Visiting Lex in 2 weeks, looking for a farm/home (Lexington: for sale, new home)

[pacalady]

Hello from Idaho:

We are going to be visiting the Lexington area (outskirts) from 7/24 - 7/30 looking for acreage to bring our alpaca farm too (have a grandbaby nearby)!

Would appreciate any input about suitable farmland (gently rolling, not hilly) with lots of shade trees in the pasture and around the houses...or areas we might focus on Know this is a this short time-frame but will appreciate help!)

Need to be within a hour or two of the airport (for business trips) as a peremiter.

We have a realtor working with us, but he and his wife are expecting a child during our visit, so may not be as much help as we'd hoped!!

We need 40 acres plus, with at least some fencing, an outbuilding (barn) and a livable house to start. Also needs to be within a half-hour or so commute to Lex or at least work, for me as an accountant.

We have tons of questions about farming there, and living there, even though we've spent the last several months doing internet research.

Any help will be most apprciated ....from bugs, to predatory animals, to buying hay for the winter.

Thank you all

PacaLady

[tomocox]

One of the effects of urban sprawl, highly prolific white-tail deer, groundhogs (woodchucks to some) has been the increasing number of coyotes in Kentucky. I would not try to raise alpaca, sheep, or even goats in Kentucky now without a herd monitor such as a Great Pyrennes dog or two.

If you find property in the Golden Triangle (Lexington, north to Cincinatti, sw to Louisville, then east back to Lexington) you will always be within an hour of three major airports with some of the best airservice in the nation.

I would recommend that you look in Henry, Owen, Franklin, or Scott counties.

[PamelaCmi]

Originally Posted by pacalady

Hello from Idaho:

We are going to be visiting the Lexington area (outskirts) from 7/24 - 7/30 looking for acreage to bring our alpaca farm too (have a grandbaby nearby)!

Would appreciate any input about suitable farmland (gently rolling, not hilly) with lots of shade trees in the pasture and around the houses...or areas we might focus on Know this is a this short time-frame but will appreciate help!)

Need to be within a hour or two of the airport (for business trips) as a peremiter.

We have a realtor working with us, but he and his wife are expecting a child during our visit, so may not be as much help as we'd hoped!!

We need 40 acres plus, with at least some fencing, an outbuilding (barn) and a livable house to start. Also needs to be within a half-hour or so commute to Lex or at least work, for me as an accountant.

We have tons of questions about farming there, and living there, even though we've spent the last several months doing internet research.

Any help will be most apprciated ....from bugs, to predatory animals, to buying hay for the winter.

Thank you all

PacaLady

You can go to the search field on your yahoo home page, or any home page, and type in farms/ranches for sale in Kentucky, and you will be able to see some. I have done the same thing, and found plenty of them for sale. Bowling Green sounds like what you described in your desires for rolling hills, and such, and is very pretty. But, near the Kentucky Derby you will find land very expensive, due to the horse farms where they raise the Through Bread Horses. Good luck. Pamela

[pacalady]

Thank you for the information Tomocox and PamelaCmi:

We too have coyotes migrating around, and yes, we have a Maremma/Grt Pyr/Akbash cross LGD with our alpacas. Plan to get one if not two more when we get re-settled, depending on the layout of a property. I will re-visit properties in the 4 counties you mentioned .... we have 4 we hope to visit when we come, but I don't remember off hand which counties they are in.

Bowling Green does have less expensive property, but one of major concerns has been accessibility to a camelid vet. My husband was at the National Alpaca Show in May and spoke to the vet on duty there. Seems there aren't any camelid vets very far south of Lex. The UofO has a great vet hospital, and camelid vets, so we have been searching in the Lex area.

Thanks again for your input. Much appreciated, and we're SO looking forward to visiting KY and finding our new home!!

PacaLady

[nlschr0]

Hi pacalady! I know that there are several active alpaca or llama farms in Scott County. They have the "Llama Daze" public events once or twice a year in Georgetown, and they are always fun festivals. This is one of the Llama farms that is pretty active in that area:
LLAMAS OF THE BLUEGRASS
And, have you checked out:
Kentucky Llama and Alpaca Association (http://www.kentucky-llama-alpaca.org/index.shtml - broken link)
It has a list of members across the state - perhaps if you contacted some in different areas they could give you insights.

Henry and Owen counties are a bit more rural and tend to have more affordable land yet still decent access to Lexington, Frankfort, and Louisville on the interstates. You might find some of the areas to be hillier than you prefer - I am always amazed at the steep slopes that some animals graze upon in the area. South of Lexington, perhaps Garrard county?

Coyotes are definitely an issue, and some counties in Central KY have a rare but occasional sighting of a bobcat.

[pacalady]

nlhchr0
Thanks!~! I did a search on Henry, Owen Franklin & Scott counties, but didn't see anything. I'll try Garrard!

Thank you to for letting me know about those 'rare' bobcats! If we have an idea of that predators are in the area we buy, we can fence / protect the alpacas accordingly.

Yes I did get into the Ky Alpaca Assn site .... in fact, I e-mailed one of the breeders to ask questions (in the Paris KY area) who was very helpful, and put us in touch with the realtor I mentioned.

I'm headed to the llama site you suggested! Should be fun.

Thank you again!!
PacaLady