Sally Schmidt and her husband, Tom first saw alpacas when they were living in California, when they moved back to Wisconsin in 2002 they looked into raising the animals in the Badger State and finally made the decision in 2006. They now have 36 alpacas at their Sabamba Alpaca Ranch and Bed & Breakfast at DePere.

Native to Peru, Bolivia and Chile, the animals are raised for their fleece. They are sheared once a year when the weather turns warm, the Schmidts send the fleece to be washed in Texas and then to a textile mill in Pennsylvania where it is made into socks, gloves, mittens, sweaters and the like. The animals vary in color and the texture of the fleece does vary especially by color but there is no premium paid for one type of fleece over another.

Alpaca growers such as the Schmidts are looking to get more organized with the marketing of their products with the formation of a national effort on the order of what cotton growers did back in the 70’s.

AUDIO: Sally Schmidt talks about raising alpacas 17:00 mp3

*BTW the “humming” in the background is the alpacas “whining” as Sally puts it.