Alpaca Days: Area residents share their love of gentle creatures

Gary Del Gaudio got all warm and fuzzy.

Del Gaudio, 54, and his wife Debbie, also 54, attended an open house a year ago at Dreamland Alpacas of Meadowview, Va. And they fell in love with the idea of raising a couple of alpacas – a llama-like animal that is native to South America in Peru and Chile.

"We wanted to do something with our acreage," said Gary Del Gaudio, who retired a few years ago to White Pines Alpacas, a 25-acre plot situated near Alvarado, Va.

A pair of alpacas named Jasmine and Arcadia fit the bill like a natural lawnmower.

Thank Dreamland owners David and Debbie McLeish, former residents of the Boston, Mass., area.

Debbie, 49, got her first alpaca in 2007 from a farm in Roanoke, Va., then took it back to her 10-acre farm at Meadowview.

Today, she has 40 alpacas at Dreamland. She also boards animals for others. And this weekend, the McLeishes and the Del Gaudios are holding open houses.

"Alpacas are like giant puppy dogs with long legs and long necks," Debbie McLeish said. "When alpacas are fully grown, you can look them eye-to-eye."

LIKE A LLAMA

Alpacas resemble llamas. Debbie McLeish calls these animals "cousins" to both llamas and camels. Do they spit?

Debbie McLeish laughed. "Only if you are threatening to them," she said.

Llamas have banana-shaped ears, while an alpaca’s ears are more spear-shaped, McLeish said. And while a llama may weigh 400 to 600 pounds, an alpaca might weigh in at just 200 pounds.

"There are more people who have llamas than have alpacas right now," McLeish added. "Many people think they’re llamas that just haven’t grown up yet."

QUALITY OF FLEECE

Currently, there are about 150,000 registered alpacas in the United States, according to Debbie McLeish, who counted about 450 alpaca farms in Virginia.

"Most farms have between two and six," Debbie McLeish said.

The McLeish couple takes their alpacas to shows, demonstrating their quality of fleece, for one.

Each spring, the McLeishes and the Del Gaudios gather with other alpaca owners and shave down their animals. Then, they gather enough fleece – about 4 to 12 pounds an alpaca – to sell or make items, like socks or hats or blankets or gloves.

"Anything you can make out of yarn," Debbie McLeish said, "you can make out of alpaca."

Alpacas feed on orchid grass and hay. And they eat between 1 and 3 cups a day of grain – at a cost of about 60 cents per cup, Debbie McLeish said.

On average, Debbie McLeish said, it costs about $200 a year to care for one alpaca. But an alpaca can pay back their costs in the sales – or use – of their fleece.

"It sells for slightly under $100 per pound," Debbie McLeish said. "It’s luxurious."

IN PAIRS

Don’t come to Dreamland dreaming of getting just one. Debbie McLeish won’t do business, if you do.

She sells alpacas in pairs, usually for about $500 each, or more, and says these animals should have some kind of partner to live with. Else, they would drive themselves crazy with boredom – and loneliness.

Alpacas may survive 20 or 25 years. What’s more, you can pack about 6 to 8 alpacas on one acre.

Dreamland provides a birthing service for baby alpacas, called a "cria." The farm also allows one mating session to produce new babies, Debbie McLeish said.

Over the past couple of years, Dreamland has helped other alpaca farms become established across Southwest Virginia at Lebanon, Marion and Chilhowie.

"I think they’re the greatest thing for a small farm," Gary Del Gaudio said. "There’s not a lot of upkeep."

Back in Meadowview, McLeish is at home at Dreamland, where her flock of alpacas gathers to say hello – with kisses.

"It’s kind of like going into a kindergarten class," Debbie McLeish said. "When I walk into a paddock area, my babies all surround me with love and kisses."

YOU SHOULD KNOW -- NATIONAL ALPACA DAYS

When: Sept. 25-26, noon-6 p.m., www.nationalalpacafarmdays.com

Where: Dreamland Alpacas, 13050 Bell Lane, Meadowview, Va., about two miles from I-81 Exit 24

Web: www.dreamlandalpacas.com

Info: (276) 494-6798

ANOTHER OPEN HOUSE

Where: White Pines Alpacas, Alvarado, Va. From I-81 Exit 19, follow U.S. 58 east for seven miles. Turn right on State Route 722. Go 3.5 miles and turn right on Denton Valley Road. The farm is about a third of a mile on the right at 27331 Denton Valley Road.

Info: (276) 475-5831