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.
Extraordinary 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.
Investment Opportunity
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 6. 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 $2,000 to $15,000. 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 $100,000 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!