Australian alpaca industry growth plans

There is an estimated 250,000 production animals in Australia's alpaca industry, each yielding approximately 5kg of fleece each year for an annual farmgate value of at least $13.5 million.

Now the Australian industry is pursuing dramatic volume growth to the national herd, to achieve the critical mass needed to move the market forward to the next stage.

A 2023 Agrifutures business case for the alpaca industry identified that improved grower education and awareness of of the fibre market needs and opportunities could boost the farmgate value to $26.25 million if 350,000 head were shorn in a year for a $15/kg return.

Australian Alpaca Association president Brett Fallon said there was huge demand for alpaca fibre exports and the industry couldn't keep up.

"The only way we're going to improve that is getting more alpacas, more producers and more volume on farms," he said.

"Prices between $15 and $35/kg are quite common... that quality of that fibre is what is differentiating that... the prices year on year have been pretty steady and that's in a market that's not a staple.

"Alpaca fibre being processed in Australia is a growth market, while exports are our biggest market."

Plans to boost the quality and yield when it comes to the national clip include setting up an alpaca fibre classer accreditation program, providing additional training to alpaca producers about fibre harvesting and educating small producers on market opportunities.

With this week marking National Alpaca Week, farms across the country have been opening their gates to help the Australian public learn more about the industry.

Mr Fallon said while smaller herds were the standard at the moment, there were some bigger operations in Australia that run several thousand alpacas.

"That's the end of the market that I can imagine in the next 10 years seeing become more common," he said.

As the number of alpacas in Australia grows, so too will the number of wethered animals available for use as guardian animals.

South Australian sheep and alpaca breeder Susan Haese runs 1000 crossbred ewes alongside her alpaca stud operation, after getting into sheep about eight years ago.

The combination means that she is able to use alpacas as herd guardians, protecting the herd against foxes.

"We certainly do have a fox problem here and we'd be losing a lot more if we weren't using the alpacas," Ms Haese said.

"We're running two or three alpacas in each mob of sheep and our mobs are between 120 and 250 head.

"The things that determine how many you need is whether you have a flat paddock or a hilly paddock and whether it's clear and open or there's lots of scrub.

"We always sell ours in pairs... the risk is if you put four or five into a mob, they'll go off as a little mob on their own and they won't actually do the job so well."

Ms Haese said alpacas can be extremely efficient as herd guardians, but not all alpacas are suited to the role.

"It's very important to realise that not all alpacas will guard... it's important to buy from an ethical breeder who actually knows their bloodlines and knows which families are guard animals and which families are too quiet," she said.

"Alpacas under 18 months old don't really guard anything, so sometimes people get them too young and expect them to do a job they're not capable of doing.

"We've had some interesting feedback from farmers over the years... we've had people say they're good the first year but even better the second year because they know their job.

"We had one guy ring us and say he didn't realise how high his lamb mortality rate was until he got the alpacas, because the foxes must have been cleaning up the dead lambs and all of a sudden he was finding dead lambs in the paddock after he got the alpacas because nothing was taking them."