Alpacas

Miski a beautiful white female alpaca, the cria of one of our girls bred at the centre. A star from day one, Miski was shown as a yearling and won many shows including the Bath & West, and the Royal becoming Junior champion in her class.

The alpaca dates back to ancient Andean civilizations. It owes much of its character to a genetic inheritance from the wild vicuña which produces the world’s finest fibre. The vicuña resisted domestication and led to the development of the alpaca, a placid camelid growing luxurious, hardwearing, warm and lightweight fibre. Known as "The Fibre of The Gods"

Social herd animals, they are gentle, inquisitive, intelligent and observant. As a prey animal, they are cautious and nervous if they feel threatened.

In the natural surroundings they graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,483 ft) to 5,000 m (16,404 ft) above sea-level, throughout the year. Considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas were not bred to be beasts of burden but were bred specifically for their fibre.