What Next?

Over the past ten years the alpaca has spread worldwide from South America with significant herds in North America Australia and the UK and emergent herds in Europe, South Africa, Japan China and beyond. In Europe more and more people are discovering the attractions of the alpaca. In North America the farming of alpaca is rapidly becoming a major lifestyle industry where alpacas are changing hands at incredible prices as breeders compete with each other for top flight genetics.

The Australian growers are busy applying to the alpaca the expertise they garnered in developing the Merino sheep into the finest fibre producing animal in the world. Their emphasis has been on producing large bales of white standardised alpaca fleece for manufacture on the world market. The USA has mainly pursued a lifestyle option creating a highly competitive breeding industry based on a vibrant show circuit and an alternative lifestyle. On gets the impression that the alpaca is the must have ‘designer livestock’ of today. In the UK our aspiration probably sits somewhere between both these countries although we all share the same ambition to breed elite alpacas carrying the finest fibre possible.

None of the emergent herds will ever rival Peru and South America for quantity but in less than twenty years these herds are certainly challenging the South Americans in terms of quality. The application of science, record keeping and selective breeding of individual alpacas has seen a rapid improvement in the quality of alpaca being produced in the ‘first world’.

In the UK there is a long way to go before we rival the numbers of animals in Canada, North America or Australia but we are catching up rapidly and can certainly compete on an equal footing in terms of quality. We have had  the opportunity in the past ten years to work their advanced bloodlines onto our smaller National Herd and make the same advances more rapidly than they who are working with greater numbers of animals and more geographical distance. Although the Australians are ten years ahead in terms of breeding every year we improve the quality of UK herd it decreases that lead. I would guess we are only a few breeding years behind in the whites and possibly already on a par with the coloureds. Alpaca genetics are begging to move around a worldwide marketplace and with advances being made every year in the development of embryo and insemination technology it very soon will be and international industry.

With only 16000 alpacas in the UK quality breeding stock is currently in great demand as the UK as owners increase and upgrade their existing herds.  As pedigrees become more established the superior bloodlines increase in price and the older less improved alpacas decrease giving more and more people access to establish their own herds. There is no doubt that the price of stock will remain relatively high for a number of years to come for we have a long way to go before the alpaca population reaches any kind of saturation point and the price of quality stock drops significantly.

However it is obvious that over the long term the fibre processing must run alongside the stock development. Growers producing quality stock with superfine fleece is mere speculation without their being a significant fibre industry developing in tandem. There have been several initiatives in the past ten years by British growers to create a ‘fleece industry’ and what has become obvious is one can’t create an’ industry’. The volumes of alpaca fleece needed in one colour, one quality to supply an ‘industry’ will inevitable defeat all the big scale start ups for decades to come.

Where the UK growers have been very successful is in turning their fleece into saleable products and stimulating the interest and the emergence of a marketplace for alpaca products. This vibrant marketplace can only grow. I have every confidence that some time in the future when the growers come together again to talk larger fleece initiatives they will bring to the table a real knowledge of what is achievable and sustainable at the ‘Industry’ level.

Numerous herds are now pioneering initiatives to add value to their fibre and vibrant marketplace is emerging.  The diversity of experience which alpaca owners bring to this knew challenge is both its strength and its weakness. The ability to think outside of a strictly agricultural box brings great benefit but the acquisition of real experience and expertise in processing design and retailing will take time. Fortunately with only one offspring per annum- time is well and truly on the alpaca’s side.

There will of course be huge challenges ahead, and unforeseen circumstances and market forces will take this emergent industry where it will. However we feel confident that there are too many talented people investing in these animals for the industry as a whole to fall far short of its goals. People who invest in alpacas like a challenge, they like a little romance and are not afraid to be exploring new territory, they like to create new initiatives and judging by their ability to purchase the animals, in the first place they also like to make money.

It's an adventure that will be slow to develop as the numbers of animals increase and the quality of animals improves through selective breeding, but as long as we bear in mind that the objective is in the long term to create a sustainable industry, we see no reason why British alpaca cannot compete on equal terms with the other producers of this magnificent fibre.