Farm Near Twin Cities Offers Reprieve With Animals

TWIN CITIES, MN— Just across the St. Croix River from the Twin Cities is Eagle Eye Farm — home to 32 alpacas(12 of whom are pregnant and due in June), as well as llamas, mini Highland cattle, mini Shetland ponies, Kunekune pigs, Valais Blacknose, Baby Doll sheep and several breeds of chickens.

Eagle Eye Farm, which opened in October, offers tours for $15.

Owners Dawn Stewart and Kerri Harting purchased the property that would become the farm in 2019.

“The basic structure of the large barn was present, but we have added all of the side doors for the animals, the lean-tos, the concrete under the lean-tos, all of the additional buildings on the property, and all of the fencing, much of which Dawn did herself,” Harting said.

Stewart told Patch that she works on the farm 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

“Morning chores start after a quick breakfast and include feeding all the animals and then cleaning up of the pens shortly after,” Stewart said. “Any medical needs of the animals are addressed right after morning chores. Most days, tours begin just as we are wrapping up chores and carry us through the vast majority of the day. We then do evening chores and again feed the animals and clean up their pens. We usually try to fit in dinner and then we answer emails, handle social media and event bookings.”

This takes them to 9 p.m. when they walk through the pens one last time, making sure the animals have enough food and “tucking them in,” Stewart said.

Stewart and Harting run the farm together, along with a full-time employee in the farm’s store, a full-time farm hand, and four part-time farm hands, Stewart said. Stewart handles the care of the animals, while Harting handles the online aspects such as social media and booking tours.

The store is also a big hit, selling items made from alpaca wool, much of which comes from the farm’s alpacas, as well as eggs from the chickens and honey from Liesa, the store’s full-time employee who is also a beekeeper.

“The mill we use to process our fiber reserves a week to process our fleece, then the fleece is prepared and spun into yarn,” Stewart said. “Some fleece is also made into felted items. The mill makes a few of our products. The yarn is then sent to us where we ship it to vendors to make our product or a co-op where we combine our fleece with our alpaca owners for products to be made. We also have two hand knitters who make handmade items from our yarn. It's a very fascinating experience to see the fleece on the animal and then see the yarn returned to us.”

The farm has also won multiple awards for its alpacas.

Stewart told Patch that when alpacas participate in shows, they are judged partly based on their fleece and partly on their body conformation. The alpacas are then divided into classes based on characteristics such as fleece color, gender, or age. Each class has six placings, and the first and second place alpacas from each class are brought back to compete for Color Champion and Reserve Color Champion, and other champions are brought back to compete in a Judge’s Choice competition.

“We are happy to report that many of our alpacas have earned multiple color championships and reserve color championships and two of our alpacas recently just took Judge's Choice,” Stewart said. “We are very proud of our small herd!”

Any employee you ask will boast Stewart’s passion for the animals on the farm.

“This entire farm really is her entire vision,” Harting said. “She has selected all of the animals we have on the farm, chooses their breedings, does the daily care of the animals, performs the vast majority of the tours, and is directly involved in all of the construction on the property.”

An alpaca farm has been Stewart’s dream for decades, she told Patch.

“I have always had a deep love for all animals,” Stewart said. “I first became enamored with alpacas when I was in my twenties and desired to have a farm after I retired from the medical field. Eagle Eye Farm was my ‘second chapter’. Once it began taking shape it was both my desire, as well as Kerri's, to share our passion for these animals with others who cared to visit, especially children.”

Stewart said that she and Harting both feel it is extremely important for kids to learn about animals and agriculture and that the kids who visit Eagle Eye Farm seem to connect with the animals.

Besides tours, the farm hosts a variety of other events such as summer camps for kids, single-day Camper and Me program for a kid and an adult, Rancher for a Day for adults, and Alpaca Yoga.