March 2006
This month's Feature Destination:

Kansas Alpaca Company

She’s more than just another pretty face.

She is Arwen, a friendly, curious, and entirely lovable alpaca. Arwen stands a little less than 36” at the withers, weighs about 150 lbs, and she will produce about 4-8 lbs of luxurious, lanolin-free fiber each year.

Arwen is expecting, and will produce her first cria (Spanish for “creation”) in the fall. As breeding stock, this attractive female with great bloodlines will sell for about $16,500.

Arwen is one of about 45-50 huacaya alpaca that visitors can see and touch at the Kansas Alpaca Company in Ottawa, Kansas, owned and managed by Bonnie Samuel and her husband, Bill DeBois. Since there are still only about 40,000 alpaca in the U.S., a stop at the farm is a delightful and interesting visit for children and adults alike.

Visitors can email or call ahead, or often just drop in, but the company also has special Alpaca Farm Days about every two months. The next Alpaca Farm Day is Saturday, March 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors are taught about alpaca livestock, take photographs with the animals, and tour the farm.

The Fiberwear Shop, displaying an abundance of clothing and items made with natural animal fiber, is open too. The alpaca fiber is a very fine, dense fiber something like cashmere, providing good thermal retention while breathing better than wool. The fact that alpaca fiber contains no lanolin is also very desirable for those who find wool to be itchy.

Alpaca
The Great Oz, born in July, will likely grow to be a fine example of Arwen’s counterpart. The adult male may weigh as much as 200 lbs, and will yield 6-12 lbs of fiber each year. Bonnie explains that much of the female’s nutrients are consumed in an 11.5-month gestation period, so they produce less fiber each year.

Alpaca are ruminants, meaning they produce rumen, chew their cud and process a modest amount of food very efficiently. Their diet consists of grass hay and nutrient pellets, and Bonnie says an alpaca only eats about a bale of hay per month. They are also very healthy animals requiring very little veterinary attention.

Read About the Annual Shearing, the Marketing Methods,
and the Herd Growth of the Kansas Alpaca Company