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Visit Island Alpaca Company for alpaca yoga, farm tours, and unique alpaca gifts. A good family stop on Martha’s Vineyard.
Island Alpaca Company is a 19-acre farm off Head of the Pond Road in Vineyard Haven, home to a large herd of Huacaya alpacas. The animals are gentle and curious, and the farm is set up so you can wander among them at your own pace. It works with kids, on a date, or on your own, and the visit tends to run long once the alpacas take an interest in you.
One of the shaggy dark brown residents at Island Alpaca, with a mouthful of hay.
Filmed August 2025
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Barbara Ronchetti founded Island Alpaca in 2004, starting with an antique post-and-beam barn, more than 200 years old, taken down in Export, Pennsylvania and brought over on the ferry. It took two years to rebuild the barn and ready the pastures, and the first purchase of eight females, seven of them pregnant, meant 21 alpacas came home. Today the herd usually numbers 35 to 40, each with its own pedigree and, as you'll notice quickly, its own personality.
Part of the herd resting in the sand under the shade sail at Island Alpaca on an August day.
The breeding program looks at fleece quality, color variety and the animals' welfare. All alpacas are registered with the Alpaca Owners Association pedigree registry (the successor to Alpaca Registry, Inc.), so every animal's lineage is documented.
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The farm usually keeps 35 to 40 alpacas and breeds three to five each summer, so a summer visit may well include a cria (a baby alpaca). Two llamas live with the herd as well, and they are the bigger animals. The farm breeds Huacaya alpacas, the woolly, crimpy-fleeced type that makes up about 90 percent of alpacas worldwide. The other type, the Suri, has long, silky locks.
Alpacas talk to each other with a soft hum and with body language. They do spit, but mostly at each other at feeding time over the last of the grain, and the farm says they rarely spit at people unless provoked. Their diet is pasture and hay with small servings of grain, and Island Alpaca adds vitamin supplements and ground flaxseed. A cria is born after a pregnancy of nearly a year and weighs about 16 to 20 pounds, and an alpaca usually lives 15 to 25 years.
A fawn alpaca with a big fluffy topknot up close, with others lying in the sandy paddock behind it.
After the spring shearing the fleece goes to mills, where the finest fiber is spun into the yarn and garments sold in the barn shop, and the farm sends samples to a textile lab to measure fiber diameter in microns as a check on its breeding. Birds pick up the loose fiber left on the ground to line their nests, and the manure is bagged and sold as garden fertilizer under the name "alpaca beans."
A white cria getting a gentle scratch on the head from visitors at Island Alpaca.
Hay time in the paddock: a shorn alpaca at the tub and a small white one resting beside it.
The Alpaca Walk & Talk runs every day, all year, from 10:30 to 11:00 AM: a guided half hour on handling and leading an alpaca, with time for photos at the end and free farm admission afterward. In summer the 10:30 walk is dropped on Tuesday and Friday mornings, when yoga has the pasture. Booking ahead is required and spots go quickly. On the booking page an adult (18 or older) leads each alpaca for $30, and anyone sharing that alpaca pays $20; children walk as sharing guests rather than leading on their own, so a parent with three kids comes to $90. Private walks cost $120 for up to two people and $40 for each extra guest.
The farm asks walkers to arrive 15 to 20 minutes early to sign in, and it can't take latecomers. Closed-toe shoes are required for everyone. The walks happen in full sun, so a hat and sunscreen are worth bringing. If weather cancels a session, the farm calls you that morning. Refunds or rescheduling on your side need at least two weeks' notice.
Yoga runs from May to October (2026 season) and costs $35, farm admission included. Each class is 45 minutes of gentle Hatha-style yoga for all levels, taught by Jason Mazar-Kelly (Yogi Jay) or another experienced instructor, followed by a 15-minute meet and greet with the herd. Children under 14 come with an adult. You can bring your own mat or buy one at the farm for $15. Classes are booked ahead, with walk-ins only if there's room.
Once a year, in spring, the whole herd gets its haircut, and the public can watch. Shearing Day has been a farm tradition since 2008, and the next one is Saturday, April 24, 2027, with $8 tickets for adults and children. More than 35 alpacas and the two llamas are sheared over the day, usually in under ten minutes per animal. The haircut matters for the animals: alpacas don't shed, so without a yearly trim they can overheat in summer. Through the day the farm also explains how the fleece becomes fiber and then yarn.
The farm calls the restored barn the Ferguson Family Barn. The farm store sells sweaters, socks, hand-dyed yarn and roving, some of it spun from the farm's own fleece, along with alpaca toys, books and other gifts. It's a good stop if you want a Martha's Vineyard souvenir that isn't a t-shirt.
Hay time at Island Alpaca, where the barn is a rebuilt antique more than 200 years old.
The Island Alpaca Company barn, with a sign by the path pointing the way to the moms and babies.
The alpacas also get out a fair amount. The farm's events calendar lists the West Tisbury Farmers Market (Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9 AM to noon in season), the Fourth of July parade in Edgartown, the Oak Bluffs Pride Parade, the Agricultural Fair in August (August 12 to 15 in 2027) and Tivoli Day in Oak Bluffs in September. Still ahead in 2026 is the Christmas in Edgartown parade on Saturday, December 12, 2026, from 11 AM to noon, followed by the holiday market at the Edgartown School that weekend. At the 2025 parade, alpacas in sparkly reindeer antlers were part of the procession down Main Street.
