So as Adeline’s birthday treat we visited Surico – an alpaca farm nestled in the gently bubbling hills just shy of Lake Rotorua. As one of the nearest alpaca farms to us, we couldn’t resist a visit. And we’re rather glad we did.

Within minutes of arriving our host Hermione took us through to a pen and we watched the very miracle of creation unfold a few feet in front of us. Yep, it was breeding time alpaca style – and this meant one very happy male whose orgling sounds were bouncing around the hills.

Update – and here’s one I found on YouTube:

In the pen next door were the new born crias and their mums, all humming reassuringly to each other. Beautiful little things. One female who had given birth a week ago was already lying down next to the fence – this being typical female behaviour indicating that one whole week was long enough to be footloose and fancy free. She wanted in on the action.

Hermione took us around her farm and introduced us to some of her 150 alpacas living on just about 32 acres. The majority are white suris (see this post about suri alpacas) and that’s the real focus of their breeding programme.  It’s all about genetics, and Surico have some great credentials – have a look at their show results. Just standing in the paddocks chatting to Hermione whilst the alpacas approached inquisitively made it well worth the trip. There’s such curiosity in those big doe eyes and they radiate an appreciably calm energy.

As we left, I made a suggestion to Adeline: we don’t HAVE to get married next year. We could buy a starter herd instead.

“Er, no.”

Ah well, everything in good time…

WeLoveAlpacas on hold

Unfortunately the worst GBP/NZD exchange rate since the 80s has forced us to postpone plans for a lifestyle block and setting up our WeLoveAlpacas operation. Still, it’s not all bad – our revamped web design site was featured on moluv.com, business is busy and we’re excited to be creating an online shop for an international fleece company at the moment. Cue lots of amusement at the fantastic supplier photography and subject matter we’ve got to work with. We’ll keep you updated on the launch. It’s going to be a beautiful site…

There are two types of alpacas: suri and huacaya. They have different characteristics, and here’s an intro to the suri.

The primary identifier is the fibre. Suri alpacas have fine, sikly and lustrous fibre which hangs down like dreadlocks (or old-school mops, if I wanted to be uncharitable). These characteristics mean that suris are at the premium end of the alpaca fibre market. Often their wool is blended as it lacks the inherant strength of other wools.

Whilst getting reliable figures is difficult, it’s fair to say suri alpacas are much rarer than huacayas; I’ve seen suris accounting for around 3-10% of the total worldwide alpaca population. I’ve also heard breeders say that they are more temperamental than huacayas, though I would be interested in finding out more (here’s an article which mentions suris are more ‘flighty and nervous’ (PDF)). Certainly, they’re less hardy creatures as their fibre doesn’t provide the same levels of insulation as the altogether puffier huacayas.

You’ve got to admit though – they look oh-so funky and are amongst the only camelids you could call ‘distinguished’.

Original photo on Flickr.