Alpacas: The Scoop
Alpacas are members of the camelid family, 
which makes them close relatives of the camel and the llama. Indeed, alpacas and llamas can interbreed; however, reputable breeders strictly avoid crossing the two species (more about that later).
Roughly 5,500 years ago, Native Americans of the Andes domesticated both the alpaca and the llama from one or possibly two South American wild camelids: the guanaco and the vicuna. Some zoologists say the alpaca was domesticated from the 
vicuna while the llama sprang from the guanaco. Other zoologists insist both alpaca and llama were developed from the guanaco. 
Whatever their ancestry, the larger llama was developed as pack animal and fleece animal, while the alpaca
was bred exclusively for its soft, lustrous fiber. Indeed, the ruling nobility of the Inca Indians so prized alpaca fleece that they reserved its use exclusively for themselves. Peasants could only wear coarser llama.
Today, alpaca fleece is spun into one of the fashion industry’s premier luxury fibers, challenging mohair and cashmere in fineness and silken luster. Close your eyes and touch it, and you will swear it’s silk. Yet, unlike wool, alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic because it contains no lanolin. Moreover, since alpaca fiber is finer than wool and hollow to boot, it’s far lighter and warmer. Indeed, alpaca fiber tends to shed water, rather than retaining water as wools does, therefore drying much faster than wool.
Alpaca fiber, like wool, can be dyed virtually any color, but alpaca fleece naturally occurs in twenty-two distinct colors—the widest variety of any fleece-bearing animal—giving alpaca another advantage in the high fashion industry. Alpacas come in two varieties: the fluffy and more common huacaya, 
and the rare suri 
with its long, elegant locks. Some experts state that suri constitute less than ten percent of all alpacas, others say suri make up only five percent, and a few declare that suri number just two percent of alpacas. Whatever the percentage, suri are the scarce phenotype. While the two varieties readily crossbreed, AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, the national association for alpaca breeders) discourages crossbreeding,
and most responsible breeders avoid it because it dramatically lowers the value of their livestock. Moreover, crossbreeding an alpaca with a llama produces an offspring that is virtually worthless. Neither ARI (Alpaca Registry, Inc.) nor ILR (International Llama Registry) will recognize crossbred offspring, so again, responsible breeders do not crossbreed. A purebred suri or huacaya alpaca is too valuable an animal to crossbreed.
So how much is an alpaca worth? The top selling alpaca in 2005 came from the USA and sold for a whopping $580,000. That was topped in 2007 when a herdsire sold for $750,000 for only 1/2 interest. Wow! However, a prospective buyer can expect to pay between $10,000 and $20,000 for a registered adult female alpaca in good health. Of course, a buyer should expect to pay higher prices for animals of higher quality.
Many factors determine the value of an individual animal. First, the overall health of an animal plays a role. Is the animal free of parasites, physical disabilities and adverse physical traits? Is the animal reproductively sound? As a breeder, a buyer should always consider the impact of an individual animal upon the future of the buyer’s herd. A breeder always wants to introduce improvements, not problems, into a herd. Second, the behavior of the animal needs to be considered. Is the animal overly aggressive toward other alpacas or humans and presents a behavioral issue? Is the animal too timid, and thus likely to prove a poor mother unable to care for her offspring or an indifferent herd sire uninterested in his duties with females. Third, look carefully at the skeletal structure of an animal. Does its conformation display sound characteristics, for example, straight front legs and spine, to pass to its offspring?
Or does it show undesirable traits, such as knock knees or curved back bone, that point to genetic problems? Fourth, fiber quality is paramount. Alpacas, after all, are fleece-bearing animals. 
An animal’s fleece should demonstrate fineness, volume and luster. Fineness is the diameter of an individual hair. Eighteen or nineteen microns is considered excellent. Volume is the number of hairs per square inch of skin: the greater the density, the better. Luster is the light refractive qualities of the fleece its shine. Sunlight can bleach the outer fiber of any alpaca, so a knowledgeable buyer parts an animal’s fleece and looks closely at the inner fiber to judge its luster.
