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 What
Are Alpacas?
Alpacas were originally imported into the US
from South America. They are highly valued for the fantastic properties
of their fleece, which is shorn generally once per year and turned
into a variety of products from high-fashion garments to yarn, rovings
for hand-spinners, blankets, hats, gloves, scarves, fire-resistant
sleepwear and much more, even insulation!
Alpacas are related to their larger cousins, the llamas and their
smaller, cousins, vicunas-all members of the camelid family. Llamas,
being larger, can carry packs for trekking through the mountains,
and can also have very nice fleece, but often they have coarser
guard hair as well. Vicunas are much smaller and generally have
even softer fleece, but do not produce as much of it. Alpacas have
been bred for centuries to produce a lot of consistently soft, uniform
fleece that can be used nearly in its entirety without dehairing.
From Alpaca Fleece to Alpaca Products
Alpacas are shorn of their fleece generally once per year in a
process that doesn't harm the alpaca at all. Each alpaca can produce
between three and ten pounds of fleece each year. This fleece comes
in more natural colors than any other fiber producing animal, it's
100% natural, American-made, home-grown and easy on the environment.
Alpaca fiber is made in a wide range of delightfully soft and exquisite,
highly desirable products from garments and accessories to rugs
and blanket and much more. For more information about alpaca fleece
and the products that can be created from it, please visit our alpaca
fiber page.
Types of Alpacas
There are two types of alpacas, huacayas (wha-KI-yah) and suris
(SU-ree) that are distinguished by their different fleece characteristics.
Huacayas have crimpy fleece that grows straight out from their bodies
like a sheep or polar bear. Suris have long, lustrous, drapey locks
that hang down like hair and have architecture more similar to hair
than huacaya fleece as well. Huacayas are the more common of the
two types comprising about 80% of the US population of alpacas,
while suris comprise the other approximately 20% percent.
 
Huacaya alpaca & fleece (pictured left).
Suri alpaca and suri fleece pictured right.
Here at Cascade Shadow Alpacas we raise both huacaya and suri alpacas.
Caring for Alpacas
Alpacas eat grass, hay, and are generally supplemented for vitamins
and minerals with a feed in pellet form. They need a continuous
supply of clean, fresh water. Many farms use heated waterers for
this purpose. They need shelter from the weather, and this can vary
from a three-sided run-in to a heated barn and still be suitable
for their needs. Being rather smaller than cows and horses (they
generally weigh between 120 to 200 pounds full grown), they eat
much less and are much easier on the environment. You could easily
graze up to five alpacas per acre and many more if you are feeding hay.
Some areas have livestock restrictions on the land that may affect
the number you can have in a given area.
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