We have a great affection for our alpacas. They are intelligent, easy to manage and have a light environmental footprint. We farm alpacas because we like them or we wouldn’t be doing it. But at the end of the day, they are and we are farmers and farmers are in business to profit from their farming activities. One aspect of alpaca farming that TOWARDS AN has great potential ALPACA is alpaca meat. INDUSTRY

by David & Heather Bridson – Elysian Alpacas

At the end of the day dumping alpacas is little different from dumping roosters from the chook run down at the local metal dump. Dumping animals devalues the of others. There is a strong suspicion among many that the welfare of the animals is also placed at risk. The best course for the future is to expand on what we are already doing – developing markets for breeding Photo courtesy of Mesa . animals and fibre, continuing to sell to responsible owners and producing value‑added products such he natural order is that animals Like all animals they produce more males as cloth, garments and those made Tand plants yield more than they than we can handle. And like all farm from felted fibre. need to reproduce themselves; there animals they reach the point where they So far, we have not reached anything is redundancy built into the system are no longer able to produce viable like the potential of the alpaca as a to ensure its survival. For example, offspring or quality fibre consistently. farm . True, some farmers have too much grass grows in spring and While alpacas are one of the most made a lot of money out of alpacas summer so we cut and store it as hay efficient converters of grass into protein by breeding top quality animals and or silage in order to have sufficient feed eventually the interplay of climate and selling them. Others have made their in the winter. Farmers are people who soil fertility makes it risky for us to try to fibre into value-added products and manage the surplus production of plants carry increasing numbers of stock. been successful in finding profitable and animals to make a living. There are several ways that alpaca markets for them. However, there are Alpacas are fundamentally no different in farmers manage this problem. One way only relatively small numbers of alpaca this respect from any other farm animal. is to dump them for rock bottom prices farmers who are blazing the trail for the They are intelligent. They are beautiful on Trade Me. This may make some rest of us by realising the full potential of animals. But their over-production of farmers feel better about not having to the alpaca as a farm animal. Tessa and fibre and offspring is what enables us to kill them themselves. It may provide a Peter McKay from Mesa Mills and Mesa make an income from them. quick way out of the industry for others. Meats are examples of this.

8 Alpaca as meat , four seasoned rolled roasts, can be cubed and used in stir fries. Alpaca meat has plenty going for it. It has neck chops and mince or . Another alternative is to slice thinly, half the saturated fat of (around 3%) From a live weight of 70-75 kg we end marinate and barbeque them or use and a third less cholesterol than beef. The up with about 30kg of meat (boned them in Asian dishes. We like a Korean total fat content is low at around 6-7%. It out). If we had to buy 30kg of beef of bulgogi marinade. We make a finely has the lowest calories of any land-based a similar quality we would be looking textured and flavoursome alpaca burger meat (150 calories per 100 grams) and at around $20 per kilogram. The value using our own fresh herbs from the only about a third of those calories come of that home-killed meat to us is in the garden, a bit of flour and garlic, some from fat. [See Table 1]. If the animal is order of $600 from one animal (less the tomato purée and 2-3 of our own eggs. cost of the butchering). unstressed at slaughter it is tender and It is delicious meat. However, I do not mild-flavoured. It takes on the flavour of The meat is tender and has a mild flavour. know yet whether there is a decline in any marinades and sauces well. Neck chops can be tough so we cover meat quality as animals age. Those who them with water and cook them on low in If I may illustrate from our own have tried it say not. If this is the case, our crock pot with garlic and a mix of root experience. All the alpacas I have killed then it is most fortunate for a potential and other vegetables for 12 hours or until have been two year old entire males. alpaca . the meat is separating from the bone. At We do not have a cool room to hang that point we dispose of the bones; the Alpaca meat is a product that we can be slaughtered alpacas so we take them to meat and vegetables can be eaten ‘as is’ proud of and which I have no doubt at Gary Krom from Kaimai Range or thickened and made into pies. all is a commercially viable prospect. who hangs them in his cooler for 4-5 days. Gary charges us about $125 to Denver steaks1 are a versatile meat, Where to from here? bone out and vacuum-pack the meat. with a slightly stronger flavour than the The laws around home killing animals We find the best combination for us is finer cuts (such as back, fillet and rump for meat in New Zealand mean that only back steaks, fillet, rump and Denver steaks). They are great for kebabs or the animal’s owner and family can eat it – it is illegal to sell, trade, or barter meat Table 1 to anyone else.2 It cannot be served to Comparative Meat Nutritional Values paying customers, raffled or donated for use as a prize. Home-kill can only Fat Cholesterol Protein 100g Sample Calories (g) (mg) (mg) be undertaken by the animal’s owner by killing it on his/her own property, or by Pink Salmon 138 5.75 39 20 hiring a listed home-kill or recreational Alpaca 150 5.7 60 23 catch service provider instead. Venison 159 3.3 66 25 There are only two abattoirs in New Turkey (light) 154 3.45 68 29 Zealand licenced to kill alpacas – one Buffalo 179 9 71 25 in Feilding and the other in Ashburton. Chicken Breast 159 3.42 83 31 There are another five food abattoirs. My view, and one shared by Lamb Leg Roast 213 7.62 83 25 others I have talked to, is that freight Beef Bot. Round 214 9.76 92 31 costs and stress on the animals may Shoulder 219 10.64 101 29 rule out transport of alpacas for all but Veal Cutlet 213 10.35 125 26 those within a reasonable distance of existing abattoirs. Source: http://lean-too.com/home1_files/Page392.htm Growth in national alpaca numbers has increased by about 3,000 between 2012 Table 2 and 2015. However, the more animals Alpaca Numbers in New Zealand, 2015 we have the faster the growth – in other Huacaya Suri Total words, increase in stock numbers is likely Registered Females 10,952 1,769 12,721 to follow an exponential growth pattern Registered Males 5,766 974 6,740 until such time as the market is saturated and rate of culling matches rate of Registered Wethers* 452 37 489 reproduction. Existing abattoirs are asking Total Registered 17,170 2,800 19,970 for 200 animals to be killed at a time to Estimated Unregistered Males 5,258 826 6,084 make it worthwhile switching their killing Total Estimate 22,428 3,626 26,054 chains from other livestock to alpacas. *Estimate only – updated figures unavailable We do not know how many alpacas Source: New Zealand Alpaca Association are available for slaughter in any one year. However, making an assumption that there are 5,000 animals available 1 Denver steaks are cut from the chuck or shoulder of the animal. They are cut in a different way from each year for killing, that these animals traditional chuck or blade which makes the meat more tender. are evenly distributed in both islands 2 Refer to: http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/consumer/Homekill-brochure-2012-web.pdf http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/homekill-brochure-2012.pdf and killing takes place for 6 months of

