Alpacas Introduction

Table of Contents: (click on any of these topics to take you to that section of this page immediately)
Alpaca Overview

Alpaca Overview:
Alpacas are placid grazing animals that are being raised here in North America for their offspring and fiber. Their fiber is shorn annually, usually in the spring or early summer, and made into fine textiles of wonderful soft yarns that are lightweight and very warm. The area of South America in which they are native, is fairly sparse and harsh, however temperatures usually stay between freezing and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Because they have evolved in this sparse environment, these ruminants, are very efficient at utilizing their food and are fairly hardy. This makes them easier to keep than most livestock. All of these elements combine with their shy nature to create an animal you won't be afraid to let the children be around. The intent of our website is to help you determine if you would like to learn more about these wonderful animals and even include them in your life.

Alpaca History 101:
Alpacas are native to the South American countries Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. They are cousins to llamas, guanacos, and vicuñas, and have been domesticated for thousands of years. These four cousins are capable of interbreeding and are referred to as "New World Camelids". As you can infer from this title, they are also related to the camels of the "Old World". Interestingly, both camels and the "New World Camelids" originated in what became North America. The camelids eventually migrated to the area that became South America. The camel then migrated to Africa and Eurasia, while the "New World Camelids" remained in South America to evolve into the llama, guanaco, alpaca, and vicuña. The "New World Camelids" are often referred to as Lamas for this is the animal class they all belong to.

The Incans of South America are credited with doing a great deal to improve the quality of the alpaca for fiber production. In Incan society, the rare fiber of the vicuña was reserved for royalty and that of the alpaca for royalty and high ranking officials. The common folk used the fiber and pelts of the llama for their clothing. While llama fiber can be as fine or finer than some alpaca, the presence of guard hairs makes it less suitable for large scale fiber production. The llamas have been utilized primarily for beasts of burden, fiber, meat, and their hides. Alpacas are also eaten in South America, but they are not suited for working as a beast of burden. As with the Incans, breeding of alpacas today focuses on improving the density (number of fibers per square inch) of the fiber, while decreasing the fiber's diameter, and keeping these two factors as consistent as possible throughout the fleece.

The Spanish Conquest all but ruined the alpaca that the Incans had worked so hard to improve. Before the Spanish invaded, the alpaca and llama population has been estimated to be in the tens of millions. In just 100 years, the Spanish recorded a 90% reduction of these animals and repopulated the area with their sheep, cattle and horses. Breeding programs did continue through the next several hundred years, but not to the extent of the Incans, who included the alpaca in their religion and culture.

A military coup in Peru in 1969 also set back the breeding programs in Peru. The herds that were held by the wealthy land owners, were confiscated by the new government, which had little or no experience in managing such operations. By the early 1990's, the alpaca population had dropped to around 2.5 million.

Now that the political climate has changed, the Peruvian alpaca breeders have been able to get "back on track", but most of the alpaca ranches are not organized in ways that allow controlled breeding of their animals, and pedigrees are rarely kept.

Alpacas In North America:
Alpacas have been imported into the United States for breeding purposes since the early 1980's. Those who first started importing the animals, showed great wisdom in recognizing the value and importance of keeping good breeding records and establishing pedigrees. With that in mind, the Alpaca Registry, Incorporated, was founded and has been charged with maintaining a database of most of the alpacas in North America. Alpaca Registry, Inc, or ARI, initially used blood typing to verify parentage of all animals it registered. Recently, they have changed to the use of DNA analysis which is even more accurate, and currently use blood samples for the DNA testing.

A few years ago, the ARI membership voted to close its registry to any further imported animals. Up until that point, alpacas who had been screened by a panel of veterinarians and specially chosen knowledgeable breeders. Using conformation guidelines and fiber analysis, only certain alpacas were permitted entry into the registry as long as they passed this screening. Closure, as it has come to be called, has virtually halted importations of alpacas, and the United States and Canada are currently breeding the animals that are within these two countries' borders.

Unlike our counterparts in South America, the typical alpaca farm in North America is very likely to have controlled breedings where a specific herdsire is charged with "settling" specific females. The parentage of the resulting baby, or cria, is then confirmed by DNA testing and registered in the ARI databank. Only the offspring of registered alpacas are admitted into the ARI registry. These selected breedings also assist in providing fairly specific due dates, although gestation can be anywhere from 335 to 360 days with some pregnancies lasting up to 13 months.

Thanks to the llama owners and breeders in North America, much has been learned from their experiences, and applied to the smaller alpaca. The llama population has been in North America longer than the alpaca and many veterinary studies and lessons gleaned from llama management have benefited alpacas. There are several universities here in the United States that have research programs devoted to the New World Camelids, and we are fortunate here in Ohio that one of these is Ohio State University.

The North American Alpaca Industry
Currently the industry in the United States is primarily focused on the immediate value of the rare alpaca. The value and income derived from raising alpacas is obtained from the sale of their offspring. At the same time however, breeders also focus on the ultimate value of breeding fiber producing animals. We breed for the best in fiber and conformation. This is accomplished by always breeding the females in the herd to the best males available a concept known as "breeding up".

Breeders in the U.S. have also shown a desire to breed colored animals. In most of South America, for ease in processing such tremendous quantities of alpaca fiber, they have been breeding away from colored animals and have concentrated on breeding white animals. With a general interest in "natural" products here in the U.S., the alpaca breeders have been encouraging the breeding of colored alpacas. There are many beautiful colors of fleece that alpacas can wear, from white to black with many shades of brown and gray between. Generally, here in the U.S., colored alpacas carry a higher value than white ones.

There are approximately 6000 alpaca owners here in the U.S., from Alaska to Florida. Between them, they own more than 62,000 alpacas. The state of Ohio leads the United States with roughly 680 alpaca farms and approximately 9000 alpacas.

