Bent River Alpacas

Welcome to Bent River Alpacas

Ours is a family alpaca farm located in Northeast Texas about 50 miles east of Dallas, near Lake Tawakoni, in a rural town called Lone Oak.

We are a family of five, (Dean, Michelle, Greg, Phillip and Richard) who love the country life. We have almost 10 acres we call home.

We love our animals and think of them as "family." How we got into the alpaca industry was partly planned and partly accidental...

Hassinger Family

A while back, we were looking for something to do with the land we owned. We had seen a couple of alpaca commercials and thought they might be good to keep the yard and pasture down - lawnmowers, if you will - and make us a little side income at the same time.

Shortly after that, however, some of life's challenges showed up and we forgot about the alpacas.

One day while we were out running errands, we happened upon some alpacas for sale. Recalling our research, we knew what they were. And Michelle, being the animal person she is, wanted to pet them and play with them.

She felt their soft fiber, and seeing their cute, innocent looks, she was like a kid wanting a puppy in the store window. We bought three right there on the spot. It's been a fun adventure ever since.

The Name

We homeschool our children so the family can stay together and learn together and we can play an active role in our children's education.

Michelle joined a local on-line homeschool forum, Hunt County Homeschoolers. When we started the farm, coming up with a name wasn't as easy as we'd thought, so we decided to have a contest on the homeschool forum and let the kids name the farm.

One family found out the name "Tawakoni" means "bent river" in the language of Tawakoni Indians - the tribe native to this part of Texas and on up into Oklahoma. They offered up Bent River Alpacas as a possible name and that was the one we picked. It just fit.

The Menagerie

Although alpacas are our main focus, many other animals share our farm.

We have llamas, horses, donkeys, pygmy goats, chickens, cats, guinea pigs, hermit crabs and a dog.

Of course, the latter four are just pets - our extended family of the animal kingdom variety.