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They stand tall but tread lightly on soft padded feet that are far more gentle on the land than hard-hoofed livestock.
Yet predatory foxes that dare to come near them can expect to be trampled – possibly to death.
In recent decades, alpacas have become increasingly common on Victorian farms. Prized for their fine wool and gentle nature, alpacas are drawing admirers from both hobby and larger-scale farmers.
Farmers often keep alpacas together with flocks of sheep to protect them from foxes during lambing season. From a distance, they might look like large sheep with elongated necks. But alpacas belong to the camelid animal family, making them more closely related to camels.
Jodi Ramadge has kept alpacas on her Yarra Ranges farm for the past 14 years. She started with just a handful and has since grown her flock to about 50 alpacas.
“Ask any alpaca farmer, they’ll tell you they’re addictive,” Ramadge said.
Her alpacas are shorn once a year, and their wool was exceptionally warm and soft, and had hypoallergenic properties, Ramadge said.
Their wool contains minimal lanolin, a greasy substance that is present in sheep wool but generally extracted.
Ramadge breeds alpacas with a range of colours, which means the fleece does not need to be dyed.
She said alpacas made great livestock pets, but should be kept in a minimum of three because they are herd animals.
“They’ve all got unique personalities, and they’re great to be around,” she said. “They’re calm, they’re inquisitive. They’re very gentle.”
Ramadge will open her farm to visitors on Sunday, which concludes National Alpaca Week.
According to the Australian Museum, alpacas were first imported to Australia in 1858. But it took until the 1980s for the alpaca wool industry to take root.
Alpacas were originally from South America, where they were domesticated thousands of years ago. They are commonly eaten in countries such as Peru.
Alpacas are related to llamas, which are similar in appearance but are larger and have banana-shaped ears. Llamas were also bred for carrying packs.
By 2022, there were about 350,000 alpacas in Australia, a report by AgriFutures Australia found.
Farmer and Australian Alpaca Association director Taryan Mathews said there were about 160,000 registered alpacas across the country, but many owners with fewer numbers did not register them.
Mathews and her husband are second-generation alpaca farmers. Her parents started farming alpacas in 1994 when the industry was relatively small.
While the market for alpaca meat is small, particularly in Melbourne, Mathews said it had great potential for growth.
She described alpaca meat as lean, mild in flavour, high in iron and protein but low in cholesterol.
But due to its low-fat content, Mathews said alpaca meat typically needed to be slow cooked or done quickly on high heat.
She said alpacas were easier on the environment than many other kinds of livestock owing to their soft padded feet and low water use.
“They don’t cause the erosion that hoofed animals do,” Mathews said. “They don’t tug at the grass, so they’re not ripping it out.”
Mathews also judges alpacas at agricultural shows, where she looks for consistency of fibre, facial structures that avoid eating and breathing problems, and animals with necks the same length as their legs – among other features.
“Everything just fits where it’s supposed to,” she said.
Auravale Alpacas owner Lynda Holdsworth now has about 50 alpacas on her Yarra Ranges farm, after moving from the suburbs about 20 years ago. She sells alpacas and also shears them for wool. Holdsworth said fine alpaca wool felt similar to cashmere.
“It’s very comfortable on your skin,” she said.
Holdsworth said many farmers and landholders were drawn to alpacas because of their quiet nature and manageable size.
Despite alpacas’ typically mellow nature, Holdsworth said she had seen them stomping on foxes when they were threatened by the predators. This made alpacas good guardian animals for sheep, goats and even chickens.
“They do have a protective instinct,” she said. “Foxes do not like alpacas.”
Holdsworth believes it is only a matter of time before more farmers turn to these camelids. If they took a punt on alpacas, she said, farmers might soon realise the many benefits of farming with these gentle creatures.
They just need to stick their necks out a bit.
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