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New to alpacas? If you are new to alpacas or considering acquiring alpacas, we invite you to visit Bella Vita Ranch. We have been in business going on 9 years, and we have seen big success with our program. We don't just buiy and sell alpacas. We have an actual breeding program in place, have kept our foundation herd on our ranch for several years to evaluate what they bring to our program, and are active in the alpaca community, locally and on a national level, promoting our breeding program. That is great support for our clients as our genetic program is always on display. This program has made us successful at auctions and at the shows, with a client list that includes Snowmass Alpacas, A.L. Pacas and others. Call us to schedule a ranch visit or visit us at the shows. We love to talk alpacas! 2011 ABR FALL FESTIVAL NEWS Bella Vita Ranch took the blue ribbon in Breeders Best 3 class. What an honor for us! We placed ahead of some very worthy farms, Renaissance Ridge, Big Hat Ranch and Eye of the Needle. We are very happy to be recognized for the "rock solid" conformation in our program, as judges Polly Michaelis and Amanda VandenBosch noted, along with the fineness of fleece in our program yet maintaining density, and the bright, well organized fleeces our animals exhibited along with the pleasing head styles and overall balanced look with great fleece coverage. The 3 alpacas we showed in this class were Primo, Prosecco and Zen, which is a fairly good cross section of our foundation herd. Primo is a Tuscan son, Zen is a Corazon son and Prosecco is a Tuscan son out of Corazon's dam, Cocoa Puffe. These same 3 alpacas won the same award at the 2011 High Plains show in Amarillo, Texas. We took a reserve color champion in dark brown fleeces (Tuscan's Perfect Storm) and celebrated with our clients, the Dean of Amanda Pines Alpacas, as their Tuscan's Bianca took the white championship in fleece with a score fo 90! We took first place in fawn fleeces with Derringer, a Corazon son, while our Corazon partners, Jeri and Jerry Johnson, took 2nd place with another Corazon offspring, Seminole Wind, and third place went to Viper, a Tuscan son owned by Gregg and Sandy Smith of Black Forest Alpacas. Way to sweep a class! In Halter, we took several ribbons besides the Breeders Best 3. We took 3rd in Get of Sire with Corazon's first time entering and our Corazon son, Zen Master, won blue in his class of 12 or 13, being the baby in the class. Way to go, Zen! It was an enjoyable show, as always, and we were happy to spend some time with our alpaca friends. New Crias and Herdsires! The 2011 Sunny Mesa's Tuscan Gold crias, his 4th crop, are being uploaded to our site. They are stunning with that distinctive Tuscan Gold "look" that sets them apart! Tap into these genetics to take your alpaca program from Good to Great! EVERYTHING ALPACA - our retail store in downtown Castle Rock, CO 313 Third Street Castle Rock, CO 303-660-6684 |
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 This gorgeous photo was taken by Steve Siegel for Alpacas Magazine at the 2005 AOBA National Conference and graced the cover of the 2005 fall issue of Alpacas Magazine. It is also used in the logo and opening page for ARI (Alpaca Registry, Inc. We use the photo as part of our logo and advertising. This picture depicts better than any words we could use that we breed both suri and huacaya alpacas. The suri is our Bella Sylvania and the huacaya is BVR Tucker, both bred by us and born on our ranch. This is the first time the magazine had a suri and a huacaya on the cover together, and we were honored when we were approached for this photo opportunity. |
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DIRECTIONS TO THE RANCH: We are located just south of Castle Rock, Colorado, half wey between Denver and Colorado Springs. FROM DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Take Pena Blvd. to E470 South (to Colorado Springs) Exit at Parker Road South. Take Parker Road through Parker, through Franktown, and then about 10 miles south of Franktown, turn right onto Douglas County Road 11 (Lake Gulch Road). Go 1/2 miles to Indian Meadows Road (quickly turns to dirt) and go 0.9 miles, cross cattle guard in the road, and our driveway is immediately on the left after the cattle guard. (6211 is the house number). OR: Take Pena Blvd to I-70 West, then take I-225 South. Take Parker Road South exit. Go through Aurora, Parker and Franktown, and follow directions