Rainbow Forest Acres is located on the West Coast of British Columbia, situated in the beautiful Pemberton Valley region, just 40 minutes north of the World Class ski resort of Whistler and less than three hours from Vancouver. This ideal setting is where we chose to establish ourselves in 1997, moving with our then herd of two children, 9 alpacas and 6 llamas.
In our first few years of operation we concentrated on building our herd through careful breeding and selection and for the last 8 or 9 years we have maintained our herd size, through sales of production and bred females to Canadian and International breeders, at around 40 – 45 alpacas. This includes 15 - 20 breeding females. Oh, and we also added two more children. Our herd now at Rainbow Forest Acres consists primarily of white and fawn Peruvians.
Our animals consistently do well in major shows under highly respected Canadian, US, Australian and European judges and our males are very highly regarded. From Coyo Destini, Jolimont Peruvian Ivano, Jolimont Peruvian Alpamayo, RFA D'arcy , Snowmass Accoyo Arctic Ice and now Snowmass Quechua’s Shahtoosh and Snowmass Revelation, we have harboured an array of studs at Rainbow Forest Acres that have undeniably made a significant impact on the improvement of alpacas in Canada. We also have genetics from a range of other top performing Canadian studs.
Our entire herd is registered with the CLAA and the ARI. Prices of our animals vary according to quality, breeding status, lineage and our appraisal of their expected production performance. Our alpacas have always been reasonably priced so as to maximize the chance of success of new participants into this industry.
Our breeding goals have always been to produce maximum volumes of fine, bright stylish, preferably white fleece. We believe the combination of fineness and brightness is essential in producing the soft handling, visually appealing garments that best advertise the very best properties of alpacas. We also believe it is this type of fleece that will attract large acreage commercial fleece producers into our industry – producers that are essential for this industry’s success.
We have, and continue to be, active participants in the promotion and organisation of our industry. One or both of us have been members of the Alpaca Show Committee, the Board of the Canadian Llama and Alpaca Association, the CLAA Genetic Evaluation Committee, the CLAA Pedigree Committee, Alpaca Canada Product Committee members and members and supporters of the Canadian Camelid Fibre Co-operative.. We are also founding members and part of the organising committee for the highly successful Canadian National Alpaca Sale and Futurity. All our four children (Miki, Toby, Emma and Eliza) have grown up with alpacas have been regular exhibitors at as many shows and events that help promote and increase the public awareness alpacas that we can attend.
We invite you to make the trip to the beautiful BC West Coast, take in the area sights and activities that include horseback riding, river rafting, mountain biking, fishing, snowmobiling, skiing, hiking, golf and checking out the alpacas at Rainbow Forest Acres.
Barb and Daniel Eslake
