They’re from Peru, look like llamas and produce a hypoallergenic fleece. The humble Alpaca is growing in number in Ireland. It’s estimated there’s about 3500 in the country right now but that number could be set to rise. The Vice-chairman of The Alpaca Association of Ireland, Paul O’ Brennan came on Countrywide to tell host Damien O’Reilly about farming alpacas.
Paul described some of the similarities between farming alpacas and farming sheep to Damien. Like sheep, they’re about 6 to an acre and graze on grass and roughage in the winter. They also do well when farmed with other livestock.
“They’ll protect sheep. They’ll protect fowl. They’re good at keeping away foxes or dogs. They’re not aggressive but they will protect the territory.”
Alpacas are currently classed as an exotic animal in Ireland, which Paul and the Alpaca Association of Ireland would like to change. It means they need to charge 23% VAT when selling the animals. And there’s a lot of selling going on. Farmed for their thick fleece, alpacas are in high demand. One important factor, Paul says, is there are “no allergies, whatsoever” when it comes to alpaca wool, making it ideal to use in bedding and pillows.
“The fleece is finer than cashmere. It’s harder-wearing than cashmere and there’s a great shortage of it. The Chinese are looking for a massive amount of it…we need to take advantage of that market.”
Paul told Damien that he hopes to set up a mill in Ireland which will specialise in processing alpaca wool. He sees the demand for the wool as an opportunity to establish an “Irish Alpaca tweed” industry.
Listen back to the whole conversation on RTÉ Radio 1’s Countrywide here.