as above from Franktown. FROM DENVER: I-25 South to Castle Rock. Take 3rd Castle Rock Exit (181) which is Plum Creek Parkway. Turn left at bottom of exit ramp and go through lights at Wilcox St., Perry St., and by light by Douglas County Fairgrounds to 4-way stop sign. Turn right onto Lake Gullch Road. Go about 9 miles to Indian Meadows Road (only goes to the right). If you dead end on Lake Gulch Road, turn around and come back 1/2 mile to Indian Meadows Road. Turn onto Indian Meadows and go 0.9 miles, cross cattle guard, and driveway is on left immediately after crossing the cattle guard. FROM COLORADO SPRINGS: I-25 North to Castle Rock/Plum Creek Parkway. At stoplight at end of exit, go left. Go to next stop light (Wilcox and Plum Creek Parkway) and turn right. Go through 2 more lights (Perry Street and by Fairgrounds) and go to 4-way stop sign. Turn right onto Lake Gulch Road and follow directions as FROM DENVER from Lake Gulch Road on. |
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WELCOME-BENVENUTI Bella Vita Ranch is located in Castle Rock, Colorado, on the rolling plains just east of the Rocky Mountains and halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs. The beauty and serenity of the mountain backdrop makes this a wonderful place to raise alpacas, Arabian horses and Maremma Italian livestock guard dogs. Bella Vita means "beautiful life" in Italian and is the perfect name for our ranch and the lifestyle that it fosters. Please take as much time as you like browsing through the web site to acquaint yourself with the wonderful animals who live here on the ranch with us. We are honored to be the stewards for these fascinating creatures and thank God daily for this earthly task and the opportunity to share them with you. At Bella Vita Ranch, you will find both suri and huacaya alpacas loaded with color genetics from the alpaca color rainbow. We have pure Peruvian, Bolivian and Chilean animals as well as crosses of these lines, taking advantage of the best characteristics of each to create the American Alpaca. Just as this great country, The United States of America, rose from a melting pot of multiple nationalities with the same ideals, we believe the North American Alpaca will come forth to become the best alpacas on earth. There are also beautiful, intelligent and athletic Arabian horses from the Aladdinn/Bask bloodlines, and the majestic and loyal Maremma livestock guard dogs. Feel free to visit our Alpaca Products Store page for wonderful, fine alpaca clothing to buy for yourself or as a special gift for a friend or loved one. If you are in need of alpaca ranch products, such as panels, alpaca chutes, scales, please vist our alpaca ranch products page. We invite you to visit our ranch anytime and add something beautiful to your life today!
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Bella Vita Ranch is home to approximately 70 alpacas, both suri and huacayas. We have a few boarded alpacas and are the home base for Doug and Lori McNeil, Suris of Castle Pines. In our pastures you will also see our beautiful Arabian horses. Although we no longer breed Arabians, we do still have 8 beauties who grace our pasture. We breed Maremma Italian Livestock Guardian Dogs and are a well respected breeder around the country. We have dogs we have bred and sold from the east cost to the west coast, in Alaska, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico. We always have a wait list for our pups and are responsible breeders by not breeding the dogs unless we have 5 or 6 pups presold from every litter. We have yet, in 7 years of breeding, had to hold off on breeding a spring or fall litter due to lack of sales. The best indicator for us that we are providing quality livestock guardian dogs with good temperaments, good conformation, minimal health issues, etc. is the feedback we get from our clients, especially reorders. To date, we have several clients who have returned to us for their 3rd and 4th dogs. See our Maremma page on this website for details. We are proud to offer good working dogs who fulfill a role in livestock protection. |
We are members of: AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) ARI (Alpaca Registry, Inc) ABR (Alpaca Breeder of the Rockies) AFCNA (Alpaca Fiber Coop of North America) Suri Network SECAB (South East Colorado Alpaca Breeders) MSCA (Maremma Sheepdog Club of America) PACA Buddies National Alpaca Sweepstakes - Charter member Alpaca Elite/Open Herd
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