How did we start out?

Oak Grove Alpacas was established by Julie & Peter McClen in 2001, after a decision to make a move to the country searching for that better lifestyle.

With no previous experience with livestock & only having our knowledge of breeding dogs to draw on, we decided that alpacas were the most attractive option for us new farmers. Now 16 years later we still think so & from experience know that alpacas are truly wonderful animals to own.

Where are we now?

We certainly have come a long way since those first few years!

Our herd has slowly grown over the years & so has our knowledge & commitment to this industry.

Actions speak louder than words – we don’t just pay lip service to seeking to improve our alpacas & our industry. Our actions speak volumes. Oak Grove Alpacas are one of the original group that formed ‘Alpaca Ultimate’, which was responsible for organising the highly successful & well received ‘National Alpaca Fibre Seminars’, as well as the ‘ultrafine’ bale project which set an Australian record for fine alpaca fleece.

Julie was also on the Bega Show Alpaca Committee for 4 years, which is responsible for organising the alpaca contingent of the Far South Coast National Show.

Julie has also served on the Alpacas Australia Magazine Editorial Committee & has written several articles regarding alpaca fibre which have been included in the magazine.

Julie was an invited member of the Australian Alpaca Association IDRP (Industry Development Reference Panel) and the Fibre & Fashion Reference Panel.

Oak Grove Graphics our other business has grown in recent years & has much of it's clientele drawn from the alpaca industry with many alpaca stud logos & web sites having been created. We also currently design the Australian Alpaca magazine for the AAA 2012 - 2015/16.

What can we offer you?

We do not present our animals in any way other than truthfully, you will never buy an animal from us that turns out to be anything less than what we sell it as. We share our knowledge & experiences freely and offer sound advice to newcomers to our industry.

We offer you honesty, integrity & ‘realistic pricing’ that is actually realistic.

It has never been our intention to breed large quantities of animals, but to simply strive for animals of high quality.

We often have very reasonably priced pregnant females, wether quality pet males, stud services & starter packages available. We also sell alpacas on behalf of other small studs & in conjunction with our partner studs, so can offer you a large variety of alpacas to select from!

We supply a full history of health & fleece details, with full disclosure with each animal you purchase from us. We give you ongoing after sales support for as long as you need & offer help with setting up your farm for alpacas & running your alpaca business.

So if you are looking toward a ‘fine’ future, contact us to discuss how we can help you achieve your goals. Ultrafine - Stay Fine alpacas, the way forward.

About Oak Grove Alpacas

Our Breeding Goals

Our herd consists of mostly white & lighter fawn alpacas, with a few medium to dark fawn animals to keep things interesting!

We are breeding for ultrafine huacaya alpacas that are not only born fine, but maintain their fine fleeces well into maturity. It is our belief that the future of the commercial alpaca fleece industry is all about ‘keeping it fine’.

From our perspective, the ability of an alpaca to maintain a low micron & low SD is one of the most important elements of selecting alpacas for breeding. We are therefore selecting for this trait, along with low medulation, lustre, density, defined crimp & staple structure.

There are many traits worth selecting for, but without a low micron the fleece is of much lesser commercial value, no matter how wonderful it may be in all other ways.

Those that buy & process our fleece commercially will only pay a premium price for those fleeces that are at the fine end of the scale, the same as in the sheep wool industry.

Of course we would all like to have the 'perfect alpaca', but at this stage in the history of Australian Alpaca breeding, we all have a long way to go!

We believe it is too early to define what is the 'best' type or fleece style as different styles of fibre suit different end products, however the finest is the only type of fleece that can guarantee a reasonable price per kg.

We do of course have animals that don’t exactly meet this criteria, but have certain traits that we consider a valuable asset to our breeding program.

We started out with only a few average to reasonable quality low cost females & have slowly built up our herd to now include 2 year old animals testing from 11.7 micron & with SD’s under 3 as well as 3 year olds from 14.8 micron with SD’s as low as 2.6!

We have breeding females that have only a very small increase in micron each year & some showing less than 1/10th of a micron increase yearly! Many are under 20 micron at 3 years old.

Our stud males have been sourced to compliment our females, offering fine micron & stylish fleece with age.

We believe our animals that are staying fine are ‘genetically’ fine, as we supplementary feed our breeding animals on a daily basis, plus we live in lush dairy country, and despite excellent nutrition & good body scores they are still maintaining fine, commercially viable fleeces.

Home Stud Males Starting In Alpacas Contact Us

Phone: 02 64932036

Email: info@oakgrove.com.au


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