1  They are members of the camelid family that also contains llamas, guanacos and vicuna as well as camels and have been domesticated by the people of South America for some 6,000 years.

2  They come in a variety of colours, 22 recognised shades ranging from pure white through fawns, various shades of brown and grey to pure black.

3  There are two 'types' of alpaca. The suri, whose fibre grows in wondrous dreadlocks with a glorious lustre - this type is sheared every other year. The huacaya'a fleece grows dense and crimpy and should be sheared every year to avoid matting and heat stroke.

4  They are very inquisitive and react very quickly as a herd to anything that appears in their paddock that does not belong there. Although not aggressive they appear to grow taller when threatened and fearlessly approach whatever the threat may be, hence in some countries they are kept with other smaller livestock as 'guard' animals within the herd.

5  Females are 'induced ovulators' that can produce babies (cria) at any time of year, however where managed on farms most owners aim for the cria to be born in the summer months as they get a good start in life with sunshine producing vitamins that winter babies would lack and have to be given via injection or paste. The gestation period is roughly 11½ months although each individual animal is different and it can be 11 months in some and 12 months plus in others.

6  Alpacas thrive well in our climate but, although quite hardy, they do appreciate a simple three sided shelter in the worst wet and windy weather and during very hot weather will use a shelter for shade if no natural shade is available.

7  They respect and rarely challenge fencing, although this is the general rule you can get the occasional 'Houdini' who thinks that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Even in the wettest months their padded feet do not 'poach' the ground so it recovers well in the spring.

8  Alpacas are very sociable herd animals and should never be kept alone. They can be kept with other livestock but breeding females fair better with other female company. Gelded males can be kept without concern with females, we would recommend at least three females together whereas males are ok in pairs.

9  Like other animals, alpacas have a strict hierarchy within the herd and communicate by body language and some vocalisation. Mothers gently hum to their cria to let them know where they are and to reassure them. There is also an alarm cry called 'bugling' which is very shrill and a very unique noise made by only males during mating called 'orgling'.

10  Finally, and perhaps most important, is the fact that they will completely take over your life and most people who have alpacas are more than happy to advise and talk to newcomers about these wonderful, relatively recent introductions to livestock farming in this country (including us!).