Wooly wonder: For Harvard family, alpacas bring relief from migraines

Wooly wonder: For Harvard family, alpacasbring relief from migraines
John Winters
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sept. 20, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET

HARVARD – Matthew and Amy Varrell are the first to admit that while growing up in nearby Holliston, a family business featuring 40 or so alpacas wasn’t exactly on their radar. However, when it appeared the only thing that seemed to ease their son Jacob’s severe migraines was proximity to alpacas, after a couple of years of contemplating and planning, the couple decided to trade in their professional gigs for life on the farm.“We went through every treatment known, nothing helped,” Amy Varrell, 56, said of her son’s mysterious ailment. She’s a registered nurse. Matthew Varrell, 55, spent his previous life working as an environmental biologist. Their career changes, it turns out, nicely dovetailed with helping improve their son’s health and desire to help others. Today, the Varrells  are the owners and operators of Harvard Alpaca Ranch, which sits on 5.7 acres of what used to be a horse farm.

As a teen, Jacob, who goes by “Rusty” (the couple have another son, Nick) worked at the Natick Community Organic Farm. Rusty liked the work but was advised that to make a career out of it he’d likely need a college degree. His health concerns, however, complicated things. During his high school years, he developed crushing headaches, as well as general aches and pains throughout his body. The symptoms came out of nowhere, mystifying the family’s doctor. The specialists his parents took him to were likewise stymied. Lacking a concrete diagnosis, doctors prescribed one treatment after another, including acupuncture, nutritional changes and visits to a chiropractor. Ultimately, the only thing that worked was a series of 30 or 40 injections every three months into each side of his head. And this treatment made only a marginal difference. Yet, it provided enough relief that Rusty began to dream of attending college.

The idea of an alpaca farm first materialized in 2013, while Rusty and his parents were visiting Unity College in Maine. They took a side trip to nearby Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm and liked what they saw. “That planted the hook,” Matthew Varrell recalled. The idea that being with the alpacas might actually help improve their son’s health would come later.

There’s clear evidence that animal-assisted therapy produces real results – even alpaca-specific research to that effect. Exposure to alpacas, results show, may help patients with neurosis, depression and anxiety disorders as well as mental health diseases and children with ADHD, autism and cerebral palsy. Therapy involving alpacas can also be successfully applied in hospitals and nursing homes and can even help reduce stress among college students, the research shows. However, it was Rusty’s firsthand experience that sealed the deal. He decided to enroll at Unity, and while he struggled with his coursework, a remarkable transformation of sorts was taking place outside the classroom. Rusty had begun spending time at that local alpaca farm and quickly went from visitor to volunteer, shoveling dung, cleaning feed buckets and eventually caring for the animals. Then something happened. The magic of the human-animal connection revealed itself. One day when Rusty was working at the farm, he found a friend. Or, it’s more accurate to say, a friend found him. It was a small female alpaca named Sonni that walked with a limp, the remnants of an ill-healed broken leg. The animal seemed to take a liking to the young newcomer. Two wounded animals – a special relationship began. “I was sitting in the barn and she came in and laid down next to me and put her head in my lap,” Rusty said. “And the rest is history. I just fell in love with alpacas.” His mother noticed the change in her son. “Every time I spoke to him, all he wanted to talk about were these alpacas,” she said. Sonni the alpaca took to meeting Rusty at the farm’s gate every day when he arrived. The bond he felt with the animal grew stronger day by day. Slowly, the mysterious pains that had plagued him the past few years began to ease. This was better than any medication or procedures he’d tried over the years. “I did feel a difference. It kind of distracted me from my pain and put something else in my head,” Rusty said. “I still have migraines here and there. But I’m definitely better than I used to be.”
And it wasn’t just a flash in the pan. “I still feel a calming connection, just sitting in the barn and just watching them,”Rusty recently said. “Just being near them makes me feel better.”

By the time their son returned home to Massachusetts after forgoing his college degree for his newfound passion, Matthew and Amy Varrell were already thinking about their future, as well as their son’s. They’d been impressed by the difference they’d seen in him and believed it had a lot to do with the alpacas. The Varrells were ready to change just about everything in their lives to help their son and to manifest the next chapter in their lives: raising and caring for alpacas – and helping to heal others. The family opened the Harvard Alpaca Ranch in 2015. After a few years, the farm’s earnings were enough to keep the family afloat thanks to therapy-related work, the fleece they harvest, tours and a large gift shop that sells shirts and hats, as well all things alpaca-related, including what they promise are the softest socks, gloves and other items of apparel you’ll ever find. A large part of their work involves regularly visiting various institutions north of Boston with Sir Eric and Ivanhoe, two of the more congenial alpacas in their herd. These visits include health care facilities, nursing homes, libraries, homeless shelters and local schools. A regular stop is Bridges Memory Care in Sudbury, where the activities director said the alpacas are always a hit. “I wish they could come every day,” she said. A few years ago, Amy Varrell even completed an animal-assisted therapy certificate program from Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Amy and Matthew Varrell handle the visits, while Rusty, now 29, handles most ofthe farm work. On a recent summer afternoon, as their son buzzed past on a John Deere Gator, the couple said they were happy that they’d found a business that is not only personally rewarding but also helps their son, as well as others. The couple plan to expand its program of animal-assisted therapy visits; they say they’ve seen the results up close. “The director of one facility told me he felt there was like a three-day effect after a visit where all the clients were better behaved and happier,” Matthew said. “That to me is pretty impressive, to have that benefit – one that lasts longer than the hour we’re there.” Like her husband, Amy feels the family has found its niche: spreading health and happiness with the help of their alpacas. “It’s nice to go places and see everyone with a smile on their face,” she said.

Note: Article was edited to correct the name of the alpaca Rusty first bonded to, Sonni (previously written as Daisy).