Only four years ago, Tanya Boston went to buy an alpaca wether (castrated male) to guard her sheep, but came home with four pregnant females alpacas.
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Since then, her alpaca herd has grown to 130 animals of every shape and colour.
April 30 to May 8 is Australian Alpaca Week, which Burra local, Ms Boston said is great opportunity for people to visit working alpaca farms in their local area.
“They’re very intelligent, they’re low maintenance and easy to handle so I can largely handle them on my own,” Ms Boston said.
“It was an impulse buy, but I’ve just loved them for so long.”
Now Ms Boston and her husband have started an alpaca fibre mill called Boston Fine Fibres in a shed on their property, which is one of only seven in all of Australia.
“It helps the industry, it helps us because it’s a little bit of income into the future and we just love doing it,” she said.
Ms Boston said that maintaining alpacas it is still a lot of hard work, “but the cats and dogs are more trouble to be honest.”
President of the Australian Alpaca Association Michelle Malt said that alpacas were a growing industry and that Australia now has some of the biggest herds outside South America.
There are several alpaca farms throughout the Queanbeyan region, including Sutton, Burra and Braidwood.
“Australia is very well regarded and our alpaca genetics are highly sought after across Europe and the UK,” Ms Malt said.
“There are also alpacas recently exported to China and certainly some of those animals will have come from around the Canberra, Queanbeyan, Yass area.”
The first alpacas were Imported to Australia in 1989.
“It’s still a relatively new and emerging industry here in Australia, but once it would be quite a rarity to drive along the roads and see alpacas, but now you tend to see them a little bit more frequently,” Ms Malt said.
Find a list of open alpaca farms in your area here: http://www.alpaca.asn.au/australian-alpaca-week