Fine fleece with a difference roaming a Gower farm

Mar 24 2008 Robin Turner, Western Mail

THEY ARE white and fluffy – but a little different to the animals normally found on Welsh hillsides.

An interior designer in Gower is developing a herd of alpacas – a member of the camel family more commonly found in South America – because they provide the perfect material for her upholstery fabric.

Ingrid Batcup plans to use the ultra-soft fleece from the 16 alpacas as material in her business Interior Batcup Design.

And as well as providing upholstery, the alpacas on Ingrid’s 15-acre beach-side farm at Llangennith also mow the lawn.

The alpaca fleece was once so prized it was reserved for royalty only in the ancient Incan empire in South America.

The alpacas – which can cost up to £10,000 each – resemble llamas but with different ears.

They keep down the grass, can frighten away foxes and, conveniently, according to Ingrid they almost always give birth between 8am and 1pm.

Ingrid prizes them for their fleece, which is now a favourite among interior designers and she hopes to gain upto 5kg a year of fleece from each animal.

The better quality fleece can be used in knitwear and it appeals to those who find wool itchy on their skin.

Ingrid said yesterday (sun), “The very finest is close to cashmere in feel.”

Ingrid and her husband Michael got the alpacas from a dealer after initially looking to buy goats to keep down grass on their land.

Mrs Batcup said, “My husband was looking for animals to mow the lawn for us and goats were the obvious idea.

“But we thought, ‘Why go with goats when you can have alpacas?”

A female alpaca in top condition can fetch as much as £10,000 and the Batcups are now seriously considering a breeding programme.

Seven of the Batcups’ alpacas are already expecting young, known as cria.

“They are very easy breeders and nearly always give birth in the late morning, otherwise they hang on until the following day,” said Ingrid.

Each animal does well on a couple of handfuls of meal a day yet still grows to five foot tall and 75kg in weight.

She said, “The fact their fleece can be used for textiles particularly appealed to me as an interior designer.

“Alpaca fleece is hypoallergenic – it doesn’t contain lanolin – which means you can wear it if you’re allergic to wool. You don’t get that itch factor.

“Also, alpacas are light grazers and soft-padded animals, and take very little maintenance.

“The aim is to produce the best quality alpaca you can.

“You can take an average female and put a really good male over her, and the next generation will be a lot better. Then you can sell the best breeding females.”

The 5kg of fleece produced by the alpacas every year usually covers the cost of their upkeep, which includes a couple of handfuls of food mix, called camelibra, every day.

Ingrid says the alpacas have become a talking point in Llangennith.

She said, “They are quite a novelty around here, and people from the village come down here regularly to check on them.

“The alpacas are extremely nosey creatures, but they will keep their distance from you.”

The Batcups’ two sons Ed, 16, and Will, 14, also help out with the alpacas, who have names including Jerome, Drucilla and Octavia.

Alpacas are found mainly in Peru in the Andes, with smaller numbers in Chile and Bolivia. They were domesticated from the wild between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago.

The Incas were successful in further refining the alpaca for better fibre quality. When the Spanish invaded Peru in 1532, they destroyed the breeding programmes and the alpacas were decimated in numbers and quality in favour of sheep.

There are now thought to be about 3.5 million alpacas in South America and they are being successfully bred in North America, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, China and throughout Europe.