SASKATOON – Kenn Schurek is wagering a wad of cash that the alpaca is not just another “exotic” animal whose true worth is far less than boosters claim.
And after spending $1.2 million to fly in 750 of the hoofed Andean animals from Australia, he thinks his confidence is well placed.
“There is absolutely no conceivable way that we can supply all of the people who are interested,” said Schurek, a one-time real estate developer and salesperson.
The animals, which he says are worth $12.5 million, were flown from Schurek’s ranch in Australia to his Royal Canadian Alpaca Ranch outside Edmonton in July. While most of the animals are his, some are owned by other investors. Many of the alpacas have already been sold to people across Canada who are trying to set up nucleus herds.
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Alpacas are raised for their fleece, which produces a fine fibre in hot demand, according to Schurek. The animals produce thick, sleeping-bag-sized mounds of fleece, a characteristic the animals developed in the Andes Mountains of South America, their home and a place where the temperature drops below freezing 300 days per year. Most alpacas live in South America, but they are now very hard to export.
Schurek insisted alpacas are not a trend-of-the-year animal which will lead ignorant city people into spending tens of thousands of dollars for animals that, soon after purchase will drop to half their original purchase price. An alpaca breeding pair costs a minimum of $40,000.
Schurek said the collapse of ostrich prices over the past two years is not a portent of things to come in other specialty livestock sectors. In fact, the problems with ostriches highlight what a good investment alpacas are, he said.
The ostrich market relies on the eventual use of the animal’s meat once the herd build-up stage is over. There is a tiny market for ostrich meat now, Schurek said, because people are not used to eating it. Ostrich producers have to convince consumers to eat ostrich meat before they can be assured their industry is viable.
But alpaca fibre is already a known commodity, so producers just have to make it for willing buyers, Schurek said.
“We’re not trying to invent anything that doesn’t exist already.”
Also, the risk of overwhelming the market with huge increases in breeding stock is low, he said. Ostriches can lay dozens of eggs per year, but an alpaca bears only one offspring.
“It is a very slow growth process,” Schurek said.
Many ranchers and grain farmers have bought alpacas to diversify their operations, he said. Other buyers tend to be old people, who have small amounts of land but still like to have animals around, acreage owners looking for something to graze their land and investors who see a good buck in the mild-mannered animals.
While expensive, alpacas are now providing a good return on investment and can be raised on small pieces of land, Schurek said.
The tricky part was getting the alpacas to Canada. Schurek said it took him six years. First the animals had to be quarantined in Australia, loaded into crates, put in two Boeing 747 aircraft, flown via Hawaii to Calgary, unloaded and trucked to the Edmonton ranch.
They were then quarantined in Canada before being granted status as legally landed immigrants. Not a single animal died in transport, a fact Schurek attributes to the alpacas’ cheerful nature.
“They walked off like they’d never left Australia,” he said. “No animal stress. Lots of human stress though.”
