Getting Started

Why Are They So Darn Expensive?

At this stage of the industry's development, price is based largely on the scarcity of the animals and is directly related to the individual breeding potential and the potential quality of the offspring.
For example, a gelding (castrated male) has no breeding potential and is therefore the cheapest alpaca to buy (often less than $1,000). On the other hand, a high quality male with many good progeny (offspring) on the ground has a very high breeding potential and can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. He can also command a high income from the stud services he provides. Young, unproven males are often considerably less.
A female's price is a reflection of her quality, age, breeding history and that of the herdsire to which she is bred. Females can be worth anything from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Currently, income from females is derived from selling the offspring. However, breeding and business plans should account for the growing fiber market.
Demand for alpacas has increased dramatically every year since their introduction outside of South America. Just as an example of the rising interest, the US breed association (AOBA) exceeded 3,000 members in 2002, when there were none in 1990 and only 1,000 in 1997. As it's grown, AOBA has spawned several important organizations within the alpaca industry like a national fiber co-op (AFCNA), the show division, and Alpacas magazine to name a few. AOBA and AOBA-affiliates, like NEAOBA, are also able to provide marketing support to new and existing alpaca owners.
Currently demand still exceeds the supply and the current scarcity of alpacas is likely to continue as, in 2000, the members of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) and the Alpaca Registry (ARI), voted to close the registry to new imports. This means that alpacas imported to the US cannot be registered (similar to a pedigree for other pure breed animals), which has had the effect of curtailing new imports. So, in the US, the animals themselves remain relatively scarce, causing the current and forseeable future prices of alpacas to exceed their value as fiber producers alone.

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