Since alpacas are very docile and independent, farmers who are used to raising other livestock such as sheep and horses find it easier to raise alpacas. Alpacas like to graze on open pastures and herd with other alpacas. They don’t need a lot of attention.

In fact, they don’t like people especially people they don’t know and other animals approaching them. Raising them just means giving them the right environment and checking their health from time to time. If you have them as pets, it will also make them happy if you hug them once in a while. The basic maintenance work that alpacas need are feeding, constant trimming of toe nails (so that you won’t get scratched when you shear them), occasional vaccination and worming and yearly shearing. Although they don’t drink much, they also need clean sources of water for their daily hydration. Aside from the basic maintenance, the only other basic thing that is needed to do is to monitor their health. Healthy alpacas are alert and have good posture. Their eyes are clear and they move around to graze. You need to check them out from time to time and have a veterinarian see them if you see something different in them like if they are not standing up or if their head is bent low.

Alpacas are low-maintenance animals. If you have a good property with lots of spaces of pasture grass, you can leave the alpacas the whole day and just visit them for their supplements or to to check their health. They have good hygiene (they poop in only one part of the property) so cleaning the farm will not use up a lot of your time.

A few years back, the most popular fabric used in our clothing is the synthetic wool. However, today with the growing number of green environmentalist customers, the clothing industry is turning to other sources of fabric and one of them is the alpaca.

Alpacas are animals that are raised very much like the sheep. They are prized because of the dense and shiny fleece. The clothing made from their fleece is said to be earth-friendly because the alpacas don’t have soft feet that don’t contribute to soil erosion like horses. They don’t need a lot of grain and water. Their fleece are renewable resources. Aside from being environmentally friendly, alpaca clothing is also better in quality than clothing that are made from sheep’s wool or other synthetic wool. They are more resilient and they don’t shrink after being washed. They are also wrinkle, wind, odor and rain resistant.

The most popular examples of alpaca clothing you can find in stores today are the following:

You can find a number of people in New York and other fashion capital wearing alpaca more and more. They have proved that there is a growing market that can be tapped for environmentally friendly, durable and fashionable clothing. Alpaca clothing will be the top choice for clothing makers in the years to come.

The ancestors of the alpacas in the USA came from the ancient lands of Peru, Chile and Bolivia. They get their nutrition from the bounty of the South American soil. When they were imported to the USA, they still keep their old diet but other kinds of food are needed to be added because the USA soil don’t lack some minerals and nutrients that are abundant in South America.

Americans who breed alpacas give alpacas hays aside from the ready supply of pasture grass. One alpaca is given an average of 3 pounds of hay everyday. The most used hay type is the ones that are used for horses because it has a good amount of protein

In addition to the staple food of grass and hay, alpacas are also given food supplements because they can’t get all their nutrients from the hay. Certain minerals are lacking in the American soil and so alpacas are given supplements in the form of mineral blocks. These are the same mineral blocks that are given to goats.

Since alpacas are used to eating grass alone, they develop digestive problems when they are given food supplements. Because of this, they are also give probiotics. Probiotics are a kind of bacteria that help in the proper digestion of food.

Having a good diet is important for alpacas because it shows in their fiber and in their posture. Alpacas who eat food with some protein, carbohydrates and other minerals produce more beautiful fleece and have over-all good health and good looks. They will be very good for shows and competitions.

Alpaca wool is made from the fleece of an alpaca animal. It is a highly demand natural wool which is a very good alternative to synthetic fabric. It is very much like the wool that you get from sheep but it is lighter and softer. There are only 22 colors but the white wool can be dyed and turned to an indefinite number of color.

There are 2 kinds of alpaca wool in the USA and this is primarily because there are 2 breeds of alpaca being raised in the country. The first kind which is the most popular is the huacaya. The wool that is made from the fleece of huacaya alpaca is very dense and cringed. The second kind which is the rarer one is the suri. The fiber is longer and the strands are separate.

Whether huacaya or suri, the process of turning the alpaca fiber from wool is the same. First, the alpaca is sheared. It is not sheared when it is wet because wet fleece will not produce good alpaca wool. After getting the fleece, the fleece is combed, cleaned from stains and then spun. The spinner that is used for traditional sheep wool is also the one that is used for this wool.

Today, there are more and more weavers and manufacturers of clothing that choose alpaca wool over other kinds of wool and synthetic fibers. It is all-natural, soft, light and the product supports the hundreds of breeders who are trying to earn money from alpaca wool.

A number of breeders in the USA is earning a lot of money by raising alpacas for sale to the public.  Depending on a number of factors, an alpaca can be sold for $10,000-$50,00o and some can be sold for higher prices.  Alpacas are becoming to be one of the favorite livestock animals in America because of their marketable value.

A female alpaca is sold mainly to be the mother of alpaca offspring.  She can give birth to one alpaca every year.  She can also produce fleece which can be sold to be turn to yarn and alpaca clothing.  The price of a female alpaca depends on her age, her fertility, her ancestry, the beauty of her fiber and her conformation.

A male alpaca is sold mainly to be the herd shire or the stud.  One male can partner up to 10 different females in a given year.  They can be bought and be the only male alpaca in a herd of 10 females or they can be bought to be eventually hired out as a stud.  Either way, a male alpaca’s price is also dependent also on his genetics, ancestry and the top ribbons that he may received from different alpaca shows.

It can be a lucrative business to have either a female or a male alpaca for sale.  Normally, those that have good looks, dense and long fiber, and top ribbons are sold for higher prices.  Today, there are already hundreds alpaca for sale that came from award-winning and strong alpaca lineage.