With their long legs and necks alpacas move gracefully and are elegant animals.  They have a beautiful shaped head with large appealing eyes.  They also come in a range of colours, from white through shades of fawn and brown to a real blue-black, with silver greys and rose greys as well – so you can colour co-ordinate your herd or vary the colours as you choose.

2 – They have entertaining personalities

They are social animals and it’s fun to watch the interaction between them – and to interact with them yourself.  Like people, their personalities vary and they have different likes and dislikes. 

You’ll soon discover who likes to jump into water to cool off in summer and who likes to pick apples off the tree, who’s cheeky and who’s shy, and who’s first in line when you feed them.  They like to sunbathe, lying on their sides with their bellies to the sun, thoroughly enjoying “soaking up the rays”!

3 – They’re easy to work with

They don’t need special fencing – if a fence will hold sheep it will hold alpacas.  Moving them is easy.  Often you can just call them, or shake a bucket of nuts and they will follow you. 

Alternatively you can make a “mobile fence” with a length of rope held between two people, and move the animals by moving the “fence” behind them.

If you have handling yards and can move the animals into a small pen when you want to work with them you’ll be surprised how easy it is to carry out routine procedures like worming and inoculations even if you are by yourself.  If you don’t have yards, four gates will make a pen which will be suitable for most purposes.

4 – They’re hardy

Alpacas are not prone to flystrike or footrot.  They don’t need special shelters but they do appreciate shade on a hot day.  In winter they are well insulated by their thick fleeces so they can withstand quite cold temperatures.  On average, alpacas live for around 20 years – the oldest known alpaca in New Zealand died at 29 years of age.

5 – You can use the fleece

Even if you don’t spin, alpaca fleece is easy to felt and can be made into a variety of garments and accessories or household furnishings. If you do spin you’ll find that alpaca has a beautiful handle and spins into a lovely yarn which can be knitted, crocheted or woven.  Alpaca fleece is warmer and lighter in weight than sheep’s wool, and less prickly because of the structure of the fibre.

As a bonus, the colours vary from subtle to strong, and don’t fade – so if you make yourself a black scarf it will be truly black, and will stay black.  After all, the original owner very kindly field tested it for a year out in the paddock.