Why we farm alpaca
We farm alpacas and host a farmstay on a 10-acre lifestyle farm in Dunedin, New Zealand, just 6km from Dunedin's town centre. We have been farming alpacas since 2004, and are members of the Alpaca Association of New Zealand (AANZ). Our decision to invest in alpacas was driven by a number of key factors. First, we firmly believe that there is a strong market for alpaca and alpaca product both now, and, in the foreseeable future. There are many qualities that alpaca fibre possess that make it a truly remarkable natural fibre, and already it has made an impact in designer circles all over the world. We also see room for growth in the industry. The quality of alpaca in New Zealand is improving every year, but there is still an enormous amount of potential to improve fibre attributes. We decided to take up this challenge and it is our goal to work with top genetics so that we can contribute to the quality of alpaca in New Zealand.
Alpaca - a fibre perspective
Alpaca is a unique natural fibre. Studies investigating the properties of alpaca fibre have shown it to be warmer, stronger, lighter and softer than merino. It can also be tolerated by people who have sensitivities to other natural and man-made fibres. The alpaca industry is very a much a growing industry. The quality and quantity of alpaca fibre in New Zealand is improving each year. This in turn is allowing more opportunities for selling alpaca fibre and alpaca products, such as yarn, garments, duvets and home-ware. We believe that the industry has some way to go before we see just how good the fibre of an alpaca can be. We have based this belief on recent scientific evidence. Fibre testing of mummified remains of alpacas dating back one thousand years show that animals during this era not only had finer fibre, but that it was more uniform across its body compared to that of the modern day alpaca. It is suggested that the Spanish Invasion of South America in the 15th Century is largely responsible for the degradation of the alpaca species. Not only were large numbers of alpaca killed, but disease wiped out most of the indigenous people - resulting in the loss of established breeding programmes. Alpacas were forced higher up the Andes mountains and left to interbreed with llamas. The validity of these claims is backed by some recent DNA research that show alpaca carry a significantly high percentage of llama DNA. The implications of these findings suggest two things. First, that the interbreeding with llamas back in the 15th Century is most likely to have happened, and that this has contributed significantly to the decline in the quality of alpaca over the years. Second, once we are able to outbreed llama DNA, we should see an even further improvement in alpaca fibre than what we are seeing today. This brings an exciting challenge to the industry, and with advances in embryonic transfer (ET), DNA testing and breeding programmes such as SRS, it will be interesting to see how the alpaca industry changes over the next 10 years.
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