¨ Alpacas provide us with a lovely yield of soft fibre that is converted into luxury knitting yarns for the fashion industry or for the cottage industry.  A soft natural product which is hypo allergenic,  produced in the UK

¨ Alpacas are wonderful, friendly animals with thick, warm, soft fleeces. They are members of the South American Camelid family and there are two types, Huacaya and Suri. Huacaya Alpacas have dense, short fleeces whereas the Suri has the appearance of a more 'dreadlock' type of fleece.

¨ Alpacas are smaller than Llamas and weigh between 60-80kgs. They are pregnant for about 11 1/2 months, young alpaca are called cria. It is very rare for twins to be born.

¨ They eat hay and grass, together with a mineral supplement. During the winter when there is less nutrition and fibre in the grass we add sugar beet and crushed oats to their feed.

¨ They are very inquisitive, natural browsers and keep down hedges and pastures.

¨ As they have soft padded feet they do not poach the pasture and up to six can be kept per acre. They are hardy creatures and live outside all year round.

¨ They make excellent guardians for flocks of sheep and chickens, protecting them from foxes.

¨ Alpacas are highly social animals and therefore should never be kept singly.

¨ They can be halter trained and communicate with each other by humming. They can spit but this is only usually done when they are upset and are protecting others.

¨ Alpacas come in many different colours. From Black through to pure White, there are 22 difference fleece colours We have mainly white but also a light fawn and medium fawn.

¨ Huacaya Alpacas are shorn once a year, Suris every other year. Each Huacaya produces about 3kg of useable fleece which is .dry and does not contain lanolin. It is hard wearing and fine, like cashmere but is much stronger and ideal for anyone for anyone with a skin allergy. The fleeces can be spun by the hand spinner or sent to a mill to be spun.        

About Alpacas