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.

Their poo apparently makes great fertilizer as it doesn't need to rot down first.

A lady I know has 3 Alpacas and she buys all their food/supplements with the money she gets for selling their poop.

Not sure how scalable it would be as a business though.

A friend in France has a small herd of them. He’s trained them to carry packs, and hires them out to hikers. It’s an updated version of Travels With A Donkey….now it’s Ambles With An Alpaca.

We are farmers with alpacas (not our main source of income)

They can be used for grazing on land that is not suitable for arable farming. They are a LOT cheaper than cows to keep. There is money to be made from breeding, not really much else on a large scale. Yes they are sheared every year but the amount of labour involved compared to return isn't really worth it, and their fleece deteriorates as they age. They can also be used for meat.

They are a lot less maintenance/cost than cows/sheep.

We currently have beef cows on other land not suitable for arable farming and they make us absolutely no money, if anything they cost us to keep. Alpacas much cheaper

very intetesting.
thanks for all your answers.

Are they having any building work done? I'm sure someone told me once that people could get permission to build houses on their land if it was a working farm, so that was the reason as to why our [very rural] neighbours we able to have a massive new build built on their land. I could also be way off the mark - it's always stayed in my head though and I think about it every time I see alpacas in the middle of the countryside. This is probably of no help to anyone

Apparently they are also good as guard animals - i.e. stick a llama in a field full of sheep and they will make rustling those sheep a hell of a lot harder.

We got a voucher for llama trekking for a wedding present! It was amazing!! Hilarious when the man behind us had a very stubborn one who dragged him into a bush!!
Def recommend it.

Right now there is a thread on Llamasnet asking "What is the point of humans?"

I mean you can't eat them, you can't shear them...

A field near me has 4 alpacas in there.

They are just pets though they keep the grass short

They are called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

They are so funny to watch

Mrs Hinge has them doesn't she? So no doubt every hun in the land will be giving over their back garden to an Alpaca.
Live Laugh Love 💕

You can watch them & laugh at them. A lot!!

@Skinnermarink much easier than crochet 🤣🤣🤣

@Spidey66 that was pretty much my image too, very cute!!

@guinnessguzzler it's always good to find like minded people 🤪🤪

They smile😀they also spit but we don't talk about that 🐪

To be fair if I was in a care home I think I'd rather walk a Llama that chat to the clergy.

I was in hospital years ago all dripped up and quite seriously ill and a nun was going round to people for a chat so I thought this is nice and when she arrived at my bedside I settled down for a chat thinking she would be kind and nice to talk to. Once she discovered I wasn't a catholic she couldn't get away fast enough and she wasn't that friendly either, very disappointing.

Once she discovered I wasn't a catholic she couldn't get away fast enough and she wasn't that friendly either, very disappointing.

That's despicable. I'm so sorry that you had that experience. What a terrible way to treat anyone let alone anyone who's so ill.

Soubriquet

They're beautiful! Thank you for sharing the pic.

I wonder how many other people are thinking “ How sweet, a Constanza thread…..”

Agree with this, it’s lovely.

Thank you @StanleyTheCrane

I was only 21 but I've always remembered it as up until that moment my knowledge of nuns was based on the nice ones in the Sound of Music and my nana and it left me a bit surprised :)

And Salieri

😀

@LeftFootForward
You had a lucky escape, my Dad has scars on his hands and the back of his legs from being hit with a ruler by Nuns in infant school.

Alpaca is great wool, it should be valued more, if we scaled up UK production maybe we could be more self sufficient in knitwear rather than importing dodgy cheap cashmere from China.