Lewis River Alpacas

           At Lewis River Alpacas we have an unremitting goal of improving the overall quality of our alpacas. This would include all aspects of their fiber, conformation and even their disposition in order to help advance the rapidly growing alpaca industry in North America. We believe Expected Progeny Differences (EPD's) are the way of the future and belong to The Ideal Alpaca Community (IAC) which is accumulating data that will allow the alpaca industry to move in that direction. If you are looking for alpacas for sale or simply searching for information about alpacas, we are happy to assist you in any way we can. We have a sincere desire to work with both new and established alpaca owners and breeders to help them achieve their goals.
We encourage you to learn more about EPD's by reviewing this presentation.

The Facts

Making the decision to buy a few alpacas or several alpacas is a decision that should never be  made in haste as there  are several fundamental  factors that require consideration. Buying alpacas can provide many advantages, including financial and life style. No component  can have a  greater  impact on your success than the selection of your breeding stock. We encourage you to evaluate any alpaca for sale in light of your goals as identified in your own business plan. Again, we believe that by knowing the EPD for any given alpaca for sale can help reduce risk and enhance your chances of finding alpacas most suited for your needs.

We are currently building our small Huacaya Alpaca herd from quality blood lines that go back to ribbon winning alpaca legends. Such great Herd Sire's include Patagonia's Compradre, SA Huckleberry, Aussie Rockford, Michelangelo, Dom Alamir, Patagonia's Drake, C& S Salutation and The Godfathers Accoyo Marlin Brando. All of our alpacas are North American alpacas, meaning that they were not imported from any single country such as Chile, Peru or Bolivia. Although we recognize subtle differences related to heritage, we prefer to look for characteristics that will produce alpacas with the best possible conformation and fiber qualities, again looking and learning more about EPD's in alpacas. We should note that in the show ring alpacas are judged as a breed (Alpaca, Huacaya or Suri ) with no distinction given to origin such a Chilean, Bolivian or Peruvian. Individual alpacas are judged on their own merits for conformation and fiber qualities.

The Product

Why fiber? Alpacas produce one of the world's finest and most luxurious natural fibers, commonly referred to as a specialty fiber and is available in many natural colors. It is very similar to cashmere in it's softness and luster, yet warmer and lighter than wool. Approximately 30% of people are allergic to wool, yet have no adverse reaction to the finer and more luxurious alpaca fiber. We should note that recent studies have shown an allergic reaction to wool is usually from the coarse fibers present in the wool, making it self evident why there is no reaction to the finer alpaca fiber. In North America the fiber market is just getting a good start with alpaca fiber continuing to command top price on the market. Many alpaca ranches process their own fiber, spinning the yarn and producing beautiful garments for sale to the public.

Lewis River Alpacas is a small alpaca ranch located east of Woodland, Washington in the shadows of Mt. St. Helens near the beautiful Lewis River. We are conveniently located - just 30 miles north of Portland, Oregon and about 6 miles east of Interstate 5. As a small ranch, we know that being successful means each of our alpacas must have great conformation and produce top quality fleece!  (A good reason for us to belong to The Ideal Alpaca Community)  We simply do not have the luxury to cull from large numbers of alpacas to find a few for the "show".  Is this bad?  We don't think so, instead we believe it creates a win - win situation.  We win by achieving our goal of supplying quality breeding stock and the buyer, established or just starting out, wins by being able to purchase that special alpaca with confidence.

Our Commitment

At Lewis River Alpacas, we are committed to excellence by improving our herd's health, conformation and fiber qualities through proven breeding strategies and EPD's when available. The herd sire services we offer are influenced by more than the ribbons awarded in the show ring. We believe the greatest measure of a herd sire is his ability to consistently pass his genetics on to the cria he sires - which will be proven in subsequent EPD's. We also train our alpacas individually, using the "camelidynamics" technique and work closely with a certified camelidynamics handler. This training is a non invasive method which promotes a "trust and respect" relationship between the alpaca and the handler. We see a significant improvement in the ability to manage our alpacas when there is harmony between the handler and alpaca. We further demonstrate our commitment to excellence by performing the appropriate medical examinations, vaccinations and tests necessary to assure our animals are healthy (and happy). All of our alpacas are certified BVD free and are registered with the ARI (Alpaca Registry Inc.) We are also members of AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) AROW (Alpaca Ranchers of the Northwest) and (IAC) The Ideal Alpaca Community.
Our commitment to you includes providing EPD's (when available) for our alpacas for sale plus helping you learn how to market your alpacas through the use of EPD's. Again, we encourage you to learn more about EPD's by reviewing this presentation.