9 Table 3 New Zealand Meat Consumption Per Capita About the authors NEW ZEALAND MEAT CONSUMPTION David and Heather Bridson Year Ended September 2009 own Elysian Alpacas, KG PER CAPITA % about 25 minutes west of Lamb 7.5 8% Tauranga. Currently they Mutton 2.8 4% have 56 huacaya alpacas Beef and Veal 28.0 31% on 17 acres. They both Poultry 31.3 35% have full-time jobs. David Meat 19.6 22% has his own business TOTAL 89.2 100% providing help and support Source: New Zealand Alpaca Association to other businesses, http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/files/2012-Compendium-of-New-Zealand-farm-facts.pdf schools and not-for- profit organisations and Heather is an accountant the year, then there would be sufficient no further than our own domestic for a local company. animals to supply two abattoirs in each industry. It was 1969 that the first They have four children island provided that the infrastructure licence was granted to establish a deer ranging in age from 22 and markets are in place. farm in New Zealand. Within 20 years to 31. Heather’s passion (1989) New Zealand had half the world’s 5,000 animals would yield around for alpaca fibre came out 150,000 kilograms of boned meat. This population of farmed deer at 1.6 million represents 0.04% of New Zealand’s animals.4 The systems developed in of her craft interests in annual meat consumption. To provide New Zealand to capture deer in the spinning, , dyeing just 1% we would need around 120,000 wild and graze them on farms today and felting. Elysian Alpacas alpaca carcases. This represents 24 lead the world. However, the biggest now sells a range of hand- times the quantity of animals that may impediments to growth of the industry crafted alpaca products currently be available. were not technological. They were including knitwear, quilts, Initially promotion of alpaca meat as bureaucracy and red tape. felted goods and carded a healthy alternative to beef and lamb While total deer numbers have reduced dyed fibre for spinning seems like a promising way forward since then to about 1.1 million animals, and felting. Increasingly, for the local market. However, there is in 2014 New Zealand exported over 16 astronomical potential for alpaca meat David and Heather can be million tonnes of venison having a value internationally. The OECD projects heard going into raptures close to $181 million. Including velvet, that up to 2022, 80% of the demand about alpaca meat and hides/leather and other products the for meat production will come from are keen to see alpacas total export value of the deer industry developing countries.3 was $241 million.5 The pioneers of the become a credible and We suggest meeting with those deer industry succeeded because they viable farming option. interested in working together on a believed in their product, were innovative trial - or perhaps a number of trials - in and were determined to work together to different parts of the country. We would achieve a world-beating result. need to negotiate a deal with a local abattoir, then support them through the According to the Ministry of Primary To increase the momentum amid registration process. We would then Industries the first alpacas were imported the groundswell of interest in this need to keep them supplied with a into New Zealand for farming in 1986.6 opportunity we are happy to act as a throughput of stock on a regular enough Ours is a youthful farming industry but point of contact for those of you who basis to make it viable for them. Finally with enormous promise. The biggest are interested. we would need to develop markets for impediment to the development of a alpaca meat and hides. profitable alpaca farm industry in New Our contact details are: [email protected] Those of us who have been involved Zealand in my view is not bureaucracy in working together with other alpaca and red tape. It is our lack of belief in - We are looking forward to hearing from farmers to market our products are and failure to work together to develop you so that we can work together to finding that united we stand, divided the place of – alpacas as a credible and develop a credible, commercially viable we fall. For inspiration we need look profitable farm animal. and sustainable alpaca farming industry.

3 OECD/UNFAO http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3333e/i3333e.pdf 4 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/deer-and-deer-farming/page-3 5 http://www.deernz.org/about-deer-industry/nz-deer-industry/deer-industry-statistics/glance-industry- statistics#.VONtIfmUeSo 6 https://www.mpi.govt.nz/document-vault/3853

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