 Sales
The animals we have for sale are listed in great detail on the page Alpaca Sales, together with their prices. We source alpacas from a number of clients and our price range for animals is wider than most. We believe that no one has a monopoly on quality animals and the prices of breeding stock should depend very much on the quality and the age of the animal and the genetics. This allows us to be flexible for those clients wishing to set up a herd for the first time and who do not have a bottomless pocket.
No matter where the stock has come from we try to provide the same amount of detail about the animals as if they were ours and we insist that the price of the animal is realistic and honest, based on the quality of the alpaca, its genetics and the male that has served her.
Stud Services
 We imported our first stud male, Snowtex, from Canada in 1998. Then we went to the USA and purchased three more males to continue to build up the qualities of our herd and that of our clients. They were then followed by three more males from Australia, all selected to ensure we had a diversity of genetic lines from some of the best animals available anywhere in the world. All these animals come with strong proven genetics and have now demonstrated those strengths in the quality of the progeny that they have produced since their arrival. We also decided at an early stage to make these genetics available to everyone, not only to provide us with an income but also to ensure that the overall national herd benefited by the improvement they would stamp on each generation.
January 2005 saw our first imported males selected by us personally in Peru. Although they do not come with the registration papers detailing their pedigrees and history they were selected from the plantel herds of two of the leading breeders in Peru, both of whom wished to make a statement in Europe about the quality of their animals. Already they have established their reputation throughout the alpaca industry both here in the UK and throughout Europe. Their progeny are sensational and have ensured that our next generation of breeding stock is second to none.
Consultancy
 The Alpacas of Wessex Team are highly experienced in all aspects of selecting, breeding, keeping and farming alpacas. New owners will benefit from plenty of free advice once they have decided to purchase their animals from us but increasingly we are approached for other more time consuming matters to do with all aspects of alpacas. With so many years of experience in supporting new herds of alpacas there are few subjects that we have not addressed in the past.
Our consultancy services will provide clients with any one of a number of extra services either in setting up their enterprises or in putting together a viable plan for the future. The consultancy has in the past provided the following services for clients:
|
|
Farm layouts
Business plans
Expert witness for planning inquiries
Selection of stock
Breeding programmes for herd improvement
Photographic support for marketing |
|
For further details of our consultancy services go to the Alpaca Consultancy page
Support
 Once clients have purchased stock from us we do not believe that is the end of our commitment to supporting the client. We offer the opportunity to come on the farm and learn much of the essential husbandry to ensure that the new owner is confident in all aspects of looking after their animals. We provide a comprehensive aide-memoire to cover most of the areas of concern that clients may have, including important matters such as insurance, veterinary care, showing alpacas and many other subjects. All this advice is based on our own experiences over a long time.
We are always available at the end of a phone to help with any queries that the new client may have. Having been through the same process ourselves we know only too well some of the concerns that can be allayed by just one phone call. Our vet has wide experience and huge enthusiasm in all matters pertaining to alpaca care and he is always happy to speak to clients’ vets with less experience should there ever be a problem.
Ongoing support is vital, not only for the new breeder of alpacas, but just as often for those who have been in the business for some time and suddenly find themselves confronted by some unusual problem outside of their experience. Our enthusiasm for support does not stop at the completion of the sale.
Importers and Exporters
We have now considerable experience in providing alpacas to new and existing breeders in many countries around the world. We can provide stock from our own UK animals, either from our own herd or from our clients. In addition we can provide alpacas from our colleagues in South America, with whom we have worked for many years and in whom we have considerable confidence in being able to overcome the many problems of moving animals around the world.
We have many contacts and friends also in Australia, New Zealand and North America who have provided us with stock in the past.
Each import/export presents new hurdles each and every time we set out to provide animals for a client. These problems change year on year as the governments change the protocols and regulations for animal movement.
We have provided alpacas for clients in South Africa, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Norway, Switzerland and Ireland and have plans for future developments into various other European countries.
We are happy to select on behalf of clients or accompany clients to help their selection for themselves.
Importing and exporting alpacas is a very difficult business which requires both experience and many contacts to make the whole selection, quarantine and movement work successfully. But for those wishing to purchase a number of animals it is often a very cost effective way of purchasing quality stock with new genetic lines.
For more details about our imports and exports service please go to the Imports and Exports page |