Why Alpacas?

Alpacas have the most interesting personalities and habits of any animal one might own.  They are extremely curious and will notice even the slightest changes in their surroundings.  A favorite activity of an alpaca owner is merely to sit among the animals in the early evening and watch them. They have a wonderful calming effect as they “hum” around in their pastures.  The little ones, called crias, have a type of motion known as “pronking” and is so fun to see, as it looks like they should be on a carousel.

Easy to keep, up to 8 alpacas can be easily grazed on an acre of land.  Nutritional requirements are hay, grass, 1 cup of a supplemental feed per animal each day, and of course fresh clean water.

What do we do with them?

It is an exciting time for the Alpaca industry.  The animals are wonderful, the yearly shearing event is a lot of fun, and every day it seems there are more awesome u$e$ for the yearly harvest of alpaca fiber. There are new co-ops popping up with advantages such as having the fiber sorted as it comes off the animal by a Certified Fiber Sorter which results in many superior finished products, or using a processor that specializes in only a few products such as blankets, or rugs.  The list of uses is nearly endless, but a few other examples would be fabric, doll hair, teddy bears, insulation, stuffing, quilt battings, or anything made of yarn; knitted, crocheted, or felted.

No matter who does the processing, or what it is processed into, nothing can beat the warmth, durability, and comfort of Alpaca, and the animal is never harmed to get the finished product!

The young man in this photo, wearing a yellow shirt, actually started this contest before it was a contest by naming “Nibbles” a young black suri female at the ‘07 NAFD.  IF anyone knows him, please have him contact me as he has a nice thank you gift coming!