About Alpacas
Alpacas are exotic livestock raised as breeding stock
to sell the offspring (the world's best livestock investment)
and also for their exquisite and unique fleece.
 About
Alpaca Fleece
 Alpaca
fleece is shorn off generally once per year in a process that
does not harm the alpaca. The fleece is used to create yarn,
fabric and other products such as hats, blankets, rugs, scarves,
and shawls. The finest alpaca is used in high fashion end-products
such as suits and coats. Alpaca fleece is unique and has fantastic,
versatile properties. It can be extraordinarily soft! Compare
it to angora or cashmere. While still soft, alpaca fleece
is extremely strong and thus can be made into thin fabric
and still remain soft and warm. Alpaca fleece is flame resistant
and turns to ash when burned making it a safe product to use.
Alpaca fleece grows naturally on the animals in 22 color
classifications and all shades in between ranging from white
to black, shades of brown, orange, tan, lavender grays, rose
grays, and silver grays - a gorgeous array of naturally grown
shades free of dyes.
From small alpaca farms to large operations, fleece is hand-spun,
sent to small fiber processors for turning into yarn, felt,
batting and rugs, sold to fiber artists, and sold on the international
fiber market for the fashion industry.
 About
Breeding Alpacas
Alpacas have a long breeding lifetime of approximately 10
to 15 years with females capable of producing one offspring
per year. The value of ARI registered breeding alpacas is
high and has remained strong for the past two decades due
to the protection of the Alpaca Registry and the slow growth
of the alpaca population with about 100,000 registered alpacas
as of November, 2006. Registered breeding females vary in
price, depending on their age, breeding status, ancestry,
the quality of their fleece and physical characteristics (straight
legs, a good bite and other conformational characteristics);
they generally range from about $8,000 to $25,000. Many farms
maintain a substantial income from the sale of breeding quality
offspring. As not all males will be of herdsire quality, the
prices can be much lower; or for those rare, highly sought
after males, they can be much higher. Several males have sold
for over $400,000 each in the past several years.
Raising Alpacas
Alpacas are relatively easy to care for, being fairly small
compared to horses and cattle. They are not hard on the land
and don't consume as much as conventional livestock. Shelters
come in all varieties and range from three-sided run-ins to
heated and air-conditioned barns. Alpacas come from the high-altitude
mountains in Peru and Chile and thus are fairly adaptable
to cold weather conditions. They feed on pastures or are fed
hay and are generally supplemented with grain (alpaca or llama
pellets) and mineral supplements. They need to be wormed and
vaccinated periodically and may require toenail trimming and
sometimes teeth trimming.
 The
Origination of Alpacas
Alpacas are originally from the South American countries
of Chile and Peru. They are relatives of the South American
camelids, llamas and vicunas. Having been breed for many,
many centuries to improve the quality of their fleece, alpacas
now have fewer guard hairs and smaller primary fibers than
most llamas making almost all of their fleece directly useful
without a lot of processing required to remove the coarser
fibers. They were imported into the US in significant numbers
beginning in the 1980's until the US alpaca registry closed
to new imports.
The Alpaca Lifestyle
Raising alpacas offers the possibility of fulfilling the
American dream of living a country lifestyle on a farm: real
profit potential with even a fairly small, manageable herd
on a relatively small acreage farm. Alpacas are beautiful,
gentle creatures and a delight to care for. Come visit us
at Angel Fleece Alpaca Farm and find out for yourself!
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