You can also bring them to a party. Two of the most social alpacas will come to an on-island event with a handler for $750 an hour, and from May through October the farm itself can be rented for birthdays, showers and weddings. Rates for those are on the farm's special events page.
Location: 1 Head of the Pond Road, Vineyard Haven, MA
Hours: Open daily from 10 AM to 4 PM, year-round, rain or shine
Admission: $8 per person, children and adults, from May 1 to November 1; free for everyone from November 2 to April 30 (the farm’s own site, checked October 2026)
Phone: 508-693-5554
Website: www.islandalpaca.com
The farm is about 2 miles from the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal and about 4.5 miles from the Oak Bluffs one. From Vineyard Haven, take the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road for about 2 miles and turn right onto Head of the Pond Road. The entrance is the first drive on the left, with an Alpaca Avenue sign. The farm warns against turning left onto Head of Pond Road, a different road with an almost identical name. Park and follow the alpaca signs to the barn.
Without a car, VTA Route 1 between Vineyard Haven and Edgartown passes the farm. Ask the driver to let you off at the alpaca farm by the Barnes Road roundabout, and from there it is about a minute's walk down Head of the Pond Road. From Oak Bluffs, Routes 7 and 9 can drop you at the same roundabout, and from there it's about two-tenths of a mile on foot toward Vineyard Haven. Our VTA bus guide has current times; in the fall schedule Route 1 runs every 30 minutes for most of the day. On a bike, the shared-use path alongside the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road reaches the Barnes Road circle about 3 miles out of Vineyard Haven (see our bike routes guide).
The roadside sign at Island Alpaca: farm visits, gift shop and alpaca sales, daily 10 to 4.
If you need a hand getting around in summer, the farm suggests stopping at the welcome booth when you arrive. In the off-season, a call ahead lets the staff open the staff entrance and arrange parking closer to the barn, and when there's snow or ice the farm asks visitors to use the second entrance, by the barn. The farm asks that pets stay home. There are no public restrooms, only a porta-potty. The walks and yoga happen in direct sun, and much of the farm is open ground, so a hat and some water are handy on a hot day.
From November 2 to April 30 admission is free, and the farm keeps the same 10 to 4 hours every day. The Walk & Talk carries on through the winter too, so you can still walk an alpaca in January. In past years the farm has marked Thanksgiving weekend with hot cider and treats and held an Easter Bunny afternoon in spring; watch the farm's site and social pages for this year's plans. Island Alpaca has also been among the vendors at the West Tisbury winter farmers market at the Ag Hall (the 2026 dates are in our farmers markets guide once posted). For the rest of the cold-weather calendar, see our Thanksgiving to March guide.
Disclaimer: MV Vacation is not affiliated with Island Alpaca Company. All information is based on personal visits and publicly available sources. For the latest updates, operating hours, and pricing, please visit Island Alpaca's official website.
A cria in a handler’s arms at Island Alpaca.
Step 1 · WhenMonth PickerTwelve months compared on NOAA numbers, crowds, prices and what is open. 
Step 2 · DaysDay-by-Day Trip PlannerMorning, afternoon and evening sketched for every day, events dropped in, emailed to you. 
Step 3 · CostTrip Cost CalculatorFerry, beds with the rooms tax, meals, getting around and activities in one price range. The farm is at 1 Head of the Pond Road in Vineyard Haven, about 19 acres off the road. Vineyard Haven is also the town where the year-round ferry lands, so the farm is reachable even in winter. If you are coming without a car, our Vineyard Haven guide covers the town and how to move around it.
The farm charges $8 per person, children and adults alike, from May 1 to November 1, and admission is free for everyone from November 2 to April 30. Prices change, so confirm on the farm's own site before you go. The gift shop in the barn is separate and sells sweaters, socks and hand-dyed yarn made from alpaca fiber.
Yes. The farm is open daily from 10 AM to 4 PM year-round, which is handy in the months when much of the island has closed for the season. Winter hours can shift, so call ahead if you are making a special trip in January.
Very. The tour is self-guided, so children can walk among the alpacas at their own pace, and the animals are gentle and curious. It's easy to stay longer than you meant to. For more ideas, see our Martha's Vineyard with kids guide.
Yes, in season. Alpaca yoga runs from May to October and costs $35 including farm admission: 45 minutes of gentle yoga in the pasture and then 15 minutes with the herd. The farm also lists birthing clinics on caring for newborn alpacas, and alpaca-grams that send an alpaca and a gift bag to someone on the island (48 hours’ notice is recommended). Classes and clinics are booked ahead, so check the farm’s programs page first.
Oak Bluffs, the island's liveliest town, is close by, with the harbor, the gingerbread cottages and Circuit Avenue. Our Oak Bluffs guide pairs well with a morning at the farm and an afternoon in town.
Yes. The Alpaca Walk & Talk runs every day of the year from 10:30 to 11:00 AM, though in summer it skips Tuesday and Friday mornings for yoga. An adult leads each alpaca for $30, and anyone sharing it, kids included, pays $20. Booking ahead is required, and closed-toe shoes are a must.
Once a year in spring. The next one is Saturday, April 24, 2027, with tickets at $8 a person, and you can watch more than 35 alpacas and the two llamas get their yearly haircut.
No. The farm asks visitors to leave pets at home.
The farm offers help on request. In season, staff at the welcome booth can help when you arrive, and in the off-season a call ahead (508-693-5554) lets them open the staff entrance and arrange parking closer to the barn.
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