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Alpacas are relatively rare animals first introduced to Australia when a flock of about 250 animals, including alpacas, llamas and vicunas, arrived in New South Wales on 28 November 1858 on the Salvadora under the care of a Charles Ledger. A native of South America, the alpaca was favoured by the Incan civilisation and their fine fleece was reserved for the use of the Inca royalty. Alpacas are similar to llamas and have been domesticated for 5,000 years. The importance of the alpaca to the local indians and the ability of the alpaca to withstand the harshest conditions assured its survival through adverse years. After the modern world discovered the special qualities of alpaca fibre, farming for export started to grow. Alpaca farming is now concentrated in the Altiplano area in the high altitude regions of Southern Peru, Bolivia and Chile. There are some 3 million Alpacas in Peru and Bolivia. Alpaca farming outside of South America started in 1984 when alpacas were first imported into the United States. Farming spread further in 1989 with the export of the first alpacas from Peru and Chile to Australia and New Zealand. Here the better climates and more accessible and efficient veterinary services have made the alpaca a successful local farm animal. Although still relatively new to Australian farming, there are now over 40,000 alpacas in Australia. The current direction of alpaca farming is towards breeding, although the economic outlook for fibre sales is improving each year particularly in the light of the high quality of the fibre available here in Australia. |
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