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Celebrating 10 Years as Innkeepers

from 1851 Historic Maple Hill Manor B&B Inn

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Maple Hill Manor’s Excellent Agricultural Adventure: An enjoyable, eco-friendly, and financially rewarding lifestyle

An incredible adventure of a lifetime began 10 years ago for Todd Allen & Tyler Horton, Owners/Innkeepers of Historic Maple Hill Manor Bed & Breakfast, located in Springfield, Kentucky. Both became interested in raising Alpacas having seen one for the first time, while attending the Kentucky State Fair in 2000. “It was love at first sight,” states Tyler Horton. From the animal’s elegant beauty, luxurious fiber, inquisitive personality, to their graceful and calming affect on others, we immediately became intrigued to learn more about this unique fiber animal and the many benefits afforded in raising them. We researched and visited farms out of state for a year before investing in our starter herd. After both were laid off their corporate jobs after 9/11, they purchased a 150 year-old Antebellum Mansion known as Maple Hill Manor, and started their Agriculture Adventure raising Alpacas and Llamas and operating a Farm Stay B&B. Co-Owner, Todd Allen, states that “Both aspects of the operation have been an ideal complement to one another and have provided an enjoyable, fulfilling, and rewarding farm life.”

Alpacas, cousins to the Llama, are native to the Andean Mountain range of South America, particularly Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Alpacas were first imported into the United States in 1984. Since then, the alpaca industry has grown steadily, according to the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA), the backbone of the alpaca industry. Current estimates total over 120,000 registered alpacas with the Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI) in the United States and more than 4,000 AOBA members in North America.

There are two types of alpacas in the United States today. Although almost physically identical, what distinguishes the two types of alpacas is their fiber. The Huacaya (wa-Ki’-ah) is the more common of the two and has a fluffy, extremely fine coat. The Suri is the rarer of the two and has fiber that is silky and resembles pencil-locks. Adult alpacas stand at approximately 36 inches at the withers and generally weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. They do not have horns, hooves, claws or incisors. Alpacas are alert, intelligent, curious, and predictable.

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