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Alpaca Fiber

I have the following information posted in our alpaca product store and printed on the back of our store business card.

Alpacas produce one of the world's finest and most luxurious natural fiber.  The fiber is harvested annually without causing harm or injury to the animal.  Soft as cashmere and warmer, lighter and stronger than wool, it comes in more natural colors than any other fiber producing animal (approximately 22 basic natural colors with many variations and blends).

It is a specialty fiber, being both rare and extremely fine.  Organic, hypoallergenic, and naturally flame retardant, additional alpaca characteristics include stretch, water repellency, and odor reduction.

This cashmere-like fleece, once reserved for Incan royalty, is now enjoyed by spinners, weavers, and discerning apparel designers and customers around the world.

The Challenge

We become alpaca owners for a number of reasons.  Some of us may be looking for unique or novel pets (quality fiber producing alpacas may actually sell for less than registered dogs or cats), we may be lured by the inviting "alpaca lifestyle" and many of the associated benefits (financial and otherwise). Maybe we are looking for a way to supplement retirement income, or perhaps the plan is to build a full-time business breeding and sell alpacas to other breeders or people new to the industry. Also, integrated into this mix of reasons to own and raise alpacas are those owners focusing on the alpaca end product--fiber.  I believe that ultimately, perhaps years down the road, when all is said and done the sustainable alpaca business will focus on quality fiber production.

When looking into the alpaca business, how many of us asked the question "what do you raise the alpacas for?"  Otherwise interpreted as......what do you do with them?  The answer probably sounded something like....we are building the North America herd in order to meet the future demand for quality fiber production.  And, we are a long way from having the number of alpacas needed to meet those demands.  For many (probably most), that translates to we must continue to breed and sell in order to create that future. 

If we have entered the alpaca industry as a way to build a financial future (supplemental or full-time) then we had best pay attention to, and gain knowledge about, the fiber industry.  It has been my experience, personally and anecdotal, that in the early days of doing research the "fiber part" of the business is often overlooked or postponed.  Unless someone enters the business already familiar with the end product there isn't much of an understanding, or sense of "need to know", associated with learning the essentials of creating a valued end product.  Yet, in most cases, end product fiber production is one of the reasons alpaca ownership and production is so highly touted.

As we continue to move toward the future we would be wise to learn as much as we can, as quickly as we can, about how to create the future many of us are "banking on."  We need to create a vision of our business and we need to make breeding decisions based on the future we envision. We must then learn how to grow our business to match our vision. 

Fiber production education is available...in books, on websites, at shows/conferences/ workshops, etc.  As responsible business people we must meet the challenge to build our business, and ultimately the alpaca business, through education and action.

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