Alpaca History

The Alpaca along with the Llama, Guanaco and Vicuna are all members of the South American Camelid family, found mainly in the South American countries of Peru, Chile and Bolivia.

Both the Guanaco and Vicuna remain undomesticated to this day and it is now generally believed that the domesticated Llama evolved from the Guanaco and the domesticated Alpaca from the Vicuna.

Domestication of the Alpaca began some five thousand years ago and with the Llama became an important part of the economy of the Andean people providing clothing, food, transport, with the dried dung used as fuel. The Inca empire was remarkably successful in further refining the Alpaca through rigidly controlled breeding programmes such that even today, according to archaeologists, the Inca alpaca herds had a fibre quality that is still not consistently achieved to this day.

The invasion by the Spanish in the 16th century saw the introduction of European livestock, mainly Merino sheep, and the once highly organised Alpaca herds were decimated and those remaining pushed to the higher elevations on the altiplano of the Andes (4000-5000m). Here the Alpaca was forced to adapt to the sparse vegetation, the extremes of temperature and was free to breed without human selection.

The following years of Agrarian Land Reform followed by the era of large herds run by the traditional pastoralists and then the terrorism in the 1980’s, made the organisation of breeding stations difficult. Nevertheless in the Alpaca areas of southern Peru there remain a few large and well organised farms intent on reinstalling controlled husbandry. These breeding programmes coupled with government funded research mean that selective bloodlines are beginning to appear again.

During the mid 19th century the English textile merchant Sir Titus Salt discovered the qualities of Alpaca fibre. Queen Victoria wore dresses made of alpaca cloth and did much to promote the qualities of the fibre. An alpaca coat was a ‘must have’ for every gentleman and many of these were passed down to later generations and are in use today. His mill and Saltaire, the model village built for his workers, is a world heritage site.

Worldwide the Alpaca population is estimated to be 3 million, with the majority in the South American regions of Peru, Chile and Bolivia. Today the Alpaca is farmed not only in South America, but also in North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The North American terrorities are estimated to have close to 100,000 animals with Australia having a similar number. In the UK current estimates are around 20,000.

Alpaca Breeds

There are two types of Alpaca being bred for fibre, the Huacaya and the Suri.

The Suri has a lustrous fine fibre with no crimp, that hangs down from the body in long pencil like locks. Although Suri numbers are rising due to the efforts of some breeders, they are in the minority.

The more common breed of alpaca is the hardy Huacaya whose soft and dense fibre has a crimp, lustre and insulating properties much sought after by the textile business.

Alpaca Fibre

Alpaca fibre is more akin to hair due to its cellular composition, however it is generally described as a speciality fibre and a wool. It has a medullated core made up from air-filled cells which may be interrupted or continuous and this contributes significantly to both its insulating properties as well as its strength. Alpaca wool is second only to silk for strength. The number of scales on individual fibres is considerably reduced compared to sheep’s wool and this helps to explain why wool allergic people do not have the same reaction to Alpaca.

Alpacas have few guard hairs or secondary coat and careful selective breeding has ensured that this rarely exists within the prime fleece area. Overall the fibre has a soft and silky feel and exhibits a varying degree of crimp. Its fineness is measured in microns and on average falls within the range 20-35, with 20-22 being considered the finest.

Alpacas must be shorn annually as they will not naturally shed their fibre and on average will clip between 2.5 and 5 kg per year. The fibre commands a premium price on the world market where the relatively small worldwide population compared to sheep, helps to maintain consistently higher prices.

Alpaca wool is the only natural fibre that comes in such a range of colour. The mills of Peru recognise 22 natural shades from seven basic colours. These range from a true jet black, through the browns and fawns into white. In addition there is a blue or charcoal grey and a rose grey. If desired, it readily takes to dying and can be blended with other fibres offering textile designers endless possibilities.

Breeding programmes in the UK are aimed at increasing the number of animals in the national herd and more importantly increasing the fineness and density of the fleece by the use of carefully selected stud males.

The market for the fibre in Britain is relatively undeveloped as the number of animals is not large enough at the moment to support a commercial processing industry similar to the wool industry. However hand spinners are keen to buy alpaca fleece and are enthusiastic about its fineness and natural colours.

There are a number of mini-mills in the country where UK bred fleeces can be processed into yarn and many breeders are taking this route so that they can produce end products made out of their own fleeces for sale to the general publicThese routes to market are on a cottage industry scale.