Alpaca Southern offers unique experience in Travelers Rest

TRAVELERS REST, S.C. – If you’re looking for a unique experience in the Upstate, Alpaca Southern, a small family-owned alpaca farm in Travelers Rest, offers some great options!

Allison Batson and her husband started Alpaca Southern in August of 2022.  Currently, they have three very cute and friendly male alpacas: Charles, Oliver, and Reginald. Charlie and Ollie are inseparable, while Reggie – the youngest of the herd – is more independent.

Fun fact: Alpacas do not have upper teeth! They only have lower teeth that constantly grow throughout their lifetime. 

How did Alpaca Southern get started?

“I personally just really wanted alpacas,” Batson explained with a laugh. “So, I kind of made the deal with myself that if I could make them pay for themselves in some way then I could just go ahead and get them. … Originally, it started out where I wanted to do photoshoots with them. Photographers could come, bring their clients and then you could get all sorts of different kinds of photoshoots – more whimsical or more just kind of on the farm – and then from there the interest just really grew in the area. It went from just photoshoots to yoga, paint night events, and all sorts of things.”

Now, Alpaca Southern offers hourly alpaca rentals for:

• Meet & Greets
• Photoshoots
• Birthday parties
• Holiday events
• Weddings

Batson said they are starting to branch into weddings in 2023.

“We’re doing cocktail hours or you can have them walking around your wedding. You can take pictures and feed them,” Batson explained. “And then we do birthday parties, holiday parties, and stuff. Generally, we hold the events here on the farm, but it’s just kind of a case by case basis.”

They also partner with local businesses to offer events such as:

• Alpaca Yoga with TR Yoga
• Alpaca Paint Nights with diyably
• Holiday themed events (such as Galentines brunch with The Picnic Basket)

After visiting with the alpacas, you can purchase merchandise made from their wool.

“Alpacas are fiber animals. They’re coveted for their wool. It is super soft and hypoallergenic. It’s completely different from sheep’s wool,” Batson explained. “We make yarn. We make different products like dryer balls and those sorts of things. I actually spin it into yarn myself, which is a super fun process, and then we also do some felting things like keychains. Just cute alpaca products that you can take to remember your time here at Alpaca Southern.”

You can shop on Alpaca Southern’s website for alpaca wool keychains, car scent diffusers, alpaca wool dryer balls, and stickers.

Sponsorships are also available to help support the farm. With a $50 yearly sponsorship, you will receive monthly email newsletters with exclusive content, a birthday video message from your alpaca, and a keychain made from your alpaca’s wool.