About Alpaca

Owning and breeding Alpaca is very much in vogue in the UK. There are 25,000 of these sweet, funny-looking, long-legged sheep (which can be likened to a llama, but with a much better temperament) in the Country. An Alpaca lives for about 15 years and yields wonderfully soft luxurious yarn, whilst the females produce crias (babies) each year for about twelve years. Control of the breeding of Alpacas is undertaken by the British Alpaca Society who have a number of notable members.

No-one is quite able to explain the reason for this cult. Certainly, they are endearing creatures to have wandering around your field if you are lucky enough to have one (a field that is!) but, because they are herd animals, at least two are needed. They are expensive to buy and, whilst there have been a number of initiatives centred on the yarn over the years, nothing lasting has been achieved … yet.

If you are lucky enough to sell your yarn or (as is more likely) give it away in order, later, to share any proceeds that may materialise from the finished product, in all probability your vet’s bills will be higher than your profits on the deal. The only way of making money is, therefore, by breeding baby alpacas and selling them on the open market to someone who is willing to pay upwards of £1,000 for a reasonable specimen and about £15,000 for a show-winning animal. Accountants would say that such an investment is not sustainable but people are doing it and in ever greater numbers every year.

The true home of these creatures is in the high open spaces of the Andes in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. Here there are an estimated three million animals (and that is without counting the llamas). See History of Peruvian Clothing