We have taken a break from showing alpacas for the past four years but have decided that we are again motivated to show some of our progeny, however, we don’t intend to show as heavily as we have in the past. 

Like most of Victoria we are waiting for the autumn break, at the moment our paddocks are parched and we are heavily feeding out, thankfully our dams still have water and we have noticed an increase in the variety of birds.

Thankfully the Corellas that had been visiting in ever increasing numbers have decided to take a holiday in Melbourne, can’t say I miss the early morning wake up call or the evening rampage in the sugar gums near our house.

Last year we experimented making our own alpaca salami which I have to say was very impressive, not only because we had never made salami before but because the alpaca makes a very good salami, particularly using older animals carrying more fat. We had a number of alpacas slaughtered on farm for our own consumption. We decided to butcher older animals – six and seven years old. We had previously used younger two-year-old animals, slaughtered at an abattoir, but were very unimpressed with the consistency in taste and quality. Our on-farm kill was superior on all counts, with a substantial improvement in taste and tenderness and the higher fat content of the older animals added to the taste and reduced the need to add other fat to our salami.

We are looking forward to experimenting with curing our own meat again this winter, we attempted to make an alpaca ham last year but the curing process was a little inconsistent. For those of you out there that are game enough to try alpaca meat, there are now a number of producers that are selling alpaca meat products.

We should have our first cria for 2018 in May and we will then commence re-mating for the 2019 season. Although the alpaca industry has been affected by a halt on exports to Europe and New Zealand due to some administrative issues that are well on the way to resolution, the industry has seen a boom in demand for animals to China, with large shipments leaving Australia on a regular basis. The next few months should see the opening up of more export opportunities for Australian Alpaca. In the last five years, we have seen the alpaca industry start to mature, with growers taking on breeding for meat production and the establishment of a number of large commercial fleece herds. Demand for fleece has been growing from local buyers and China, and those breeders with commercial herds are set to capitalise on this strong interest, all in all, 2018 seems to be a positive time for alpaca breeders.

Well, that’s all for now let’s hope we soon get the much-needed break and that the Corellas are happy staying in their new homes.