ALPACAS: It’s all about the FIBER!

Part I: A brief (and somewhat surprising) history of the Alpaca and the U.S. Alpaca Industry

Where on earth did these Cutie-Pies come from?

There is evidence that alpacas have been around for thousands of years. Having migrated from the far northern reaches of the planet, alpacas wandered down through what is now our North America, and eventually to the mountainous “high Altiplano” region of South America (the present day Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile).

Who EVER thought to domesticate alpacas?

Way, way back in the pre-Columbian 13th Century, an amazing people we all know of as the Ancient Incans, were clever enough to domesticate llamas and alpacas. This was the VERY BEGINNING of the practice of Systematic Breeding! Strong evidence exists that alpaca herds of 500 – 1000 were kept and bred for high-quality fiber.

Mummified remains of “Suri” alpacas (the less common alpaca breed which grows fiber in long, silky locks) have been found in the tombs of ancient Incan royalty. The fleece found on these remains is finer (measured by the width of the fibers in microns) than any suri alpaca fiber today! This incredible discovery led to the belief that clothing made from the silk-like suri alpaca fiber was likely worn only by Incan Royalty.

So, what happened to the alpacas??

The tragic demise of the Incans came a mere few hundred years later in the 16th Century when the Spanish Conquest wiped them out. The alpaca and llama herds were slaughtered or released to roam wild on the plains of the high “Altiplano”. Ever since, large herds of alpaca have roamed the Andes, and although they are not selectively bred, they are rounded up and shorn seasonally to harvest their valuable wool.

Small herds of alpaca are also kept by mountain-dwelling farmers. These subsistence farmers survive on production from the alpaca’s fleece, and use their meat as a food source.

In more recent times, large lowland alpaca ranches in Peru, Chile, and Bolivia have thrived. These ranches use selective breeding for the harvesting of lucrative high-quality, primarily white fiber. This fiber is then sold in local and international trade through the South American commercial alpaca industry.

So, how the heck did alpacas get to the U.S.?

Sometime in the early 1980’s some rather adventurous entrepreneurial “wanna-be” ranchers decided to bring alpacas to the U.S.. They believed that there was a fortune to be made in the selective breeding and sale of these beautiful animals…. and they were RIGHT!

It was a monumental task, involving huge cargo planes, large quarantine facilities, and miles of red tape required for the import of a new species to the country. But, they got it done, and from 1984 to the early 1990s there were 3 major alpaca import operations, and then it was DONE! The quarantine facilities were abandoned and a “closed registry” was created, allowing for only U.S. bred alpacas to be registered from then on. These “imports” are the ancestors of the entire U.S. alpaca herd we see today!

The Great American Alpaca Boom

By 1998 alpacas were being sold in the U.S. for top dollar as a “livestock investment”. Average prices ranged from $15,000 – $50,000 for bred female and stud alpacas. Soon, little alpaca farms owned by mostly “never-before-farmed-in-their-lives” professionals cropped up all over the country! (By the way, I was one of those folks! Life on a farm, raising these exotic animals with the huge beautiful eyes, soft, soft fleece and the most adorable babies (“cria”) practically on earth…. Oh yeah, I was going there!

The deal was that you could “invest” in a few average females and, with the sale of their first crop of offspring, you’d make your money back! If you bred carefully for improvement you could soon have GREAT alpacas and be on your way to alpaca profit, ALL WHILE ENJOYING THIS VERY COOL LIFESTYLE! Well, that worked….. for awhile…. until somewhere around 2006 when interest in raising alpacas began to wane, and the economic climate was taking a downturn.

So things began to change in the alpaca breeding world… A realistic, necessary and ultimately positive correction in the value of alpacas, and in the focus of the industry, happened. Which brings us to the next blog-chapter: “Post-2008 Alpaca breeding: Value correction and FOCUS ON FIBER!” Stay tuned!