New taste builds sector

There are even suggestions alpaca, which has the lowest cholesterol of all meats and more than twice the iron levels of lamb and pork, could be the next ‘super food’.

The driving force in SA is Chris Williams, who runs the nation’s third largest alpaca herd, Ambersun Alpacas, with partner Adrienne Clarke at Mount Compass.

Six alpacas each week from their 1500-head herd go into their Fleurieu Prime Alpaca brand, but with the recent launch of online sales, they expect this to grow further.

Their range of about 40 products includes neck rosettes, shoulders and shanks for slow-cooking and primal cuts, such as rumps and back straps. They also offer three types of sausages, a gourmet alpaca with cumin seed burger, salt and pepper schnitzel and chorizo – all made by Ellis Butchers at McLaren Vale.

Fleurieu Prime Alpaca, launched three years ago, has gained a following among the health conscious and more adventurous foodies at the Willunga Farmers Market and Adelaide Showground Market.

It is also on the menu at high-end restaurants in Adelaide and on the Fleurieu Peninsula, including Leonards Mill at Second Valley, Coriole Winery and Magnum’s in McLaren Vale, and Entropy and Apothecary 1878 in Adelaide.

Mr Williams said the popularity of TV cooking shows, such as MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules, had widened the culinary tastes of many, but he admits the biggest challenge remains coaxing consumers to taste alpaca.

“The hard part at the markets is to get someone from five metres away to the front counter of the stall to putting some in their mouth,” he said. “I give them a toothpick and take them through it like a wine tasting, starting with a hindleg turned into a ham and then picnic smoked rump, then we step them up into leek and garlic sausage and finish with the chorizo.

“Wow is a word used regularly at our site.”

Mr Williams said it was difficult to compare the light pink flesh to any other meat, but that it was not “gamey”.

“It is a sweet lamb without any fat crossed with milk-fed veal crossed with blue fin tuna when we look at alpaca sashimi,” he said. “Alpaca has a soft delicate flavour so it is not overpowering. It has that lovely taste and then it marries itself to whatever seasoning or spices you want.”

Mr Williams said it was critical there was a meat trade for the industry, which had about 200,000 registered animals and a similar number of commercial animals.

Trials show alpaca meat holds its eating quality and nutritional value across the life expectancy of the animal, unlike lamb and beef. This enables barren females and older males to be used.

University of Sydney PhD student Melanie Smith is exploring this further.

The majority of Fleurieu Prime Alpaca’s animals processed at Strathalbyn abattoir are 2.5-year-old males weighing about 70 to 75 kilograms liveweight.

This gives a 40kg carcase, which is cut up and packaged at the old cheese factory Clealand Veal across the road from their property. 

“We are not eating someone’s pets,” Mr Williams said. “These animals are surplus to our breeding programs or other people’s breeding programs.”

Mr Williams formed Prime Alpaca in partnership with NSW alpaca breeder Ian Frith, Berry, who supplies the east coast market with Illawarra Prime Alpaca.

Together the two, who collectively have the largest herd outside South America, are building the meat business in Australia and overseas.  

“We are getting enquiries for pallets of backstraps,” he said.

“It is exciting but also scary. We need to make sure any export orders are not at the expense of the domestic market.”

The next step is contracting other SA growers to supply Fleurieu Prime Alpaca and exploring outside investment to buy more land to expand their breeding herd.

“We are covered for the next 12 months but we don’t have enough land to grow all the alpacas out here to two years of age,” Mr Williams said. “The problem always remains whether you have 20 animals or 200 animals, what do you do with all the boys that aren’t good enough to wear the (stud) brand – that is where the meat comes in.”