I have always had the the feeling that those ads you see on TV about raising alpacas as a profitable business are really just a big pyramid scheme, where the only ones actually making money are those that are selling alpacs to other people and telling them it is a ticket to success.
I could be wrong, but here is an article that more or less backs up my assumption:
The key sentences to me are:
<b> Most of the profit in alpacas comes from breeding the animals and selling the offspring to other people who want to get into the business. Livestock economists warn that alpaca ranchers need to develop a market for the animals' wool or risk the same fate as the once-strong emu and ostrich businesses.
By all means, if you want to raise alpacs you should; far be it from me to tell anyone else how to run their farm. I would be realy, really sure about how you plan on making money from them if that is your intention before you get talked into paying thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars for a alpaca.
Good luck [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Everything I've seen and read about it has indicated that it's about like the ostrich/emu fad of a few years ago. The early breeders expounded on the benefits and profits to be made, and a few of the earliest ones did make money, but there was never any market for the birds except to other breeders and most of them suffered severe losses.
If you want some for pets, not a bad idea. If you want to make money, well . . ., who knows? Maybe you will, but I sure wouldn't bet on it.
I wil agree with Richard on this one. I always figured even if the bottom falls out of the cow market I could always eat my way out of the hole. Hmm, I wonder what alpaca tastes like? My grandmother gave a neighbor some grapefruit years ago. He brought most back and said they fried, baked, and pressured them and they still couldn't be ate. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Have been into alpacas for about a year now. We have 5 males that are used just for the fiber. fiber sells for from 16-50$ per pound and each head yeilds about 6lbs. they are very easy to take care of and between all 5 they eat 2 bales a week. Having fiber alpacas is the way to get started but for the big money you have to get into breeding and selling. I paid 750$ each for mine but you can spend over 10,000 for a female,http://www.alpacanation.com/alpacas-for-sale.asp is a good sit just to get a feel for what they cost
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