Celebrate National Alpaca Week

But little is known about alpacas or the stuff farms which breed them for a variety of reasons.

But Australians are now being encouraged to learn more about alpacas with National Alpaca Week (NAW) this week.

And of course the Highlands is getting in on the action.

Coolaroo Alapca Stud is Australia's oldest alpaca farm and owner Janie Hicks said it was a family business that offered a great lifestyle.

Coolaroo began in 1987, when Janie's mother moved from sheep country in Western Australia to the Highlands.

"She wanted something similar that she understood a little bit about and obviously fleece harvest was fantastic for that and she didn't want to have to slaughter it," she said.

In 1987, the imported alpaca from the United State and began with six alpacas.

A couple of year's later, Janie's younger brother wanted to turn the farm into a "major industry" and they imported 300 more alpacas from Chile.

With a year or two they were breeding 1000 alpacas and were leading the way for alpaca breeding in Australia.

While alpacas are now farmed for their hide and meet as well as their fleece, Janie said they still breed their herd mainly for their wool.

"Australians are steeped in wool production so they know what they're doing."

"Basically we applied Merino learnt techniques to breeding good fleece off alpaca and now it's diversified to hide, to meat but primarily for us it's wool and hence most of our herd is white."

With such a calm and manageable temperament, Janie said alpacas were the perfect animal to breed in the Australian climate.

"Australians are great wool breeders and alpaca are so kindly on the soils that combine the attributes of the Australian farmer and his knowledge with the attributes of the alpaca for its gentleness on ancient, delicate country like ours is and (there's) so much going for them."

"And they're highly manageable for men and women alike (and) they allow an unbelievable lifestyle out here."

Coolaroo has opened its doors to visitors this week for NAW to allow the public a glance into what life on an alpaca farm is really like and a closer look at the animals themselves.

NAW began in 2009 and this year, a number of alpaca farms have organised alpaca trails and events on individual properties.

In the Sydney Coast and Highlands region, there will be over 14 farms open throughout the month.

There will be displays on alpacas and their fleeces, introductory general information about farming them and the hows and whys of their management.

Over the past 20 years, Australia has become a world leader in the alpaca industry.

The key benefits of alpaca fleece are handle and luster with alpaca having a soft silky handle and are ideal for woven garments such as scarves and jumpers.

With only four million alpacas worldwide, Australia was lucky to pioneer exporting alpacas in the 1980s with some of the first shipments coming to Australia and New Zealand.

Since then Australian alpacas have been exported to South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe.

Australia has also been at the forefront of research and development into the genetic improvement of the Australian herd.

Dr Ivan Davison, president of the Australian Alpaca Association said Australia were committed to remaining at the head of alpaca breeding worldwide.

"The board is upbeat and officially recognised the critical importance of genetic improvement to the Australian herd and the challenge of remaining at the forefront of the international industry," he said.

Contact Janie at Coolaroo Alpaca Stud on 4878 5266 or 0419 995 553 for more information on alpaca farming.

Also as part of NAW, Birrong Suri Alpacas will hold a free open day on Sunday May 27.

The farm will be open from 10am-4pm with alpacas to handle, husbandry demonstrations, take a Suri for a walk and a guided feeding tour at 3pm.

Email Fiona on alpacas@birrong.biz for more information.