Alpacas are amazing animals with lovely fiber. The alpaca is one of the easiest and most inexpensive live stock you can keep, costing about the same to feed per month as a medium sized dog. And instead of hoofs alpacas have soft padded feet with two toes with toenails. Pair that with their long necks and fluffy faces, and you have a super cute animal.
And alpaca fiber is extra nice. It is naturally strong, and 3 times warmer then sheep wool! And people who are not able to wear sheep wool because of the itchy factor may be able to wear alpaca with no problems! Because unlike most sheep, alpacas can have a much lower micron count.
There are 2 kinds of alpacas, Huacaya (pronounced wah-KI-ya) and Suri (pronounced surrey). Huacaya fiber is soft, dense, crimpy and gives a lovely woolly appearance. And Suri fiber is beautifully silky and has pencil-like locks. Both kinds of alpaca fiber, even though different, are both amazing fibers and so beautiful!