A-1 Alpacas
jpressler@vermontel.com
802-325-2679
330 Rupert Road
Pawlet, VT 05761
Jan Pressler is the owner of A-1 Alpacas and farm manager for Marlee Farm Alpacas. She was smitten with alpacas about five years ago, and now along with managing a herd of over seventy animals for Marlee Farm, she also owns her own small herd of seven alpacas, which she agists at the farm. With a degree in Business Education and a minor in Animal Science, she has had a number of different opportunities, challenges and experiences in her career and with different animal species. She also spends a great deal of time pursuing her hobby of photography and finds the alpacas and their antics, to be wonderful subjects.
Her love and appreciation of alpacas continues to grow daily and she is dedicated to learning how to treat the animals in her care with respect, safety and efficiency. She is an avid observer of animals and their behavior and realized early in her work with alpacas that she was “pushing their buttons” to act out, but had no idea how to change her own behavior or work with them differently to achieve different results.
She attended one of Marty McGee Bennett’s mini-sessions at an alpaca show, and Marty demonstrated proper halter fit and using a catch pen and rope with one of Jan’s own animals. The immediate relaxation of the alpaca and the change in that alpaca’s behavior, made Jan want to learn as much as she possibly could about these principals and handling techniques. To this end, Jan earned the Camelidynamics Handler Seal in 2008, and is currently enrolled in the Camelidynamics Practitioner program. The difference in Jan’s and her alpacas’ behavior is amazing, and monthly herd health tasks that used to consume almost 5 hours, now only take 60-90 minutes.
When asked about what she does for work, she often responds, “I am extremely lucky to have the opportunity to spend so much time with these wonderful animals. There are some days that I loose whole blocks of time, just stopping to watch them. They are so naturally curious and intelligent, but most of all, they make me smile, and I think they love to have fun as much as I do!”
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