Any Alpaca Farmers?

Does alpaca meat actually taste half way decent or are they something that's going to eat, crap and take up space? Apparently the Spanish conquistadors did eat them. The ones back then supposedly had much better fiber, but the Spanish killed the breed line by eating the ones the royalty used.

I'm betting alpacas would be like our chickens.... only our chickens are friendlier and cheaper to keep so we don't lose as much money as an alpaca farmer.

Question: Why?

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I have an alpaca gelding...he came to me free from a friend. Not too friendly - can't catch him if he's loose in the field. Have to get him into a smaller pen, which is easy with a feed bucket, and then he stands still for a lead to be snapped on his halter. Don't know if I could catch him without the halter and don't want to find out. I didn't shear him last year, but will this Spring. I've never heard of hand plucking them. Around here people shear them, avoiding 2nd cuts, just like shearing sheep.

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my husband suggested getting one instead of a sheepdog, as they supposedly will keep the meaner critters away. if we did get one, that would be it's purpose and also to shear. pretty sure id like to stick to the sheepdog though. i know what im getting into with a dog.

agree with others- read about them years ago, pyramid situation.

no harm in looking into 'em tho

Look into Llamas.....apparently they poop out gold.....

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/grd/2244918633.html

Boy do I agree with you on that.
I had a rather large Alpaca farm just 5 miles form me. It is now sold out, and gone. The market is just not there like it once was.
The prices for animals have gone some. But I do think they still have stopped any importation of animals. So the price for a good "fiber" critter with still be pretty high. No imports means the breeding stock is limited to what is already here, and the registry is pretty much locked, to any new blood lines because of it.

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A distant relative of mine has been farming alpaca in ?Ohio? for a few years now and seems to do ok from it (I guess its a sideline, but a serious one).

I was thinking about getting some for the fiber, but even at a cheep price or even free, I get the fleeces cheaper than it costs to shear the animal. They only give a few pounds of fiber. I was shocked when I found this out. I can get whole fleeces for $10 to $15 each. No need to keep an animal like that.

I would question if an alpaca would be able to guard even if they wanted to. They are not very big. A farm in this area lost a lot of alpacas to a dog attack.

No I sure would not go with a Alpaca as a "Guard Anima" leave that to their bigger cousins the Llama. Alpacas typically weigh 120-200 pounds and live 15-20 years.
And their is the thing that you Can NOT under ANY circumstances have Just One Alpaca. Not at all. You Must have at least two~!

And this is why.
http://webpages.charter.net/alpacaatlantic/pet.htm

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I doubt it`s actually about serious guarding.More that the animal is just a presence.Sometimes that is enough to deter intruders.
I had a small pony that used to hang out by my chicken coop.We never had to close the coop door at night.
We gave the pony away and all of a sudden we were overrun by predators.

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It would be a lama that is a guard animal. I have one and he is a pain in the keister. Chases everyone. If I could catch him, he would be gone.