Industry needs to gain ‘third leg’

"It is possible to make a living from alpacas through their genetics and fibre and there are plenty who are, but we recognised that to make a good living we needed to be using the whole animal," he said.

"A stool with two legs will not stand up but when it has the third leg it is strong - that third leg is the meat and hides."

Mr Frith, one of the key speakers at last weekend's National Alpaca Excellence Conference in Adelaide, has pioneered the alpaca meat industry in Australia. He sells alpaca meat under his Illawarra Prime Alpacas brand for the past three years.

Mr Firth says it is being well received by many, especially health-conscious consumers, and is an acceptable protein for all religions.

"It is 94 per cent fat-free, high in iron, rich in protein and tastes bloody good, somewhere between lamb and veal," Mr Frith said.

"We suggest people start off with the slow-cooked cuts such as the braised shoulder, osso bucco and shanks and then go back into trying the racks, sirloins and hindquarter."

He expects to sell about 24 tonnes of alpaca meat this year into restaurants in Qld, NSW, Vic and Tas.

Further growth is expected although breeding is a slow process, with the gestation length of an alpaca 11.5 months, and each female only having one offspring per mating.

"We are doing about 12 animals per week but hope to be up to 20 animals/week in the next year," Mr Frith said.

"We have just bought a farm to run 4000 animals which will give us another 2000 wethers to put into the brand."

Asked about whether there has been resistance to eating the cute, cuddly animals, Mr Frith is matter of fact.

"I can respect that some people love them as pets but they are no different to baby lambs, chickens or ducklings which are all commercial animals too," he said.

* Full report in Stock Journal, May 15, 2014 issue.