what's the point of llamas/alpacas?

[purplesequins]

a farm nearby has moved from cattle to llama/alpaca.
I am wondering what they are bred for.
have never seen meat or milk products anywhere and their fleece might be soft but they are only shorn every other year.

I’ve eaten alpaca burgers - a bit like lamb but even greasier and smellier. The meat is tender and juicy though.

Alpaca yarn is lovely to knit with

But they’re so cute!!!! 😍😍😍

They’re a tourist attraction aren’t they. You can do alpaca walks. And they can make jumpers and nice hats.

@Skinnermarink

Do they knit or crochet?

They seem to have replaced visiting clergy at many care homes. Big hit with the residents.

There is quite a thing for alpaca walking now. I'm an animal lover and DH bought me an alpaca experience as one of my Xmas presents where he adopted an alpaca for me and I can go and visit and take it out on walkies 😀

How do they manage to hold the needles with those hooves?! 😂

They are very cute and calming though, I have done a few alpaca treks and they really are lovely to be around.

Noooo, you cannot eat them. They are too cute!! And currently very expensive. It will either be for llama breeding, walking, or, if they have sheep, to protect the lambs/herd from foxes.

@LoveSpringDaffs 😁There's always one, or in this case two 😂

They’re a money making attraction now. We did a llama walk in the Peak District and asked the guy how he got in to it - he said he had inherited some land and intended to turn it in to glamping then realised he could charge £20pp for an hours llama walk. Basically appealing to the instagram lot.

he had absolutely no experience of llamas but was making a lot of money this way!

You shear them every year, I think? Alpaca poo is great but expensive fertiliser too. I’d be surprised if alpacas can replace the revenue of cattle, but they’re much less work.

Alpacas and llamas are gorgeous! They’re so smiley. You can’t be sad around an alpaca, hence the demand for alpaca walks I reckon.

We went alpaca walking recently and it was brilliant! The owner said its not worth selling the fleece...he gets more revenue doing the walks.

That was my thought too. I had a vision of llamas and alpacas sitting round in à circle with their knitting needles out. Which was quite sweet actually.

Yeah I took the children I nanny for on one of those glamping holidays where you stay on a farm, we did an Alpaca walk and it was £20 each! The guy did three of those a day, up to six people at a time.

Alpaca walks are very popular with children and adults. Alpaca wool is one of the softest and warmest wools.

🤣🤣 yes alpacas knit their own jumpers of course

They’re alpacas from the Andes with hooves instead of handies.

we stayed on a farm that had them. They said they got them to keep the grass down, but they don’t actually do that well (grass still needs cutting), they also need hay and supplements. And very expensive vet bills. But they look cute. And I only picked that holiday cottage because of the alpacas so it is a benefit to the farm.

Wool and posh burgers

They are NOT cute when they spit all over you! This happened to me, and alpaca mucus all over clothes is not something to be enjoyed.

They are super cute! A farm near us has some .Used for walks ,visits to Care homes / schools and so on

that's a proper big farm I'm talking about.
hundreds of animals.
they don't offer leisure activities.

I wonder what's in them for the farmer.
apart from less work milking.

and even the fleece and leisure activities can't bring in so much money to 'earn' their keep.

Expensive pets. They're really not good for any agricultural products, but as PPs have stated, they make excellent 'watchdogs' for lambs etc.

that's a proper big farm I'm talking about.
hundreds of animals.

Perhaps that where all the other's are bred?