How to Begin Showing Alpacas

Series Summary

Alpacas are domesticated animals originating from South America. Similar to llamas in appearance, alpacas are often kept in herds and are valued for their fiber, or fur. Alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years and images of alpacas can be found in ancient Peruvian art. In general, alpacas are very social, gentle, and intelligent, and get along very well with humans as pets. Though all alpacas are capable of spitting, this behavior is generally reserved for other alpacas and rarely is aimed at people.

In this free video series, our expert alpaca breeder will be showing you how to prepare for a professional alpaca show. You will learn all about picking out show alpacas, where to find alpaca shows and how to prepare your alpaca for a show. You will also learn about the pre-show veterinary check, alpaca grooming, bio-security and alpaca show champion classes. If you are interested in breeding alpacas or showing alpacas, let our expert teach you everything you need to know about professional alpaca shows.

Video Transcript

"Hi. I am Jill Bergman and I would like to tell you how I get started in Alpacas. Oh gosh, it was at the turn on the century but that was 2000 and I read an article about Alpacas and I went to see my first Alpaca. I saw that Alpaca and I have to say I fell in love. I could not believe these animals. I had never seen anything like it before. They are very, very different and I just read absolutely everything I could find about them. I went on the Internet and found out everything I could find out about it and ended up, and with a very supportive husband. I must add. He has been my support through this whole thing and I got my first Alpaca and so the question might come up, "How much did I know about Alpacas before I went in and got Alpacas?" Zero! And I never had livestock. I did have a horse. Which was a little close but you know one horse hardly covers it all. But I really had a learning curve that was that steep and so I read and read and I went to many, many seminars given by different veterinarians about Alpacas to learn what kind of care they required and what, what just everything about them; how to house them, how to treat them, how to feed them, how to be, how to have them part of my life. So it was quite an adventure. Not that I am at the, not that I have learned everything yet either. It's still learning but the curve has gone down somewhat now."