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Criativity at Falkland Farm in Virginia
 The
next time you venture about the East Coast looking for that
special addition to your alpaca herd or just want to see how
beautiful a farm can be, a visit to Double "O" Good
Alpacas at the historic Falkland Farm in Northern Virginia
will make your trip a memorable one. When you experience the
quiet tranquility of Falkland Farm and walk among the lush
green, manicured pastures filled with alpacas grazing contentedly,
it’s hard to believe that the bustle of downtown Washington,
D.C. is only 45 minutes away.
 Barbara
and Ernest (Ernie) Kellogg, owners of Double "O"
Good Alpacas, have quietly established themselves as leaders
in the alpaca industry. With 33 years collective experience
breeding livestock, their accomplishments are amazing. They
participate in five to seven major alpaca shows and jubilees
each year. The numerous blue ribbons that line the office
walls speak well for their success, but to truly appreciate
what they have accomplished, you need to visit the farm and
walk among their alpacas.
Barbara and Ernie personally manage their breeding program
and provide the care and feeding for their alpacas daily,
with monthly assistance from nearby Donna Matthews, DVM, whom
Ernie refers to as "one of the finest camelid veterinarians
in the Eastern United States."
 Barbara's success in breeding and showing animals
started more than 30 years ago with purebred dogs - first
Afghans and later Borzois (Russian wolfhounds). She gained
such an international reputation on the dog show circuit that
the British Royal Family invited her to London to show their
Borzoi at the prestigious Cruft’s Dog Show. She finally
opened her own grooming salon in a Fairfax, Virginia, shopping
center. In fact, that’s how she met Ernie. He owned the
shopping center.
Then, in 1989, Barbara discovered alpacas, and the adventure
began. She and Earlah Swift became two of the first breeders
on the East Coast when they bought three alpacas and formed
Mariah Alpacas of Vermont. The keen, discriminating eye that
she had developed for judging conformation traits and characteristics
in purebred dogs served her well for alpacas. Experience had
taught her that the quality of the starter herd and, most
importantly, the quality of your herd sires are the two most
essential ingredients for future success.
After seven highly successful years, Barbara decided reluctantly
that the commute between Virginia and Vermont was taking its
toll. After splitting the herd with her partner Earlah, Barbara
moved her alpacas to Falkland Farm and started Act II Alpacas.
She and Earlah continued to maintain close personal ties until
Earlah passed away.
Something else had changed drastically in those same seven
years. In 1989, there was Ernie Kellogg, a hard-nosed businessman,
entrepreneur, and semi-workaholic, who owns and operates one
of the largest electrical contracting firms in Northern Virginia,
and a gentleman farmer who wouldn’t allow alpacas on
Falkland Farm. By 1995, there was Ernie Kellogg, who stopped
going into the office on weekends, refitted the horse barn
for alpacas, put in the fenced paddocks, and purchased 12
Peruvian huacayas from the 1995 and 1996 importations. By
1997, Ernie started taking off Fridays so that he could spend
more time on the farm with his alpacas. Now Ernie spends the
majority of his working hours at the farm.
The first time you walk with Barbara past the paddocks that
lead to the alpaca barn, you quickly learn that she knows
every alpaca on the farm by name and has a story to tell about
each. She describes its age and personality, cites its sire
and dam, and starts explaining what conformation traits or
fiber characteristics she was breeding for when she mated
that sire and dam.
Their herd sires and junior herd sires are clearly her favorites
with famed Dom Lucilio, Royal Fawn, and Snowmass Invincible
headlining a group of proven Peruvian herdsires. The Kelloggs
established the Herdsire Hall of Fame to showcase these and
their other champion studs and their show winning progeny.
When judged from the viewpoint of bone, fleece, conformation,
and movement, the uniformly high quality of these alpacas
is impressive, but what makes this farm so special is revealed
in the friendly, outgoing dispositions of the alpacas themselves.
You’re pleasantly surprised when Barbara walks into the
paddock, calls her alpacas by name, and they come straight
to you. You bend forward and you’re immediately nuzzled
by one alpaca after another. She and Ernie have invested a
daily effort for years to "socialize" their crias
– they rely heavily on the McGee training methodology
and other tricks of the trade that Barbara acquired during
30 years of training and showing dogs.
Customer support is equally as important to the Kelloggs.
When they say "full service farm," it means they
offer reliable before and after sales support, boarding services,
fully-guaranteed alpacas, breeding transportation services,
periodic educational seminars on the farm, and financing for
alpaca buyers. It's quality and service you can trust.
It’s worth a moment to consider the cumulative results.
There are about 20 herdsires here and more than 200 alpacas
in total. Not one animal requires a special pen because of
temperament. There is an alpaca chute on the property, but
it sits behind the barn with a cover on it – used only
once years ago as an experiment. Whether worming, shearing,
or trimming nails, Barbara doesn’t use any form of restraints.
"You don’t need restraints if they trust you,"
she says. Just as the overall farm reflects the character
and hard work of Ernie, the friendly outgoing personalities
of the alpacas reflect the daily hands-on care they receive
from Barbara.
When you decide that it’s time to search for that perfect
herd sire or female alpaca to augment your breeding program,
Falkland Farm should top your list of stopping places. Treat
yourself to a little Southern hospitality. The farm alone
is enough to justify a visit, but until you've been nuzzled
a few times, you haven’t seen all that an alpaca can
be. And until you've met the Kelloggs, you haven't seen all
that an alpaca breeder can be. Trust and quality make a big
difference.
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Our Beginnings
Barbara was one of the first alpaca breeders on the East
Coast. She and Earlah Swift were the original founders of
Mariah Alpacas in Vermont. Her many years of experience first
as a dog breeder and later as an internationally respected
dog show judge have given her a keen eye for quality in animal
conformation and dispositions. The transition to alpacas was
a simple one. After years of working successfully with Earlah,
Barbara tired of the commute to Vermont and decided to open
her own Virginia based business as Act II Alpacas. We merged
our interests when I started Double "O" Good Alpacas
with a foundation herd of 12 carefully selected Peruvian alpacas
from the 1995 Peruvian importation. Our experience has taught
us that the quality of our initial breeding stock, particularly
our male herd sires, would forever determine the quality of
any resulting herd. Barbara’s trained eye and years of
judging experience paid off in spades. Today, our herd numbers
more than 200 gorgeous, mostly Peruvian huacayas, and we expect
nearly 100 babies each year. We offer fully guaranteed, registered
alpacas for sale, all born and
raised on our farm.
First Annual MAPACA Jubilee
In 1997, Double "O" Good Alpacas hosted the first
annual Eastern Jubilee sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Alpaca
Association (MAPACA), an AOBA sanctioned show in 1997 and
AOBA certified since then. Thirty eastern U.S. breeders
and more than 100 alpacas on display lured some 2,000 plus
visitors to Falkland Farm for a gala summer weekend.
Ernie was also the MAPACA Jubilee coordinator / administrator
in 2000 and 2001.
Next weekend could be the same for you. Contact
us to arrange for a farm visit. Click
here for directions and a map to Double "O"
Good Alpacas.
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