- and anything.

~Bruno~

Yes taking care of it :)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/98610857  Here is a list of possible females,some have a cria on foot. You can see most of them are also pregnant so there is the possibility of covering some of the original investment very quickly. Some also come with a free mating so it saves on mating fees.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90595.0  Poll is up.

Interesting proposal, subbed.  :)

I like the idea of this. Sub.

Can we visit them? Alpacas are cool.

Fun idea. I'm interested. It's always entertaining to see Bitcoin used to crowdfund projects that would otherwise be pretty difficult. They don't always turn out well, but they're easy to invest in and give some exposure to a whole different market.

http://www.flowerdalealpacas.net/farmstay.php  you can stay on the farm and they even have conference rooms








Hint: An awesome place for a bitcoin conference?

Once this is setup I will talk to the owners and see if they will accept bitcoin for their services. Having a large investment will sure help with convincing them!

The area the farm is in is quite beautiful.

Very cool!

Im working on a separate asset to IPO in the next 2 weeks that is a bit smaller and in a different market sector but should be a lot of fun to be involved in. I promise it is just as unique as owning Alpacas through glbse but I consider it as gaining experience and reputation before raising bigger funds for Alpacastocks.

Keep your eyes out for it on the securities board. Dont you love surprises ?

Live webcam stream of our alpaca herd would be pretty cool.

Would people still invest in this if it was on cryptostocks ?