Last week we had the pleasure of completing our export of some very special black, brown and fawn alpacas, both males and females to a wonderful family in Qatar.
The new owners are setting up a selective breeding herd on a highly equipmed farm just outside the capital Doha. The alpacas were selected for their colour, quality and herd health as the new owners wish to selectively breed high quality alpacas and expand the alpaca industry in Qatar. The farm where the alpacas have gone have state of the art facilities such as an air conditioned barn, green grass paddocks and high quality feed.
As mentioned, the health of our alpacas and the routine testing we carry out on our herd was fundamental in the buyers deciding to buy pedigree stock from us. After some stringent pre-export testing, the alpacas were transported to London Heathrow Airport by Mark and Tim and were loaded in to the wooden crate filled with plenty of haylage and water. After a moderate night time flight of six and a half hours, the alpacas arrived early in the morning and were driven a short distance to their new home.
Growing alpacas in Qatar is going to require a different strategy in regard to husbandry and breeding. Tim is heading to Doha shortly and will be shearing the herd and beginning the breeding so that the crias arrive in the middle of winter, which is similar in temperature to our summer. We are also aiming to shear the alpacas twice a year so that they can spend as much time as possible outside on the pasture and we are hopeful that a commercial staple length will be met at both shearings.
We wish the new owners in Qatar much success with their breeding programme and lots of enjoyment for their family and thank them for their faith as we delivering what they wanted.
Inca Liberation 
Moondance Baracus The girls before export All loaded at the airport Mark preparing for loading The girls all loaded The boys in their arrival pen The girls in their arrival pen
We new begin our next export to Saudi Arabia which is booked for February. Exciting times ahead!