Gentle alpaca prized for their fleece
Where once an alpaca was an unusual sight in the New Zealand countryside they are now very much part of the farming landscape.
Keenan Scott, who can have up to 600 alpaca on his Cambridge property in the birthing periods, has been involved with the endearing animals for more than 20 years and has also been a New Zealand alpaca judge.
“I first became interested in alpaca back in the 1990s when I saw two animals at the front of a tourist shop in Australia. I was working in Aussie as an electrical engineer and went into the shop, spoke with the owners and met my first alpaca. I was intrigued by their quiet and peaceful demeanour and exquisite fibre.
His first-hand experience with them piqued his interest and he wanted to know more. He started shearing alpaca as a way of getting to know more about the animals’ fibre.
“Nearly every Sunday I would spend the day shearing and classing alpaca fibre for free. It was the way to get to know more about them.
Several years later and after buying a few New Zealand raised alpaca Scott decided to import animals from Australia.
It was quite an involved process with quarantine and different rules and regulations but he succeeded in bringing 40 pregnant alpaca to his property on Waiheke Island and his herd has grown steadily since then. He has expanded further in the last few years and is now based just south of Cambridge in the Waikato.
“We decided to move because much of our contract alpaca shearing was on the mainland and it just made good sense to set up our farm shop and farm operation in a higher profile position.
Now Scott is in the process of getting organic certification for the Cambridge property which he runs along with his partner Denise and son Mitchell who works on the property during his tertiary school holidays.
“We have always farmed using organic principles – no sprays or chemical fertilisers - now is the time to get the property set up correctly and be able to extend that to all of the farm’s 22.3 hectares.
“We have an organic farm orchard and vegetable garden and it will mean we can offer our visitors fruit and refreshments in the right environment.
Scott says the behaviour of the alpaca is one of its many likeable qualities and is a great stress relief mechanism due to their curiosity and easy pace.
“They like to be in ‘family’ groups. They can become stressed if separated or isolated from other alpaca which means they cannot be kept as a solitary animal and must be kept with other alpaca.
Keenan and Denise spend a lot of their time shearing alpaca on other farms and this can mean visiting many properties some with only two to four animals while there are other farms with in excess of 100 alpaca.
Scott is kept busy with his alpaca and llama mobile shearing services covering from Taupo to the far North of the North Island. The shearing season generally runs from October through to the end of March.
A specially designed alpaca shearing table is used to minimise stress for the animals and handlers. The animal is brought into the shearing area. It is stood alongside the table and the padded crush section is brought alongside and the animal is quickly and efficiently tipped on its side onto the table. The legs are secured, holding the animal flat but under no tension while it is shorn and then turned over to do the reverse side.
“We all know shearing is the most stressful day for any alpaca so we make sure every animal is handled with the utmost care, having over 500 of our own alpaca this is second nature to us,” he says.
All parts of the alpaca are shorn including the lower legs, tail and head to get a lovely clean appearance and for practical animal husbandry reasons.
“We take pride in our shearing job. We are also happy to shear young cria to remove the sticky tipping which collects vegetable matter and often makes the first fleece unusable,” he says.
With the move from Waiheke Island to the Cambridge property they needed a change of name. Waiheke Alpaca was not going to work when they were based in Waikato. Now the alpaca stud is called ‘Alpaca Experience’ to include the growing tourist
operation which has become part of the farm operation.
‘‘We have regular groups of tourists coming to the farm to get the ‘hands-on’ experience of not only alpaca but also mohair goats, donkeys, cattle and llama. Some of these are inbound groups are from Asia, organised by a Chinese tourist expert, and all we need to do really is provide them with a great experience. They love the animals,’’ Scott says.
They also provide tours for locals and local clubs.
But it is the fleece from the 450 plus alpaca which produces the major portion of income with a range between $4.50 and $45 per kilogram, the prices paid are all based on the length of the fleece and the micron or size of the individual fleece.
‘‘We are breeding Huacaya and Suri alpaca in the full range of colours. We strive to produce highly advanced fleeces on every alpaca.’’
The long fleece is used in highfashion mostly womenswear and in the production of duvets. Also made onsite are 100 percent alpaca pillows and baby wear.
The shorts and courser fibre is sold to China where they have a very big industry with alpaca fleece sourced from all around the world.
‘‘We have an organic wool scourer and a 1935 carding machine which we use to clean and process the longer, fine micron fleece before utilising or sending off to manufacturers.
They also send bulk fleece to Mesa Mill in Hawkes Bay for processing into yarn for both hand and machine knitting.
Denise says alpaca is a beautiful fibre and lovely to work with. ‘‘It is low allergenic making it perfect for those with any type of reaction to wool or synthetic.
They have a small stock of finished product – duvet, pillows, scarves, hats, babywear and the softest teddy bears ever.
‘‘It is good to be able to show tourists the finished product and great for them to be able to feel how soft the finished products are.’’
The breeding programme at Alpaca Experience includes both Huacaya and Suri alpacas and they fast-track their alpaca breeding programme using embryo transfer.
‘‘To provide tangible and more predictable results we select animals to be DNA, GIFT and Skin Follicle tested.
‘‘We source animals of superior genetics and elite quality to compliment this breeding system. Some of our recent imports include superfine White, Fawn, Black, Grey and now appaloosa animals.
‘‘We have had excellent success with embryo transfer in New Zealand which has meant our herd has grown from strength to strength. We have a range of stud animals on offer for sale and for mobile mating.