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AlpacaNation Q&A with Storm Haven Alpacas LLC
George & Karon Storm
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2301 S. Peebly Rd, Choctaw, OK 73020
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405-391-2767
AlpacaNation: Tell us about yourself...
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: George and I are baby boomers and have been married 38 years, we have lived in Choctaw 33 years and raised our two fine sons in this great community. Our son, Nels is a coach and teacher at the same high school he attended and we are blessed to have him, his wife and two children next door. Baylee is 6 and Nikolaus is 10. We lost our son Corey in a car accident 12 years ago.
George is a Civil Engineer for Oklahoma City and enjoys hunting with Nels and Nikolaus when he isn't building fence etc. he also is a Viet Nam vet. I am retired from the Metropolitan library system and enjoy quilting and baking cookies with my grandkids.
Karon Storm
AlpacaNation: How long have you been in the alpaca business?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: I have owned alpacas for 12 years. I bought the first one, Spirit in 1995. She is 16 years old now and looks pretty good although she has not bred for the past two years. Her true black color is very dominate and shows through the generations of daughters and grand daughters we now own.
AlpacaNation: How did you decide on your farm name? Is there a special meaning behind the name?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: The name Storm Haven has very special meaning.
When we first started looking into alpacas our son, Corey, had recently come home from active duty in the Coast Guard and was finishing up college. He and his wife were building a home on our acerage and together we planned to raise alpacas. Corey was killed in a car accident Thanksgiving weekend 1994. A year later I decided to keep the dream we had together and raise alpacas. So you see our ranch name has several levels of meaning, most people see the obvious that our name is Storm, but beyond that is the emotional storm of losing Corey and the Haven part...well, spending time with the gentle friendly alpacas on a quiet summer morning watching them pronk and graze...it may not be heaven but it is our haven.
AlpacaNation: How did you become interested in alpacas?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: A chance viewing of Public Television of an alpaca ranch in 1993 and I was hooked. It was love at first sight. It took me a couple of years to find a ranch, actually the local LLama Association helped me find AOBA.
AlpacaNation: What is your greatest achievement or favorite memory since you started raising alpacas?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: Getting the alpacas in our earth shelter house when it looked likly that an F5 tornado was heading our way is a great memory. Alpacas are truly amazing and adaptable, they settled in and watched the weather on t.v. with very little fuss. Fortunatly the big tornado missed us. George and I are both native Oklahomans and we don't panic at every cloud in the sky but we also keep a close watch on the weather especially in the spring..that day was a real attention getter.
AlpacaNation: What is your greatest achievement or favorite memory since you started raising alpacas?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: I think my greatest achievement is the part I played in the founding of Alpacas of Oklahoma (A-OK) our AOBA affilite. I served as president the first year, 2006, and I am still on the board. I also am very proud of the 6 AOBA alpaca shows that I have been superintendent of.
Getting the alpacas in our earth shelter house when it looked likly that an F5 tornado was heading our way is a great memory. Alpacas are truly amazing and adaptable, they selled in and watched the weather on t.v. with us with very little fuss. Fortunatly the big tornado missed us. George and I are both native Oklahomans and we don't panic at every cloud in the sky but we also keep a close watch on the weather especially in the spring..that day was a real attention getter.
AlpacaNation: What advice would you give to those just getting started in the industry?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: The first and obvious is..research. Check out everything, go to seminars, shows, talk to people, read articles on fencing, barns, pastures etc.
Also my next best advice would be to buy as close to home as possible. You will need customer support and if your seller is 1,000 miles away he is limited in what he can do for you. I actually get calls from sellers asking me to drive over and help their customer, do I do it? Yes. Why? Because I like people and I love alpacas and we all need help from time to time.
AlpacaNation: What has been your biggest lesson learned in terms of breeding?
Storm Haven Alpacas LLC: Do not buy a stud too soon and do A LOT of research on him before you buy. Do not pick one because of his color alone. I did that,,,how silly of me.
You probably do not need to buy a stud until you have at least 6 females for breeding.
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