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Wellground
Alpaca Stud is situated on the edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The farm is
nestled under the Westbury Hills near the ancient Westbury White Horse monument.
Having forged links with EP Cambridge Alpaca Stud in the Adelaide Hills region
of Australia, Rob and Lesley Rawlins, (the owners of Wellground Alpaca Stud)
have recently negotiated the import of three shipments of top quality breeding
alpacas from Australia. |
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Why
Australia ?. Alpacas have been farmed for 18 years or so in Australia and
New Zealand, considerably longer than us in the U.K. Using selective
breeding procedures, they have had longer to improve the alpaca
genealogically. Europe has a fledgling alpaca industry. Some excellent
alpacas have been bred in the UK; however, improvement can still be gained
in the U.K. by importing
from countries that have made the biggest gains in genetic improvement.
There are some very exciting proven genetic traits to be sourced in the
Australian and New Zealand alpacas. |
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Recently
Wellground Alpaca Stud received the first shipment of 10 female alpacas from
Australia. They came to Wiltshire via six months of quarantine in
Christchurch, New
Zealand. They were flown from Christchurch to London Heathrow via Singapore with
Singapore Airways. However, a venture such as importing alpacas from the other
side of the world was always going to be a tricky one. It proved to be a
frustrating experience with delays and repeated rescheduling. |
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The
alpacas were initially flown from Adelaide in Australia to New Zealand. They
were then quarantined at the Southern Alpacas Stud, just 15 minutes from
Christchurch International Airport on the South Island, a very convenient
quarantine location for alpacas being exported to the U.K. One of the issues
involved in importing alpacas from the Southern Hemisphere is the season
changes, the rules dictate that the alpacas have to be shorn prior to
entering the U.K. It was too cold in New Zealand to shear the alpacas in
the normal manner with electric shears. This would have left too little
fleece on the alpacas to cope with sub-zero night time temperatures. To
achieve a balance, the alpacas were hand shorn with traditional hand shears.
This old-style of shearing will leave approximately an inch of fleece cover
to keep the animals warm at night and also satisfy the import restrictions.
The appearance of the alpaca after shearing is perhaps a little less
pleasing to the eye, but animal welfare is the important issue to us. |
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The
check in time for alpacas is 3 hours. So after a final check by NZ Agriquality
Services, it is into the stock trailer for the short ride to the airport. The
flight left Christchurch International
Airport at 12.50pm (New Zealand Time) the alpacas arrived at Heathrow at 5.50 am
the following morning (UK Time). They were fed and watered in reception
facilities, import checked, and transported to the Wellground Alpaca Stud at
10.30am.
The alpacas remained at
Wellground Alpaca Stud for 30 days before becoming citizens of the UK.his
first shipment of 10 alpacas has been divided into two groups; five top quality
breeding females have taken their place as permanent members of the Wellground
Alpaca Stud breeding herd. The remainder, three females and two males have been
sold to clients in Germany.
Plans
are already very advanced for two further shipments in 2006, these shipments
will comprise of the highest quality breeding female alpacas from Australia and
New Zealand. The quality of the breeding is very rare in the
U.K. today. In the
near future, a selected few of these bloodlines will be available to the UK
alpaca industry, along with the respected U.K. bloodlines that Wellground Alpaca
Stud has become accustomed to breeding. |