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tractorpunk · Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Posts: 37 Location: east Galway

every time i flick thru the pages of various farming magazines i keep coming across adds for alpacas, very expensive alpacas- £1000 for a neutered male, god knows what for a female- and i'm wondering what its all about.
me and the missus, cynics that we are, reckon its a kind of pyramid scheme for small-holders. maybe someone somewhere imported a few into the uk at great expense and set about making his money back. now other folk further down the line are trying to turn a profit from their investment, offering these animals as the next big thing. in 5 years time they'll either be so popular that we'll all have one or out of fashion and some folk will be stuck with expensive live-stock.
what are they good for? all i've discovered is that they'll protect your poultry, tho not as well as a 12-guage, and if you have the time you could make a nice hat...... i think i'll pass

macconraoi · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:58 am Post subject:

Was at the Royal show a few years back and saw them for the first time,we asked a lady in charge of them "what does the meat taste like ?" she replied with a horrified look on her face "You don't eat them !".I don't know why anyone would pay that kind of money for one .
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dara · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 186 Location: Mayo

A bit like the angora goat 'goldrush' in the UK back in the 70's / 80's - initially a few pioneers made huge bucks but a lot of latecomers lost a lot of money when the horns (or more likely the hoofs from foot rot) finally fell off that one.

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

They are cute. Very cute. but they are pets. Some pay lots for dogs, cats, birds etc. So whats the difference?. What gets me is why do owners show them in Agri shows etc. As I say they are just pets and should not be portrayed as anything else.
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blowin · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: alpacas

MrsL · Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:39 pm Post subject:

As a spinner and knitter, I can tell you that good alpaca fleeces are highly sought after, and that's why they're kept over here, in the main.Funnily enough, I *hate* spinning the stuff with a passion Laughing

Fleece goes for good money on the Guild sales table, though, and full fleeces are worth quite a bit if the quality is good. Round here, though, is suffering from alpaca overload - there's an awful lot of them.
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tractorpunk · Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Posts: 37 Location: east Galway

I heard a woman at the Tullamore show being interviewed on the radio about her alpacas. She said that the wool was worth 8 euro for 25 grammes. i've read ( in yet another alpaca article in our favourite magazine) that you can get 3- 5 kgs of fleece off one animal, sounds a bit better than your average sheep. maybe i should eat my hat, my hand-woven, naturally dyed, alpaca wool hat.

blowin · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:02 am Post subject:

The last time I spoke to my alpacca friend she reckoned you'd get no more than about 40 euro a fleece . Will make a point of speaking again .

MrsL · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:58 am Post subject:

I think the price has gone down due to it becoming more available; it used to be quite coveted, but as more and more fleece has become available over the past years, it's dropped in value; althought the top notch fleeces can still fetch good prices I believe.
As the world seems to shrink, people are always looking for the more exotic to spin - camel, quivit (Alaskan ox-type animal), etc.
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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

I think that angora wool is superior to alpaca. Is it not?

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