About Us
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 nine 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 maintains a database of stud males available in & around the Bega Valley area and 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.
Recently Julie has served on the Alpacas Australia Magazine Editorial Committee & has written several articles regarding alpaca fibre which have been included in the magazine.
Julie is currently an invited member of the Australian Alpaca Association IDRP (Industry Development Reference Panel) and the Fibre & Fashion Reference Panel.
Oak Grove Graphics 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 have our internet alpaca shop which has grown to now offer Australia’s largest range of alpaca giftware. We offer unique & original alpaca inspired designs as well as hard to find products made from alpaca fibre. We also try to support Australian manufacturers wherever possible & help other alpaca owners promote any new alpaca related product they have developed. Contact us if you have a unique quality alpaca related product, as we may be able to consider promoting it in our online store.
What are 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 is one of the most important elements of selecting alpacas for breeding. We are therefore selecting for this trait, along with low medulation, low SD, 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 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 16.2 micron & with SD’s under 3 & 7.5 month olds from 14.8 micron with SD 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.
We believe our animals that are staying fine are ‘genetically’ fine, as we supplementary feed our breeding animals on a daily basis, and despite excellent nutrition & good body scores they are still maintaining fine, commercially viable fleeces.
We have bloodlines which include:
Purrumbete - Highlander, Brigantine, Inti, El Dorado, Ledgers Dream, Don Quixote, Clyde
Jolimont - Stefano, Conquistador & Romeo
ILR - Peruvian Auzengate, Don Julio
Peruvian - Hemingway, Genralissimo & Chief
Shanbrooke - AccoyoYavari, Enchantment, Tulaco, Casanova
NWA Ltd - Ruffo
Benleigh - Bolero
Forestglen - Plutarch & Maestro
Regal House - Mr Darcy
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 with a pool of over 400 animals 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.
