Affection for alpacas spawns new venture
WHEN Angela and Matthew Smith brought home their first two alpacas they knew they were in love.
Since then they have grown their herd and started a stud, One Tree Hill Alpacas, and established the Alpaca Breeders Collective.
“When we first started with alpacas we actually went to buy goats and ended up with two alpacas instead,” Mrs Smith said.
“A third alpaca followed pretty quickly. We had two goats and three alpacas on our 1ha property.
“Then we moved to our current property, which is 16ha, and Matthew bought me more alpacas as birthday and Christmas presents.
“Then we rescued 70 alpacas. Now we have about 78 and we have more babies on the way.”
Mrs Smith said the idea for Alpaca Breeders Collective came to her in late 2016.
“I was sitting on the couch with a girlfriend who has alpacas and she was asking me what to do with her fibre,” she said.
“And I said, ‘Well if you make it into yarn I’ll sell it for you.’
“Then I thought maybe other alpaca breeders would be interested.
“We were selling our own stuff at the time and shortly after the Breeders Collective was started.”
There are now 16 breeders across NSW who are part of the collective.
“I’m 20 years ex-retail,” Mrs Smith said.
“I used to manage a big retail store in Melbourne. I’m used to recognising gaps.
“I recognised a gap for alpaca fibre that is grown and processed in Australia.
“A lot of breeders were either storing their fibre not knowing what to do with it or selling it to fleece buyers, who were then selling it overseas.”
The breeders are responsible for processing their own yarn.
“They will ring me and say they have done some shearing and have some fibre,” Mrs Smith said.
“And I tell them what kind of yarn they need, so we don’t end up with an abundance of the same type, and they send it to the mill and the mill sends it straight to me.
“All the breeders collection stuff is natural colours.”
There are two different mills the alpaca fibre is processed through – Adagio in Orange and Boston Fine Fibres in Burra near Canberra.
“The breeder collection yarns I sell face-to-face at markets or online on the new website,” Mrs Smith said.
“It will also be available at our on-farm shop in Murrumbateman, which opens on May 12.
“I dye and sell my own yarns separately to retail stores. My yarn business is Blackwattle Alpaca Yarn and Fibre.”
Mrs Smith said she hoped the Alpaca Breeders Collective would help the industry to grow.
“I do it to support the industry and the breeders and to get alpaca yarn out there,” she said.
“I have big dreams and I want to take some of the market share away from the merino industry in Australia.
“I want people to know how good alpaca yarn is in Australia. Australian grown and processed is something I’m very passionate about because I know how important it is to support Australian grown and made items.”
For more information visit www.blackwattleyarn.com.au/ members.