Is It Profitable To Raise Alpacas?

hi I'm Diane Williamson come with me as we take a look inside the alpaca industry [Music] before we get started we want to make sure we're all on the same page regarding what an alpaca is and what it isn't it is not for example a llama to clear up any confusion we talked with Karen done alpaca breeder and owner of angel fleece farms in Kentucky about the differences llamas are normally anywhere from about 250 to 450 pounds so they're a larger animal and they are mainly used for pack a lot of times you'll hear people doing llama trekking and they'll take them through the woods and maybe put a pack on them with maybe you know a luncheon or something like that whereas alpacas they're a smaller animal and maturity they're anywhere from 120 pounds to maybe 200 pounds and they are they don't have the structure to be a pack animal and so they're you're using their fiber is their one type of out hacka or their many no actually there's two type of alpacas there's the lakiya alpaca which is more of a fluffy teddy bear type alpaca they're their fibers a little lofty ER and then you have your suri alpacas and they're have the ringlets that kind of fall from a center part in the center of their back and fall down it's more draping and they make up about 10 percent of alpaca population whereas what kaya's make up about 90% and both of their fibers are used in textile and finished in finished products a suri product might have because of the weight of their fiber is sometimes used in in clothing that it's going to have a nice drape to it it drapes very nicely on it it may have to come home with all right that's what these animals produce they produce a really high-quality luxurious fiber that finishes out into just glorious sweaters and capes and all kinds of nice upscale products and that's that's the important part of this industry is the breeding of the animals for the fleece and the sell of that in developing the commercial in textile industry with with their fleets it seems like it's it's certainly a responsibility you know to bring these animals onto your your property and take care of them but it doesn't seem like it's like work if you're enjoying it too walk me through a day in the life well you're right it's not really like work because it they're so easy to care for that it's not labor intensive we can feed our herd probably in about an hour to an hour and a half and that's not much time when you've got you know that many animals and stuff so it's it's very quick and you enjoy it you get to see them and you kind of talk to a little bit the real work involves shearing the animals and Karen's herd gets professionally sheared once a year some of the fiber is processed and returned to the farm and the rest goes to a co-op in exchange for finished goods to sell in the farm store alpaca fiber is often compared to cashmere due to its luxurious softness and warmth and the revenue generated from the sale of the fiber for finished goods is a strong incentive for many to get into the alpaca industry breeding and the sale of seed stock is another the North American alpaca industry boasts the largest and most respected alpaca show system and judge training program there are numerous regional shows held throughout North America which include both halter shows and fleece shows additionally alpaca owners association hosts the national alpaca show and fleece conference each year the alpaca owners Association maintains the world's largest and most accurate DNA validated pedigree registry since the registry has been closed for over 15 years owners and breeders can trace their animals back to the original sires and dams which enter the u.s. in the 1990s and because the registry relies on DNA testing breeders can use the EPD or expected progeny differences program to predict the qualities a siren and offspring will have so what is the EPD program exactly Carl Heinrich owns New Era fiber in Gallatin Tennessee it is the method of tracking the qualities of an animal that almost every although their livestock industries use by looking at what the progeny of an of a male I end or a female either one produced in the past that tells you what you can predict what they will produce in the future it has to do with individual traits for alpacas it's all about fiber at this point because those are things that we can measure so we we send our fiber in for a histogram which we've been doing for many years and it sends us back a little graph it shows us what most of the fibers look like the data on there now is being collected by the AOA and put into a database and then predictions are made based off of the animals fiber and its offsprings fiber being able to predict and control the fibers consistency is key to producing high quality yarn once neuera receives a batch of fiber it gets washed and dried and sometimes dyed then it begins its long journey through a labyrinth of pickers separators Carter's pullers bobbins steamers cones and skeins the end result depends upon which type of alpaca fiber began the process waa kya or sory like most alpaca farmers the Heinrichs started small we started with four animals and no knowledge I tell everybody that that we talk to to start with fewer animals and better quality the the best quality that they can afford and it's different for everybody we tell everybody if you if you want it to be a business it can be a business if you want it to be fun it can just be fun I like where I live I have the opportunity to live in a rural area on a 60 acre farm but just outside of the city it's it's stressful and relax because having babies and doing those things and caring for animals when they get sick can be very stressful when we first got them we used to just go feed them and watch them just watch them eat and then the other thing is being able to talk about I find it a lot of fun being able to talk to people about something they know nothing about you know you have something that has a really good quality and people don't know anything about it and they want to learn about it and that's fun you know that's that's great fun for us the lifestyle is very fun it's it's relaxing you enjoy your animals if you go out into the fields with them you just kind of watch them and they're entertaining if you've had a stressful day you can go out in the fields and talk to the animals and it's just just relaxes you as you can see the alpaca lifestyle can be anything you want it to be a relaxing pastime or a potentially lucrative business venture whether you simply enjoy them as pets show them breed them or shear them for their fiber the alpaca lifestyle could be the lifestyle you've been looking for to find out more please visit the alpaca owners association website at alpaca infocomm or on facebook or twitter [Music] you good nation to National Geographic Channel today we're back with Shawn [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] that's Ted [Music] [Music] don't don't I was just I was just looking at you bro chewing I should make a horror version

Channel: Gerard Dawn

Views: 4,326

Rating: 4.8095236 out of 5

Keywords: is it profitable to raise alpacas, alpaca farming 2021, best climate for raising alpacas, alpaca farming grants, how much is alpaca fiber worth?, alpaca for sale, why do people raise alpacas, raising alpaca vs sheep, alpaca farm for sale

Id: I4YMEz-3uPk

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 30 2020