We are Bill and Emi Koopman. We met in Lombard, IL in January of 1995 when we both started at National College of Chiropractic. We met in Anatomy lab over the same cadaver and we have been together since. We graduated in Aug of 1998, and were married that November. A little burnt out, we both decided to take a break from Chiropractic. In the interim, I started a Corvette accessory business that ultimately led us to the purchase of a sign company which we ran until the spring of 2001, at which point our first child, Lliam was born. After selling the sign company, I ran a graphic design and wholesale graphic company out of our home. While the business was great, it was also irregular with income being very lumpy… sometimes I wouldn’t have any jobs for a month and then I would get slammed with several that all needed to get ASAP. So we looked into starting another company that would was based upon a long time passion of mine…trucks and everything that you can do to them. So in the fall of 2002, Koopman’s Truck Gear & Caps opened in St. Charles, IL. Business was good, so much so, we had outgrown our location in less than 18 months. We started looking for either a larger building to purchase or build our own but with twins on the way, we just couldn’t commit to growing the business bigger. So we decided to hold off on the new building for a bit.
Shortly after the birth of our twins, Hunter and Aidan, Emi quickly grew tired of missing our children with our 16 hour, 6 days a week schedule. One day she turned to me and said, “Sell it or find someone to replace me.” This is when I “sprung” the idea of raising alpacas. “What’s an alpaca?” Something we in the “industry” hear all the time. I then proceeded to overwhelm her with all of the information I had been gathering over the previous few months. As luck would have it, there was a show coming up in a nearby suburb, the Northern Illinois Alpaca Extravaganza. I went by myself on Sat and spent the entire day meeting as many breeders as I could, learning about the animals, and watching the judging in the ring. I was hooked!!! On Sunday I returned with Emi and all three of our children. The kids were drawn to the animals, as were the animals to them. On our way home, we decided that it was something that we both were interested in pursuing. By the following July, we had purchased our first 8 alpacas! Shortly afterwards we sold the truck shop.
In September of 2004 we purchased 65 acres of corn field in La Porte, IN and started to build what would become KFF Suri Alpacas. Our youngest, Cara was born in May of 2005 and in July, we officially became Hoosiers. Our herd has grown steadily and in 2009 we peaked at 57 alpacas, plus boarders! We spent many a dollar and much time in attending seminars to learn about livestock and what that means to alpacas and consequently have honed our breeding program by implementing EPD (Expected Progeny Differences). We will always strive to improve the genetics of our herd to produce high quality seed stock.
In the spring of 2010, all four of our children started showing at the alpaca shows. They were hooked! They all love handling and showing the alpacas. At our first show this spring, we had only brought two alpacas but with four kids in the ring at the same time, we needed to borrow two alpacas from a friend for our girls. Did I mention they were huacayas?!?! Well, they bonded and by the end of the show we had purchased one and made an offer on the other. Thus, the kids herd of huacayas was started. It has grown rather quickly and we now have several high quality females and co-own 20 industry impact males (some of which are for sale – contact us to book your breedings). Look for the kids (or Emi or Bill) in the huacaya rings the fall of 2010!