Theresa and Andy McEvoy were the guests of Little Falls Rotary Club, speaking about their ten year journey, from keeping a couple of Alpacas as pets to today, where they have eighteen on their farm on Cheese Factory Rd., 3 miles south of Little Falls and also manage their outlet shop for All Alpaca products on West Main Street, Little Falls.

They raise them not only for their fiber, but also breed them and offer them for sale to anyone wishing to own their own herd. Alpacas, cousins to the llama and camel, are native to the Andean Mountain range of South America, particularly Peru, Bolivia, and Chile and have been raised for 7,000 years for their exquisite fiber. First imported into the United States in 1984, McEvoy said that the alpaca industry has grown steadily, to over 100,000 registered alpacas with the Alpaca Registry, Inc..

There are two types of alpacas in the United States today. Although almost physically identical, what distinguishes the two types of alpacas is their fiber. The Huacaya (wa-Ki’-ah) is the more common of the two and has a fluffy, extremely fine coat. The Suri is the rarer of the two and has fiber that is silky and resembles pencil-locks.

Adult alpacas stand at approximately 36 inches at the withers (shoulders) and generally weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. They do not have horns, hooves, claws or incisors. Alpacas are alert, intelligent, curious, and predictable. Social animals that seek companionship, they communicate most commonly by softly humming. Alpacas are shorn, without harm, once a year, usually in the springtime, each producing between five to ten pounds of luxurious fiber. Long ago, alpaca fiber was reserved for royalty while today it is purchased in its raw fleece form by hand-spinners and fiber artists. Knitters buy it as yarn. Because of its soft texture, alpaca fiber is sometimes compared to cashmere, making the fiber even more coveted, it has the luster of silk. Alpaca fiber is five times warmer than sheep’s wool and seven times stronger and comes in 22 natural colors, yet can be dyed any desired shade.

Containing no lanolin, alpaca fiber is also naturally hypoallergenic. Most people who are sensitive to wool find that they can wear alpaca without the itching or irritation they feel from wool because alpaca fiber is smooth. Additional performance characteristics include: stretch, water repellency, and odor reduction. For travelers, clothing made from alpaca is desirable because it is wrinkle-resistant.

Pictured with Theresa and Andy McEvoy is David Malone (left).