Celebrate Green Alpaca Fleece this Month!

Alpacas come in 16 official colors, but they are all green!

Sensitive to their environment in every respect, alpacas have soft padded feet instead of hooves and can leave even the most delicate terrain undamaged. Damage to topsoil decreases long-term soil fertility and, in the process, the soil is eroded and weed invasion is encouraged.

Alpacas prefer to eat tender grasses, which they do not pull up by the roots. Lacking upper teeth, alpacas “cut” the grass with their bottom teeth and upper palate. This vegetation cutting encourages the plant’s growth. Because they are modified ruminants with a three-compartment stomach, alpacas convert grass and hay to energy very efficiently, and stop eating when they are full, further preserving the landscape on which they live.

However, alpacas do not mind eating brush, fallen leaves and other “undesirable” vegetation, leaving the “good stuff” for species that do not have the stomach to digest such roughage.

Alpacas’ pellet-like droppings are PH balanced, and an excellent, natural, slow release, low odor fertilizer. This rich fertilizer is perfect for growing fruits and vegetables. Because alpacas consolidate their feces in one or two communal spots in the pasture, it is easy to collect and compost, and the spread of parasites is controlled.

While alpacas are environmentally friendly (and even beneficial) to the land, what makes them even more “green” is their end product… alpaca fleece. They produced five to ten pounds of luxurious fleece. No chemicals are employed either during feeding or during the industrial production of alpaca fleece into fleece. Alpacas require no insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers which pollute the groundwater.

Making this animal even more desirable to animal lovers looking to start a green business, alpacas are not killed. Alpacas are shorn, without harm, every twelve to eighteen months.

All fleece from an alpaca can be used. Even the fleece from the lower legs, belly, neck, etc. is being used for things such as natural weed mats to be placed around trees. Alpaca fleece is biodegradable.

This 100% natural fleece comes in 16 official colors, offering a full array of choices with no chemical dyes required. If dying is desired, only 20% of a normal dye quantity is required.

An ever-growing American herd and source of fleece is on the horizon for this sustainable industry.

Alpaca Owners Association, Inc. has declared July Alpaca Fleece Month in celebration of the natural fleece and invites the public to visit their member farms to experience the soft and silky texture themselves!

For more information about alpacas and their fleece and for a list of farms, visit www.alpacainfo.com.