What is a Suri Alpaca and why Suris for us

Suri Alpacas make up only five percent of the worlds Alpaca population. Rather than the Teddy bear style bright and crimpy fleece of the Huacaya they have a long hanging and lustrous fleece often described as dreadlocked. The perfect Suri should have well covered cheeks and a beard with a dense top knot. The Suris fleece should start locking at the forehead, which should continue down the neck, across the body and down the legs. Suris are really just a different fleece style to the Huacuya and are genetically dominant so if you cross breed a pure Suri with a Huacaya you will get a Suri. People worry about having homozygous Suris however bearing in mind the Suri is the dominant gene after a few generations of breeding Suri to Suri you will get back to homozygous.

Suri Fleece

The Suri Fleece hangs close to the body, moves freely and gives the Alpaca a lustrous and flat-sided appearance. The fleece should start locking at the head, which should run down the neck, across the body and down the legs all the way to the toes. The primary sign of quality in a Suri is lustre but the animal should also have a fine and dense, greasy feeling fleece which should be cool to the touch. There are four acceptable styles of lock in a Suri fleece but the locks should start at the skin, be compact and independent. Spirals in the lock can twist to either left or right and can be with or without a wave and should hang straight and hug the body. When opened up the inside locks should be as well formed as the outside and should have lustre right to the base.

What attracted us to Suris

When we first looked at Alpacas it was at Huacaya’s and we still have a number that we both breed and walk. It took us a little while to realise that the Suri Alpaca really existed and then at first we were not too sure having not seen great examples of Suris. However when you first see a good Suri Alpaca they just blow you away and when you have seen a Suri running down the field at you with the hope of a meal with its silk like fleece swaying in the breeze your hooked. We were told that Suris were a little more temperamental; this is not our experience at all. We keep the hair around their eyes trimmed so they can see us coming which I am sure helps and is probably the reason for their cranky reputation. We were told they were more delicate again I am not sure this is the case although it is easier for the water to get in when it rains. All of our Alpacas have field shelters but they don’t often use them. At the end of the day we just fell in love with the way they looked and were attracted by their rarity, we have specialised in coloured Suris, which adds interest and gives customers for our fibre a choice of natural colours to buy.