<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/12/australian-alpaca-numbers-near-400000-after-baby-boom>
"Australia has the second-largest alpaca herd in the world behind Peru, but
most still view the leggy camelids as the stuff of hobby farms.
Alpacas were introduced to Australia about 25 years ago and were initially
primarily used as livestock guardians. Paddocked with sheep, they will kick and
chase dogs and foxes that get too close to the lambs.
There were 350,000 alpacas in Australia in 2021, according to a report by
Agrifutures Australia, and, after a baby boom fuelled by ideal breeding
conditions, the herd is on track to reach 400,000.
Amee Dennis, who has 110 alpacas at her family farm in the central west of New
South Wales, is among those who see the animals as a secondary income source.
“We got our first alpacas close to five years ago, purely as guards for lambs,”
Dennis said.
“We did not know a single thing about an alpaca but we figured it [had] to be
easier than sitting out every night with a spotlight trying to deal with the
problem that way.”
Now Dennis uses the alpaca fleeces to make fibre art. The farm, Quinton Park,
offers tourists high tea with the alpacas. Visitors can also sponsor an
animal."
We frequently see alpacas on the farms near us. We passed a small herd on the
way to the shopping mall yesterday!
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
