We had the good fortune of connecting with Kathie and Dave Dalgleish and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathie and Dave, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I cannot say that we really sat down and thought about starting our own business, we were trying to determine what path our life would take after raising our children. On a flight to New York we saw the I Love Alpacas commercial and it made us think about livestock as an alternative lifestyle. Fast forward a few months and we were up in the Oak Glen area of Southern California and we went to our first Alpaca ranch. We found the animals interesting and intriguing and we continued our research. In June of 2006 we bought our first alpaca and sat down to create a business plan with the goal of having a ranch and eventually raising and breeding alpacas as a supplemental income. Our ranch name is Raisin Bred Alpacas (based on our goals) and we really wanted a business that would keep us occupied well into retirement. So we set off to sell our home and find a ranch. We eventually rented a small ranchette in Norco, California and grew our herd to nine alpacas and we started to look for ways to sell their fiber and make the ranch sustainable. We did fairly well and we were settling in to our life when I was asked to transfer for my corporate job to the Denver area. So we packed up our house and the alpacas and moved to Colorado in January of 2014. BEST DECISION EVER!

Colorado has a thriving alpaca community and we immediately felt welcome and began our journey to find the perfect ranch. It took 13 months as we were very specific and wanted to make sure that our herd would be safe. Once we settled into our new ranch we realized that with a growing herd we needed to really take a hard look at sustainability and making sure that our animals paid for their upkeep.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Our yarn, fiber and ranch store The Twisted Shed is unique in that it is on our ranch where we raise alpacas, chickens and bees.

We focus on having a fun and comfortable space where we share our passion for the animals we raise and the fiber they produce. We also have a large selection of handmade wearable items and housewares.

On any given day you can walk into the store and see someone from our team processing fleece to be made into our Giant Dryer Balls (which is a fantastic way to improve the environment within your home) or prepping the fleece to be made into yarn.

If you happen to be at the store during one of our scheduled classes you will see our team joyfully sharing our knowledge with our students. We love to share the creative spark and see our students become successful makers.

This is truly a passion project and we hope that it continues to provide sustainability for our ranch in the years to come.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Hopefully, they are here during the shearing season or birthing season and we would spend the week on the ranch waiting for the crias (baby alpacas) to be born or preparing for shearing. If the babies have already arrived or it is after 2 pm we would spend our time visiting local recreational areas such as the Interpretative Paint Mines in Calhan and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

As we are ardent supporters of our local towns we would plan on dining at one of our favorite restaurants in Kiowa – Little Valley Smokehouse, Patty Ann’s or Bino’s Pizza.

We would also plan a day or 2 in Estes Park and spend some time along the Big Thompson River.

Colorado has so many places to visit and enjoy that a week would never be enough time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think the biggest shoutout goes to the Alpaca Community here in Colorado along with our partner ranches – Rockwood Designs and Lucky Acres Alpaca Ranch

Website: the-twisted-shed.square.site

Instagram: thetwistedshed

Facebook: The Twisted Shed

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.