Daniel Boote, Avenel, advocates for more coloured and genetic usage in alpaca farming

It was a relationship that began at the Seymour Alternative Farming Expo 14 years ago, where he bought two female alpacas aged six months, which were joined after growing them out after 18 months.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing, with his first male alpaca born on the farm having to be bottle-fed after a neighbour's dog killed his mother.

"That boy is still on farm and will never go anywhere, as he's special and runs the rest of the boys," he said.

"It's his farm, in a way."

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Since then, Mr Boote's operation, Avenel Ridge Alpacas, has been growing and shrinking at various rates, and at one point, he ran it as a small commercial herd hosting 120 head on his property.

But nowadays, he said his operation is much more of a hobby farm, even though he has been as busy as ever.

At a 2023's Seymour Alternative Farming Expo presentation, Mr Boote said, "five girls were due and could give birth at any time".

But despite his busy schedule running the farm, he said alpacas are an exceptionally suited animal to anyone who wants to keep a small farming operation sustainable.

"I'm a financial planner by profession, so I sit behind a desk in an office at home most of my time, but at lunch I go outside and play with the animals, which is a great break up of my day," he said.

A hierarchical system in an alpaca herd was also an essential factor for farmers to consider.

"One girl or boy rules the roost, and then everyone has a position down the order," Mr Boote said.

"You will see that at feeding time, where that leader will come in, eat first, others will come behind, and those at the bottom end will just stand there hoping to find food."

"From an alpaca herd management perspective, it's important for famers to identify that," he said.

During his presentation, Mr Boote gave an example of a female alpaca in his herd who was "at the bottom end", continuing to wait at the hay feeder while everyone else ate.

He advises anyone wanting to get into alpaca breeding should look to "play the long game" as they generally have single births with an 11-13 month gestation period.

But he also said there were advantages to that, and it gives him time to get ahead on management processes.

Avenel Ridge Alpacas aims to breed different colours, which Mr Boote acknowledges is unique.

"White is boring, and everybody breeds white, and we wanted to breed our coloured animals to a standard that is comparable to our white animals," he said.

The focus on white alpacas for the last 30 years has seen improvements in genetics, which has given a high-quality product.

But Mr Boote said while the quality of alpaca wool in the market has been excellent, the amount of product poses challenges.

"We can match Merinos in terms of fineness and quality, but we can't match quantity, and sheep can be bred by the thousands per year and produce within 0.2 of a micron 100 tonnes of wool," he said.

"Alpacas can't even get 50 tonnes and it is seen as specialist product."

Mr Boote said farmers in Australia are still navigating the alpaca space to an extent.

While many are like him and taking the hobby farm route, early innovators in the industry can lead a path to substantial quality operations in the years ahead.

"You can ask as many questions as you like, but until you actually get alpacas and then get to know what happens on your farm, you need to learn from mistakes you make so to not do them again, which then breeds better alpacas," he said.