Several years ago, the Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America (AFCNA) was formed to provide a means by which alpaca owners could have their fiber processed, as well as to begin development of the fiber aspect of our industry. In 1999 they collected, sorted and processed over 55,000 pounds of alpaca fiber. As with all new ventures run on the volunteer efforts of a few individuals, the cooperative has encountered some bumps, but progress is being made and beautiful alpaca products have been made available to its members, from scarves to elegant coats. Other more localized fiber pools have recently emerged and are having success as well.

Alpaca Organizations:
There are several different organizations within the industry, and it can be a bit confusing as to which is charged with exactly what responsibilities. The order that these are being written about does not reflect their importance, for each holds a very important role in our blossoming industry.

Alpaca Registry, Inc., or ARI, is the entity responsible for maintaining the registration information on most of the United States alpacas. It is fairly safe to assume that a breeder would have a difficult time selling a non ARI registered alpaca. Recognizing that pedigree is very important to a breeding program, most owners would not even consider buying an animal that is not registry eligible. Only alpacas born to ARI registered parents are eligible for registration. In order to avoid duplication of services, ARI and the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA, see below) agreed several years ago that ARI would be responsible for maintaining the database and overseeing the research activities and their funding. Later the Alpaca Research Foundation was created to handle the review and funding of alpaca related research, but the funding still comes primarily from the ARI. Membership to ARI is obtained through the registration of an alpaca. There is no charge for being an ARI member after this initial registration, although there are charges for registering an alpaca and doing its DNA analysis for verification of parentage. If you would like to do research for specific alpacas in the ARI database, there is a speicial membership to allow you to do so.

The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association is the marketing arm of our industry. Through its committees, it funds various advertising activities including the publication of the Alpacas Magazine which is published every quarter. AOBA also oversees distribution of material about the industry to those who first inquire about alpacas in response to advertising. This is done via the AOBA web site and the Alpaca Breeders Guide. AOBA is also responsible for overseeing the National Alpaca Conference held annually in the United States at various locations. This tremendous undertaking includes an alpaca show, seminars involving all aspects of the industry, and the opportunity to meet fellow breeders. AOBA also funds and supports many of the affiliate alpaca associations across the country such as state affiliates like the Ohio Alpaca Breeders Association. There is an annual membership fee to join AOBA, and this includes the cost of the subscription to Alpacas Magazine and a membership directory as well as many other services too numerous to mention.

In 2000, AOBA formed its own show association titled the AOBA Show Division and has undertaken the certification of its own shows and and judges. Each year the show committee reviews and updates its handbook of rules and procedures governing shows. The AOBA show association is now overseeing most of the alpaca shows in the United States. Although its roots were first found in ALSA, it is now totally independent training its own fleece and alpaca judges, and is growing rapidly.

The Alpaca and Llama Show Association or ALSA is the other organization that oversees many alpaca shows in the United States. Most of the shows that ALSA oversees are joint llama and alpaca shows. ALSA provides training for judges as well as the policies and procedures involved with showing alpacas and llamas. Sometimes alpacas are shown at events shared with llamas, but as alpaca numbers have grown, there are many shows just for alpacas. Alpacas are currently judged on a 50/50 basis. The alpaca is evaluated 50% on conformation and 50% on fleece quality. ALSA has a nominal membership fee which helps to support the show association and the training of judges. They also annually publish a membership directory, which is distributed to all of its members.

The Alpaca Research Foundation or ARF is an offshoot of the ARI (they have no web site). It is a non-profit organization and is responsible for evaluating different research proposals regarding various aspects of the health and husbandry of alpacas, and then assigning funds to those it approves. Perspective researchers submit their proposals to the ARF board which is primarily composed of veterinarians. The funding of the ARF has been obtained through the screening fees assessed to imports as well as a small portion from private donations. With closure of the registry and the resulting loss of screening fees, most of this funding is rapidly coming to an end making private donations even more important.

The Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America, Inc. has close to 600 members who purchased a share of the cooperative in order to receive its benefits. The most important of these is the opportunity to combine their fleeces with all of the other members for transformation into North American alpaca products such as yarns, rugs, sweaters, scarves, and coats. The major thrust of this organization is to create a market here in North America and beyond, for our wonderful fiber. All of this has been accomplished through the generous efforts of several very dedicated volunteers to whom the alpaca industry owes a great deal. The phenomenal growth in e-commerce is very exciting to the AFCNA, for it offers a wonderful opportunity to sell our alpaca products at retail prices with little over head. With 55,000 pounds of alpaca fiber being processed this year, the sky is the limit for the industry.

The Morris Animal Foundation is a non profit organization to which people can donate money to support research for several animal species including llamas and alpacas. Like the Alpaca Research Foundation, they have a panel of veterinarians and scientists that evaluate research proposals that are requesting funding. They have recently added llamas and alpacas to their list of animal species to which they will donate research dollars.

The International Camelid Foundation is another non profit organization focusing on all members of the camelid family. Quoting from their webpage, "Founded in 2001 by David E. Anderson, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS, at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in the United States, the International Camelid Institute (ICI) promotes education, service and collaboration among researchers, breeders, owners, fiber and textile industry professionals and animal enthusiasts worldwide. As an information repository, veterinarians, owners, academicians, regulatory agencies and others can access and obtain essential information for everyday situations from research. ICI strives to acknowledge research being conducted throughout the world and seeks to help avoid duplication of efforts. ICI does not solicit research funds nor does it administer grants. ICI seeks to share and exchange information and therefore is not exclusionary to any researchers. The Institute serves as an educational conduit to fulfill its mission of improving animal health and well being."

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