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Savvy Buyers Reward Quality with top $$ at National Alpaca Auctions!

At the two most prominent national auctions in 2007, the AOBA National Alpaca Auction and the Futurity Auction, astute buyers demonstrated that outstanding phenotype was more important than purity of heritage by paying top dollar for these awesome alpacas. The high selling alpaca at the Futurity Auction was the full Chilean grey male, Patagonia’s Neruda, offered by Hugo Ulloa and Karen Byram of Alpacas de la Patagonia. Neruda was purchased for $205,000 and is now co-owned by Aconcagua Alpaca Farm and Andes Alpaca Farm. The trend continued at the AOBA National Alpaca Auction where both the high-selling huacaya and high-selling suri were of mixed heritage. Doug and Denise Caldwell of A.L Paca’s Farms offered A.L. Paca’s Rose to the Occasion, a ¾ Chilean and ¼ Peruvian grey huacaya female who has won 10 Color Championships. She sold for $96,000 to Parris Hill Farm and Spring Pond Farm. The high-selling suri female, Cool’s Chocolate Obsession, was consigned by Gabe and Jessica White of Oregon Alpaca Farm. This black beauty is a blend of Bolivian, Chilean and Peruvian genetics. She was purchased by Safe Haven Farm.

Breeding the Best! is the goal of the alpaca industry. The results from these two recent national alpaca auctions indicate that the ‘best’, regardless of heritage, is highly rewarded by discriminating alpaca breeders. Congratulations to the consigners and the new owners!