Alpaca prices drop

[AkTomboy]

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Why cant those prices ever bee even within 1000 miles of me! Sheesh no fair

 

[d1]

what uses do alpacas have besides fiber? I have a friend that is talking about getting some and I am trying to see what all they can be used for

 

[thndrdancr]

I was amazed at the prices too, if I had had a livestock trailer I would have been coming home with more critters than just birds!

Skyes, the horse market here is horrid, people cant GIVE their horses away right now. I see free ones all the time on craigslist in this area, and some for $100, $200 for mini's, etc.

If a person had a trailer and were looking for a horse, it would probably be worthwhile to visit the area.

 

[giant pumpkin peep]

for alpacas it is a breeders market. Without those papers they are useless.

The alpacas never sell at high prices at the animal auctions anyway

That is normal animal auction. Snowmass alpacas just had their auction a couple months ago and snowmass matric went for 650,000!​

 

[spectrumranch]

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That is normal animal auction. Snowmass alpacas just had their auction a couple months ago and snowmass matric went for 650,000!

We have sold about 30 alpacas in the last few weeks from $250 to $1500. Females from $650 to $1500. All Registered & producing animals.

How much wool do you have to shear off that 650,000 animal before he is paid for? The rich breeders played that game in llamas too.

 

[Skyesrocket]

The rich breeders played that game in llamas too.

Spectrum, what do you mean about playing that game? I'm just curious.​

 

[Skyesrocket]

thndrdancr

Skyes, the horse market here is horrid, people cant GIVE their horses away right now. I see free ones all the time on craigslist in this area, and some for $100, $200 for mini's, etc.

I think horse prices are down everywhere. It's a shame. A friend took a broke younger arab mare to a sale last week and the high bid was $35.
I see a lot of horses for lease lately. I think people are leasing them out in hopes of being able to hold onto them in case the market recovers.
The mini's seem to have held some of their value though. I never see mares below $300 and $500 and up is still common. Maybe because they eat less?​

 

[mekasmom]

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I've seen male llamas going for seven dollars at auction. They have no value right now. Same with mules, many horses and ponies, etc. If you can't eat it, then it sells very low at livestock auction right now. People are not into pets in this economy. Last year, I saw someone trying to give away pot belly pigs.

 

[ksalvagno]

The auctions that are put on by the big alpaca farms are still doing well. You are buying the farm name more than anything, just so you can say, "this alpaca is from Snowmass (or whoever)." The alpaca auctions that are put on by smaller alpaca breeders don't do as well as the large farms but better than the the regular livestock auctions.

The alpaca that was sold for $650,000 at Snowmass was bought by another alpaca breeder who has very deep pockets and probably needed a really good writeoff. There are still some wealthy people out there and some of them are in the alpaca business.

You can eat alpaca, it just isn't generally practiced. They are still mainly for their fiber. The biggest moneymaker was selling the offspring but with this economy, you have to be willing to sell at lower prices. If you bought when the market was high, then unfortunately, it is going to take longer to get your money out of it. If you want to get into alpacas, now is the time while prices are low and you can get some extremely good quality animals for a much lower price. You just have to go to the smaller farms and look around.

 

[spectrumranch]

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Spectrum, what do you mean about playing that game? I'm just curious.

When you have a farm production auction- you have a few friends get together and run the price up on several animals to outrageous prices. Then the average person who is at the sale thinks they should spend more on the animals because- "bred to that male" or "a daughter of" or "a son of", etc etc. That way the rest of the animals sell much higher than they normally would, but the animals that "supposedly" sold for big money may not have sold for anywhere close to that inflated price.

If you had to rely on only fiber as a end product from an alpaca- $650,000 for one animal, even in a breeders market, would be very hard to make a return on. Not that it couldn't be done- just highly unlikely. We have sold alpacas from $100 to $25,000 off our farm. The cheaper alpacas have had a greater return than the expensive alpacas. TO ME- It is easier to buy a $1000 female and sell her baby for $1500 than it is to buy a $5,000 female and try to get $6000 for her baby.


When Burgess's sold there llama herd a few years ago and Newevo set the new record of high selling llama of all time- since then you have not heard much about him- and can buy his offspring cheap. The sale was all smoke an mirrors.