About Me

My name is Deb Griffey. I graduated from Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology in 1976 with an associate diploma in agriculture (don't do the math, I know I'm old) and I am a retired dairy farmer. Don't tune out yet, being a former dairy farmer is a good thing.

Since I come from one of the most developed sectors of agriculture in Canada (and the world) I know what makes that industry tick. I am especially interested in type, genetics and reproduction. From my experience these are the things that a lot of alpaca producers are the least interested in. Most alpaca farmers like to watch their soft, cute and cuddly animals graze and pronk in the field but when you use terms like heritability, corpus luteum, conception rate and phenotype their eyes glaze over. They know that they need to know some of this stuff, but find the information overwhelming and confusing.

My sister was raising alpacas on my farm before we sold the dairy herd. Since my retirement I have developed an interest in quality alpacas as well as their genetics and reproduction. Isn't it amazing how interests and skills can transfer from one species to another!