The Alpaca industry is booming in The United States at the moment. With a cutoff of new animals coming in and a relatively slow reproduction rate, large companies are not interested in spending the time. This makes raising alpacas for profit the perfect business venture for small business entrepreneurs.

Alpaca’s are one of the only farm animals that can pay for their own care every year, if you do it right. They produce a large amount of wool that is highly sought after and can be sold at a premium. This can pay for the feed, housing, and medical bills of keeping the animal healthy and happy.  We have been raising alpacas for several years now and we wouldn’t change it for the world!

Many Alpaca breeders become addicted to Alpacas because of the profit potential and friendly nature of the animal. They are shy in nature but will sometimes let you give them a scratch or give you shy kisses. They are great with kids and don’t seem to have a problem with most other animals.  Each one has their own different attitude and personality.

It is also important to understand that Alpacas are social pack animals. If you plan on raising Alpacas, then you need to make sure that you always keep them in a small pack. Never keep an alpaca by themselves!  If you separate an Alpaca from the pack for a long period of time, they are likely to get sick and show signs of distress.

The most important part about raising alpacas for profit is to have a business plan to begin with. Whether you are going to buy 10 of the most expensive Alpaca’s you can find or get 3 that a local farm is looking to get rid of, you need to have a plan.  Without it you will fail and more importantly, the animals will suffer.

The Business Plan – How Will You Be Raising Alpacas For Profit?

A business plan is important in any business venture, just as it is with starting an Alpaca farm. You want to make sure that you set yourself up for success from the start if you plan on succeeding in the long run. Find out what kind of Alpaca business you want to run and then branch out into a plan from there.

What niche are you going to look to fulfill. The cottage industry wants all natural deep colored Alpaca fiber, while the industrial section prefers white so that it can be dyed. Most farms look to focus on a few select colors and sell off anything outside of that range.  Others are just looking to produce as many as they can, no matter the color.

There are two major business plans when it comes to raising Alpacas for profit. The first is to reproduce as many Alpaca as possible and keep costs at a bare minimum to profit off of the wool while supplementing by selling large amounts of Alpacas in packages. They other plan is to have a smaller amount of very high quality Alpaca’s to start and reproduce with so that you have and produce higher quality stock.

We believe that it is just as important to have a plan on what to do with your fiber as it is to have a plan for the animals.  Starting out with no plan for the fiber, we made that mistake, so learn from us.  We regularly see people posting online asking what they should be doing with there fiber.  Be sure that you have some idea of what you can and what you want to do with the fiber.  After all, alpacas are fiber animals and that is what we are breeding them to produce.

Quantity – Raising Alpacas For Whool

If you have a large amount of space and limited funds, then you might opt to breed for quantity over quality. Look to start with a few cheap breeding Alpaca while paying attention mainly to the quality of the fiber that they are producing.  You don’t need to pay attention to the genetic traits they are looking for in the show ring. This will allow you to make sure you know what to look for when buying

You don’t need to care much about the “conformation”, or body aesthetics, because you only care about the fiber. It also doesn’t matter how straight your Alpacas teeth are when the yarn is being sold at a farmers market!  What really matters is how good is the fiber and how much of it can they produce.

Your goal here is to get breeding aged females from several different bloodlines. This will allow you to breed within your own animals over and over again without repeating bloodlines. If all your Alpaca are related, you will need to look elsewhere to impregnate your females.  This is going to cost you money in the long run.

Quality – Raising Alpacas To Show

If you have limited space and/or a higher budget to start with, then you should look to breed the highest quality Alpacas you can offord. High quality Alpaca produce a larger amount of more valuable fiber than the bottom end animals. If you plan on raising alpacas for profit with a limited amount of space, it is important to maximize your earnings on the space youhave available.

Look to start out with a few of the highest quality female Alpacas you can afford to buy. The overall goal is to have Alpaca that show all of the highest value qualities in Alpaca. Starting with the highest quality possible will mean that you will produce more of the same when breeding. Some of these qualities include:

• Fleece quality and quantity
• Teeth structure and bite
• Good bone density and structure
• Good genetics (lineage)
• Color (some colors are more desirable than others)

The second step to this is having your Alpaca and its fiber graded at Alpaca shows and local fairs. This will verify to others that you are raising Alpacas that are “the cream of the crop”.  That way you can require to dollar when you sell them. If you can later say that one of your young Alpacas is sired by a X time nation male color champion and mothered by a X time national female quality champion, you can charge a higher premium when you try and sell them.

When you breed your your high quality alpacas, you can start to choose which ones will stay and which ones to sell. This is going to be where you make most of your money using this business model. It’s a good idea, as mentioned above, to pick a color or two and focus on that. You can sell the animals that are not your focus color to others that are focusing on that color.  Keep in mind that those animals are still going to be of top quality.

Alpaca Owners Association (AOA) Show System

The AOA maintains the largest official DNA validated genealogical registry system in The United States.  They also run the largest alpaca show system in the world.  This is one of the best ways to network with others who are looking to buy alpacas.  It is also a great way to market the alpacas you own. It is a great tool for those looking to raising alpacas for profit.

Many farms effectively use the show system as a way to quickly sell their animals at a very young age.  They will take them into the ring to earn ribbons and then are often approached with offers before they leave for the weekend.  We frequently get offers for alpacas that we are and aren’t looking to sell.  Some farms even set up their pens with the intent to sell when they show up to a competition!

Whether you are looking to market, network, or sell, the AOA show system is something that you need to check out.  They hold shows all over the country through the year.  I’m sure that you can find one near you!

Conclusion

Raising Alpaca can be a profitable venture if you know what you are doing from the beginning. If you have 500 square feet and go out to buy the cheapest Alpacas you can find, it will still be fun, but you are quickly going to learn what we talked about here. If you really want to make sure that you are ready to start your next adventure, check out some of our other articles and follow us on social media!