Make New Friends at Alpaca Open House

Alpaca breeders from across the United States and Canada will soon celebrate National Alpaca Farm Days and invite the public to come to their farm or ranch to meet their alpacas and learn more about these inquisitive, unique animals.

Angel Hair Alpacas, 66 Wesson St., North Grafton, will participate by hosting an open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25.

The free event will introduce visitors to these animals.

Alpacas, cousins to the llama, are beautiful, intelligent animals native to the Andean Mountain range of South America, particularly Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. 

The United States first commercially imported alpacas in 1984. There are now  more than 150,000 registered alpacas in North America.

Adult alpacas stand at approximately 36 inches at the withers and generally weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. They do not have horns, hooves, claws or incisors.

Alpacas are alert, intelligent, curious, and predictable. Social animals that seek companionship, they communicate most commonly by softly humming.

Alpacas are shorn, without harm, every 12 to 18 months.They produced five to ten pounds of luxurious fiber.

Long ago, alpaca fiber was reserved for royalty.  Today it is purchased in its raw fleece form by hand-spinners and fiber artists.  Knitters buy it as yarn.