Additionally, both alpaca breeds, huacaya and suri, have distinctive qualities to their fleece. Crimp, the waviness of each hair, is a very important quality for any huacaya. Huacaya breeders use terms, such as loose crimp, tight crimp and popcorn crimp, to describe their fluffy alpacas. Whatever crimp an individual animal
displays, a buyer should look for the consistency of a single type of crimp. However, crimp plays no role in a suri alpaca’s fiber. Lock is the distinguishing quality of the beautiful suri’s fleece. The flowing fiber of a suri’s fleece should form clusters of locks. There are two primary types of locks: pencil or flat. 
Flat locks hang in tight, straight ribbons, while pencil locks fall in curling spirals. According to veterinarian Gail Campbell in the summer 2003 issue of the trade journal Purely Suri, pencil locks fall into four subcategories: tight ringlet, flat-twisted, corkscrew and pearl. Consistency, this time of lock, marks the quality suri. Moreover, whatever its lock, a suri’s fleece must shine; therefore luster is far more important in a suri than in a huacaya.
So why does Sun Spiced Alpacas specialize in suri, rather than huacaya? We have a number of reasons: some purely personal and aesthetic, others solidly economic. The huacaya is a beautiful animal, but for our personal tastes, we favor the look of the suri with its long, elegant, shining locks. The suri is the far rarer type of alpaca. Rarity is an important element in value. Silver and gold are both precious metals, but since gold is rarer, it is more valuable. Economically, we find suri the better value.
Whatever the breed, alpacas offer many advantages compared to other livestock, especially for the novice breeder. First, alpacas are far safer than horses, cattle or swine—any of which are far larger than an alpaca and can seriously injure or even kill a human with hooves, horns or teeth.
Alpacas almost never bite because their mouths are not equipped for biting. Female alpacas have only a blunt row of bottom teeth and a toothless upper gum. Male alpacas do grow a couple of upper and lower teeth, called fighting teeth, but these are removed each year before they fully develop as part of routine herd maintenance. So the bite of an alpaca feels like a child’s pinch and does not draw blood, much less threaten anyone’s life. Horse and swine use their teeth as weapons.
Alpacas can kick, but they do not have the lethal hooves of horses, pigs and cattle. Alpaca have padded feet like a dog’s, but with only two toes. Few alpacas weigh more than 150 pounds; most average around 120 lbs. Their kick may sting a little bit, but they won’t break bones or stomp a handler to death as horses or cattle can. Alpacas have two defenses: they either run away or spit. Their first choice is running away, and their second choice, spitting, while unpleasant, never hurts. Most alpacas rarely spit at humans; they reserve that for establishing and maintaining dominance among themselves.
Safely handling alpacas is well within the physical capabilities of any healthy adult of just about any age and most children beyond toddlers. 
Owning alpacas can be truly a rewarding lifelong occupation. Alpacas are beautiful to the eye and soft to the touch. They won’t fawn on their owner as dogs do, but with a gentle hand, a patient owner soon has them coming up to touch noses, putting their heads in halters for walks, and standing calmly while they are groomed. As herd animals, alpacas are very social animals. They are curious about anything and everything around them. Just watching a herd interact in a barnyard or pasture is a trip, for they do far more than just graze. The crias (baby alpacas) love to play, chasing each other, neck wrestling, and pronking. Pronking is a unique, twisting leap where an alpaca jumps, twists and kicks its back heels as high as it can just for fun. 
Turn a herd of alpacas onto a pasture of bright, green grass in the morning, and the whole herd will take off
pronking across the field in sheer delight.
Perhaps, you find yourself attracted to the idea of alpacas as an investment (a nifty part of that diversified portfolio your financial advisor keeps advocating), but find you are just not interested in the hands on labor of managing a working farm? Or maybe, you plan on buying a farm in a few years, but would like to start building your herd right now? Agistment can be the answer to both questions. Agistment is fancy alpaca lingo for boarding an animal on someone else’s farm. Basically, you pay that farmer to feed, water and care for your alpaca. Then you make the big bucks when you sell the animal. Sun Spiced Alpacas offers a full range of agistment services. We’ll even act as your sales agent, for a small commission, when prospective buyers visit the farm.
Now, that you’ve learned some alpaca basics, please call us (352-628-9980 or 727-244-5522) or email us to schedule a farm visit. We look forward to showing off our herd and talking about our alpacas with you.
