Alpaca Exports From Sussex

Press Release
August 12, 2006

"An alpaca breeder from Thakeham has just made its first inroads into Europe with the sale of 13 of these delightful animals to 3 breeders in France near Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse. The Alpaca Stud at Goose Green nr. Thakeham started 3 years ago with a small herd of 12 alpacas. It now has 500 alpacas on farm and is one of the big 3 breeders in the country, supplying smaller breeders and people new to alpacas all over the country. John Potts, a director of the Company, drove the trailer load of 13 alpacas 1,500 miles around France delivering to 3 breeders. He then returned a week later to see 2 of these animals win Supreme and Reserve Champion in the Suri section at the French National Show at Echourgnac in the South Dordogne.

Alpacas could be seen at many stately homes in England in the late 18th and early 19th century and Queen Victoria owned quite a large herd. There was then a ban on the export of Alpacas from their home country, Peru until about 10 years ago. These beautiful animals live at around 5,000 metres in the Andes and survive on a diet of scrubby grass. There is now fierce competition for the limited annual quotas for export. The US and Australia are the main importers where there are probably 70,000 and 100,000 alpacas respectively. A few weeks ago in the US a top stud male broke the $1m barrier. There are already 16,000 alpacas in the UK divided between the two types, Huacayas, which look like teddy bears, and much rarer Suris, which have lustrous silky dreadlocks.

Alpaca fibre is processed by 5 or 6 mini mills around the country as well as hand spinners although the big mills are waiting patiently for the numbers to grow. Anyone who has had an alpaca coat or sweater usually never stops talking about it. Alpacas are already being bred at the fineness of cashmere and there is a long way to go.

Alpacas are much easier to look after than sheep, live for about 20 years and the females produce 1 baby (cria) each year, always born between dawn and mid-afternoon. Farmers often buy geldings to run with the sheep or chickens as Mr. Fox soon learns that alpacas are not to be tangled with. Pet alpacas can be trained to come to name and will feed out of the hand. They come in 22 colours and every shade in between. Pet geldings can be bought from £3/400 to £900 but breeding females with top genetics are a lot more expensive. There are already around 1,000 alpaca owners in the UK and growing and the classes at all the big agricultural shows are growing in leaps and bounds. It is a lot of fun for both pet owners and serious breeders".