ALPACAS: It’s all about the FIBER!
Part 2: Post-2008 Alpaca Breeding: Value correction and the road toward FOCUS ON FIBER!
Why did the Alpaca’s “Rare and Exotic” status continue for so long?
In 2003, when alpacas entered my life, there were estimated to be ~98,000 alpacas in the U.S. This is VERY FEW from a livestock perspective. Even still many people have never seen or heard of alpacas! To heighten their rarity even more alpacas are a “slow-growth” livestock, they are reproductively peculiar, to say the least.
Being “induced
Although this was clearly an animal being bred to produce exquisite, luxurious fiber, the emphasis of the alpaca industry had been breeding and selling. Therefore, a viable market for alpaca fiber simply did not exist in the U.S. outside of a cottage industry. Processing was done through a small number of “mini-mills”* and public marketing of alpaca yarn and other alpaca fiber products were nearly non-existent. Believe it or not, for years many farms simply threw away the fiber after shearing, focusing instead on the big profits to be made from alpaca sales.
From Boom to Crash
Despite their slow reproductive growth, within about 10 years from the start of the alpaca market “boom”, mid-range alpacas had more than doubled in number. Fewer new farms were starting up and the logical conclusion occurred: supply exceeded demand.
During the next few years (~2007 – 2010) the value of the average female alpaca decreased by nearly 75% and males, who
The unchecked breeding of low to average quality alpacas was slowed greatly, and at the same time the market for “pet alpacas” and “fiber alpacas” increased. Many large farms even culled
Breeding for IMPROVEMENT of Fiber Quality!
Up to this point, unchecked breeding practices for quantity over quality had caused a less than optimal improvement in the quality of alpaca fiber. Now, many serious breeders renewed their focus on breeding to improve FIBER QUALITY and BREEDING FOR EXCELLENT “SEED STOCK”. Sales and breeding of high-quality stock continued and the value of these alpacas remained high in the
The science behind alpaca breeding tells us what fiber characteristics are most important for the production of excellent fiber. What are the most important fiber characteristics, and why? How do we breed for more fiber that is soft next to the skin, and also for greater production, i.e. greater fiber weight on the alpaca? Come on back for the answers to these and other questions, as we explore the “Science of Alpaca Fiber”!
**Many of these “mini-mills were started by alpaca farmers
One Comment
Kathy katsarakes
Hi Barb, I grew up in Ithaca and my mom and sister live in Trumansburg! (am also a retired educator) It’s a small world! I happen to see your post today and wanted to introduce my business Frog Creek Socks, LLC. We make alpaca socks on industrial knitting machines in PA. We are a small home business with five machines and make alpaca socks for sale to retailers from yarn we purchase from Peru. We also offer to make socks from yarn from local mills. I get up to Trumansburg often and would love to visit your farm one day.