About Alpacas

Alpacas have no natural defence mechanism other than spitting if left alone in this environment they quickly fall prey to coyotes or other such predators. For that reason we have a predator proof fence that encapsulates our Alpaca paddocks. During the summer we let them out into smaller paddocks around our house during the day before locking them up at night again. They are a very hardy animal well adapted to the Canadian Prairies due to the similarity of their home environment in the altiplano regions of South America.

By the time it gets cold in the fall their fleece has regrown enough to keep them warm especially when sheltered from the wind and bedded down in straw. They are a curious animal with a temperament similar to a cat. If handled regularly they are easily trainable. The gestation period for a female is around 362 days and they are constant ovulators so females in the wild spend the majority of their adult lives pregnant, often becoming pregnant within two weeks of giving birth. The newborn Alpacas are called Cria, and the first shearing from a Cria is extremely fine, and is used to make our toques, scarves and headbands. Their fleece gets progressively coarser each year, and that is the fibre we use to make all of our socks.

Our Alpacas are sheared, vaccinated and their feet trimmed each spring to insure they are comfortable during the warm prairie summer. You can see some of the shearing action later on in this website. This starts the production cycle for the products you see on this website. All of our products are 100% Canadian Made, something that we are very proud of at White Frost Farms. Although you can find cheaper priced commodities, these are generally not produced in Canada.