Alpaca information

Vision

Our mission is to provide educated buyers with the alpacas best suited to their needs, and to work with them to achieve their goals.

You'll find that our relationship starts when you drive out of the gate!

In order to achieve this objective, we need to work with you to understand your needs and hopes, and your present situation. We can then develop a plan to help you to attain your goals in a sensible and planned manner.

It is only by working with you in this way that we can be certain you buy what you need, not just what we want to sell.

Free report

You will find a lot of information on our website, and even more in the articles in the library, but if you would like to have a copy of our report "Raising and Marketing Alpacas", please provide your email details here, and we will be delighted to send you a complimentary copy.

Alpaca Business Plan

In response to the numerous people who have asked about business planning specifically for an alpaca farm, we have prepared a Business Planning Guide. This is the only comprehensive guide that is specific to alpaca farming. You can purchase a copy from the Alpaca Business Plan website.

History

Alpacas go back over 5,000 years, to the time when the Inca Quechua Indians in South America domesticated them for their luxurious fiber. The fineness of the fabrics spun from the alpaca is known from archaeological finds. In fact, the quality that the Incas achieved at that time has still not been matched today.

The robes made from alpaca fiber were so highly prized in Peru that they were only to be worn by high-ranking and royal personages. The penalty for wearing robes to which you were not entitled, was death!

With the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores, in the 1500s, the lifestyle of the Quechua Indians, and the alpaca, changed for ever. The Spanish slaughtered the alpacas by the thousand, seeing them as competition for the sheep that they brought with them.

The Indians fled to the high pastures of the altiplano, taking some of their valuable alpacas with them. There they learnt to adapt to the harsh climate and poor grazing, and became the much hardier animal that they are today.

They survived famines, droughts, and attacks by terrorists and, ultimately became recognized by the Peruvian government as a national asset to be treasured. Exportation was banned for many years, which meant that the only representatives of the breed in North America were in zoos or private collections, usually obtained via Bolivia, Argentine, or Chile.

Eventually, in 1983/84, exportation rules were relaxed, and animals started to come into North America. Among those imported, the best bloodlines came from the Estancia Accoyo, owned by Don Julio Barreda. The genes from this line are still highly valued, and animals of this, and other similar, pedigree command premium prices.

Today, importation has once again ceased, and the lineage of the US herd is assured by strict registration (with DNA evidence) of all quality breeding animals.

The industry

The North American market for alpaca livestock has grown by about 22% a year since its inception in the late 1980s. In parallel with that, the demand for alpaca fiber products has been increasing, as more people become aware of its luxurious and practical qualities. The demand for fiber and products far outstrips the current US production capability. For example, Peru processes about 4,000 tons of alpaca fleece a year, compared to perhaps 60 tons in America. Whereas the South American breeders focus on providing high quality, dense white fleeces for the large production mills, in North America the trend is toward providing smaller quantities of fine, naturally colored fiber for specialty use.

Two of the questions everyone looking to invest in alpacas wants to know is "Is there a real market for selling alpacas?", and "Will the prices hold up?". Well, nobody has a (working!) crystal ball, but the extensive research that we have done confirms that the market is unlikely to become saturated at a level much below 400,000 animals. Even at the worst case of, say, 250,000 animals, it would take until 2012 to reach that figure, at the current rate of growth.

There are a number of factors that give confidence in this prediction, including:

• high demand
• baby boomer retirement looming
• quality of lifestyle
• tax shelter advantages
• favorable depreciation treatment
• movement "back to the country"
• developing fiber market
• 11 month gestation period
• 1 cria per female, per year
• 2 years to breeding maturity
• alpacas are hardy, healthy, and easy to care for
• they are also environmentally friendly

The future

While there is undoubtedly going to be a long term demand for alpacas, it is also certain that buyers, as they become better educated about the market and the animals, will become more discerning. This represents an opportunity for people coming into the market now to take advantage of the quality bloodlines available in North America, and to develop their own herd characteristics.

As the market matures, it is likely that prices for "average" animals will reduce, but the value of high quality alpacas will ensure that they maintain, or increase, the premium price that they command.

Average prices at the moment are between $22,000 and $35,000 for good quality females, and those prices have been fairly static for the last few years.

As with everything else, you generally get what you pay for, so it is false economy to buy cheap animals, unless you do not want to sell livestock. You need to start with good quality alpacas, and then have a defined breeding plan to achieve specific herd characteristics. Without this plan, you are likely to end up selling "cute" to impulse buyers, and eventually getting frozen out of the market, as the importance of good fiber characteristics becomes more widely known.

Bloodlines

There is a lot of nonsense talked about "full Peruvian" alpacas, as though that meant something.  Firstly, unless an animal was bred and raise in Peru, it is NOT a full Peruvian.  Secondly, just because an animal has Peruvian ancestry, or even Accoyo ancestry, it does NOT mean it is better quality than one with a Bolivian or Chilean heritage.  The only thing that matters is the animal itself.  If someone is selling an alpaca on the basis of it being "full Peruvian" they are either too ignorant to be able to discuss it's particular characteristics and traits, or they are just indulging in marketing "spin".

In any event, because of the lax herd management practices in South America, it is not possible to get pedigrees for most of the animals that were imported. And even if the animal shipped out of Peru, it doesn't mean it didn't originate in Bolivia or Chile - and vice versa - some animals silted as being from those countries actually came from Peru, but were shipped from elsewhere.

Having said that, there are some notable bloodlines that are recognized quite likely to have good quality animals in their background.  These would include Accoyo, Rural Alianza, Macusani, and Haurapina in Peru, and Hacienda Acero Marka in Bolivia.  There were also many fine animals imported from Chile including some of the most prestigious award winners.

The animals imported from Acero Marka possessed the finest average micron count of all the imported alpacas. They averaged 20 microns fiber diameter.

Some of the top herdsire names you should be aware of are:

to name but a few!

For those who are interested, alpaca genetics provide a fascinating study. We have a background in breeding purebred dogs for over 20 years, and are very familiar with their genetics and bloodlines. Alpacas, however, are much more complex. There has also been a lot less research done on them.

The fact that alpaca colors are polygenic, makes it more difficult to predict the outcome of breedings, although some excellent work is being done in this area. Wall and Cole in Australia published a study in 1996, showing the predicted and actual results of color to color breedings. This provides a good study for anyone interested in the possible outcomes of their breedings.

The HoPe Foundation

The photographs of Peru are graciously provided by the HoPe Foundation, a charitable organization that works with the people of the Cusco region to improve educational and health facilities.

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