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What is an alpaca?

Alpacas are camelids, meaning they are cousins to the camel, llama and vicuna.  Alpacas come from the Andes mountains of Peru, Chile and Bolivia.  There are two different types of alpacas.  The huacaya (wa-ki-ya) and the suri (sir-ee). 

The huacaya has a crimped and very dense fiber.  Huacaya's resemble teddy bears when they are in full fleece.  The suri's fiber hangs down in long silky dreadlocks.  The suri's are known for their high luster.  The suri is the more rare of the two breeds of alpaca, being only 5% of the worlds alpaca population. 

Alpacas are smart, curious and very predictable animals.  Alpacas are raised for their luxury fiber (fleece).  Alpacas have two toes on each foot.  They have a soft pad so they tread lightly on the soil and do not pack it down.  Alpacas don't rip grass out from the roots, but instead trim it down, due to the fact they only have front teeth on the bottom and a hard palate on the top.  For this reason, alpacas are considered "green" and easy on the environment. 

Alpacas can be registered show animals, or just raised as fiber animals.  They are very hearty animals, and fairly easy to maintain.  Alpacas eat very little compared to other livestock, you can feed 20 alpacas on one 50-pound bale of hay per day.  Alpacas are fully insurable.  There are many tax advantages of alpaca ownership too, making them a wonderful investment you can enjoy and watch grow. 

At True Colors Alpaca Farm our mission is to raise strong, healthy and happy suri alpacas.  We breed for show quality conformation and for the finest fiber.  We carefully choose our breedings to improve the suri breed with every cria (baby alpaca).