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Why Alpaca Fleece?Long before Cheops and Ramses built pyramids along the Nile, even before hieroglyphic writing was developed to record their stories, the pre-Incan culture domesticated the gentle alpaca for their soft and durable fleece. The Incan kings recognized the alpaca's unique qualities and reserved its cloth for the exclusive use of their royal court. Centuries later, the conquistadors discovered the 'new world' and tried to obliterate the native economy either by killing the alpaca herds or diluting them by interbreeding with llamas. Resourceful shepherds took their alpacas high into the Andes and thus saved remnants of their flocks. Today, millions of alpacas once again graze the altiplano and contribute to the well-being of their guardians. In the mid-1980s, alpacas were allowed to be exported from Peru, and began to join other livestock on farms and ranches across the United States. Our alpaca industry is a shiny new penny compared to South America. The impact of interbreeding with their larger llama cousins continues to be reversed. Early in the twentieth century, Peruvian shepherds strived for a national herd of white alpacas to insure that the llama genetics had been ousted. The alpaca's only limitation is its rarity. A bred female is pregnant
for 11.5 months, and then only has one offspring (cria). The world
produces less alpaca fiber than almost any other fiber type. Of the
commercially recognized fibers, only vicuna, the alpaca's ancestor,
is more rare. |
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