I moved to a 100 acre bush retreat in Ourimbah on the Central Coast in 2002, after returning to NSW after 14 years as a Perth lawyer.

A year later, I discovered alpacas and now have a herd of 38, mainly coloured suris. Most of them roam around freely, converting the lawn into poo piles and trimming the hedges. I used to enjoy gardening, but something had to give. My many chooks are big alpaca fans also, although my dogs now keep a respectful distance.

I keep in touch with the ‘real’ world by working in Sydney for the legal profession’s insurer 3 days a week, defending professional negligence claims against solicitors. Someone has to pay those feed bills.

Sandra & I have had alpacas for 7 years and up till recently lived in the Hawkesbury Region, where we were primarily turf farmers. We have escaped the rat race and have semi retired to the peace and balmy weather of Burrapine, near Macksville. We not only have our small herd of alpacas on our 234 acres but cattle and Boer goats. I have been on the committee in the Hawkesbury for approx. 5 years, the last 2 as secretary and I now look forward to serving on this committee and getting acquainted to the members of Central Coast & Hunter.

Charlie & I have had alpacas for 7 years and up till recently lived in the Hawkesbury Region, where we were primarily turf farmers. We have escaped the rat race and have semi retired to the peace and balmy weather of Burrapine, near Macksville. We not only have our small herd of alpacas on our 234 acres but cattle and Boer goats. I have been on the committee in the Hawkesbury for approx. 5 years, the last 2 as secretary and I now look forward to serving on this committee and getting acquainted to the members of Central Coast & Hunter.

My history with Alpacas is very similar to Frances' below. We've had alpacas for about 5 years suffering the highs of new cria, and the lows of loss to dog attack. We started out with the Alpacas in South Australia and moved to NSW in 2002. We have a 25 acre property in Bucketty NSW which has no grass and sand instead of soil since the drought bit, so we ajist our alpacas in better locations until we can fix up the property.

I'm an "independent" IT consultant (information security, architecture, and other stuff!) by trade, but I've been running our business for 12 years handling the financial matters and dealing with VAT and GST in various countries. I worked as a Sarbanes-Oxley auditor for Westpac at one time and have experience in various financial institutions.

Although i'm not really qualified to be treasurer I hope to do a good impartial job managing the accounts (with help from my fellow committee members!) and live up to Wayne's (who did an outstanding job for so many years and now (i'm told) wants to spend more time dong all the jobs he's been putting off!) legacy.

I, along with my husband Elvin, and daughter, Lucyanne, have been involved with alpacas since 1994.Having an up close and personal experience with these wonderful creatures on a visit to Berrima, Southern Highlands, I convinced Elvin that farming with these animals would be something special and challenging. We then embarked on a fact finding mission to learn as much as we could before purchasing any alpacas. This involved Field Days at a number of studs, joining the Alpaca Association, attending seminars, conferences and courses until finally we purchased 2 wethers who were agisted near our property on the Mid North Coast of N.S.W. Our learning curve began in earnest once we moved permanently onto our property in 2001, and 2 pregnant females with their crias, 2 wethers and 1male joined us. Since then our herd has grown to 42, we have built our own home, constructed paddocks and sheds, and settled into the local community. As a qualified pre-school teacher I co-ordinate 2 Playgroups in the district as well as taking an active role in our Church affairs.

Raised on a mixed farm I have been involved in agriculture all my life. A few years after we married Bronwyn and I bought some land on the outskirts of Armidale where we raised fat lambs and beef cattle. Living on a creek there was always a problem with foxes at lambing time so in 2000 we investigated purchasing a wether to run with the ewes. We came home with a pregnant female and a young male to keep her company. This was our start into alpacas. Since then we have travelled all over Eastern Australia and to Western Australia purchasing our breeding stock. We now have about 80 animals and all the sheep but a pet lamb, the size of a small calf, is left.

We became involved with the SRS method of assessing density and length which we expect to significantly lift the quality of our herd and the quantity and quality of the fleece. Our aim is to develop the enterprise to around 200 breeding females producing animals that cut at least 5kg of sub 20 micron wool per year. That should keep us focused for a few years at least. Also we run workshops for breeders on animal health & breeding programmes led by leading practitioners in the alpaca industry.

In my other life I am a head teacher at Armidale High School and a Careers Adviser at the school. Bronwyn has a nurse/midwife & education background which is very useful with the birthing and husbandry aspects. We have three children, two daughters working in the city and a son studying science at University. Unfortunately none of them are fighting over the inheritance of our alpaca herd.

We are both very keen to learn more about developing the fleece of alpacas and promoting the virtues of the fibre to anyone who will listen. We thoroughly enjoy the animals and the friendships we have developed through the alpaca industry.

I am principal of a specialist medical practice treating varicose veins (phlebology) and also performs non-surgical cosmetic procedures. I was introduced to alpacas by my wife Deanne and together we have been breeding Huacaya and Suri alpacas since 2002.

My wife and I moved to our stud El Prado Alpacas, a 100 acre farm in the lower Hunter wine country at Luskintyre in 2003 and are breeding fine white Huacaya, fine white-fawn suris and are attempting to improve the darker coloured Huacaya.

Previous administrative experience I have includes founding President of the Australasian College of Phlebology, a position held from 1994 to 2003. Currently I am editor of the ANZ Journal of Phlebology and on the Board of Censors for the College.

I have a particular interests in nutrition, genetics and structural fibre characteristics of alpacas.