Visiting the Dolly Llamas

For those of you who are new to this blog, I have just returned from some time in Bolivia, which you can read about here, which will clarify the purpose of this entry:

So, given the fact that I never laid eyes on any alpacas in their native environ, I finally gave in to Mark, who has been asking patiently for about a year to go and visit this alpaca farm which is near the cabin, in upstate New York.

We have been passing them every time we have been up there for as long as I've had the cabin. We have nicknamed them all Dolly. (as in Llama...see, still none too sure they aren't Llamas). But the sign says "Alpaca Farm", so no real use arguing.

Turns out they are small llamas that look like they had a fight with a hairdryer and lost.

The owner of the farm let us go into his alpaca herd. They come across as reasonably intelligent animals, and respond to their names, none of which were Dolly, disappointingly. Some are shy, some are aggressive, some are nonchalant. Bunches of personalities. Also they are very soft and cushy. Cute camel-y looking faces.

What perhaps is more interesting is that the USA pretty much has ceased free trade of these animals. Very un-american of us. Ostensibly we are doing this so we don't mess up the genetics with unknown diseases etc etc. However, as these can definitely be screened (and were until 1999), the real reason is because we want to bolster an industry here that basically would never be able to compete on a world platform without it. Alpacas with good bloodlines sell for half a million dollars!!! (and on average, a typical female for 20-30k). You can probably buy one in Peru for 100 bucks.

Speaking to the owner, who was very nice by the way, it was obvious he was speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and that yeah, maybe the wool was better, a little, but really the alpaca wool was pretty much the same as the kind coming from Peru. The 'price' for good llamas seems to have very little to do with the wool, but more to do with the blood line 'quality' of the animal. Meaning it can produce more similar quality animals. Similar to dog breeding, you have to have a good crimp to your hair, ears that are the same shape, etc. No matter how good the quality of wool, an alpaca with uneven features will go for 2000 bucks. Umm??? Since when does ear length correspond to fine wool, which at least in theory is what makes alpaca's so much more expensive then Llamas?

The money, at least right now, in alpacas is breeding, not wool. Which is again counter-intuitive, no? But hey, the US won't let you import any, at all, so there is a limited quantity of them in the USA, keeping prices for the animals spectacular, awaiting the day when there are more animals so that wool can be produced and marketed in quantity. And as history has proven before, now that the US has created a market with artificial prices, you can't just start letting foreign (gasp!) alpaca's in, because it would decimate the going prices per llama, and wipe out all those farmers.

The shop that he has, by the way, is packed with alpaca wool products mainly from...you guessed it, Peru. Nobody is going to buy a $400 dollar alpaca scarf, unless you put a "Gucci" label on it somewhere. So, he brings em in from Peru.

So here we have a stunning example of what happens when you don't allow free trade. I guess you can take the alpaca out of South America, but you can't take the South America out of the alpaca. Er, wait a sec, actually you can't take them out of South America. But you know what I mean.

So I can now put it to rest, Alpacas do exist. In upstate New York. I figure its likely the ones that should have been in Bolivia are being secretly, slowly exterminated so that the US llamas can corner the market, and finally actually sell some wool. Yep, that explains it. The great llama/alpaca mystery is solved.

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