Everything you needed to know about alpacas...

About 120 entries are already in, for competitions which will be going on all day, under cover, from 9.30am. Entrance is free, and so is parking, and spectators are invited.

The York & District Guild for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, will have an exhibition of woven and knitted products made from alpaca fibre.

Alpacas are a domesticated version of the wild South American vicuna and a member of a camel family group known as lamoids. Twenty years ago there were only a couple of hundred in the UK, mainly in zoos.

But they have become popular with hobby farmers and a growing number of professionals breed them and harvest their ultra-fine fleeces. It is estimated there are now more than 30,000 of them in the UK and that there will be 100,000 by 2015.

The Yorkshire Alpaca Group has organised Tim Hey, of Wiltshire, to commentate and run the judging at Thirsk.

The last two shows were organised by Lawrence Waller of Brookfield Alpacas, near Whitby, but he has handed over to Tina Metcalfe of Moss Carr Lodge, near Doncaster, who got into alpacas after a serious riding accident.

“They are a lot easier to handle than horses,” she says.

The deadline for entries to the main competition has passed. But new ‘fun classes’, including Junior Handler, Handsomest Boy Alpaca and Prettiest Girl Alpaca, will remain open until the eve of the show. Call Julia Smith on 01427 754748 to ensure penning is available.

The Border Mill will display their yarn, buy fleeces and answer any questions on the processing of fleece at their mini-mill. The York & District Guild for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers will have an exhibition of woven and knitted products made from alpaca fibre. Suppliers of feeds, paddock equipment, transport, socks and scarves, duvets etc, will also be exhibiting.

The British Alpaca Society says: “There are four species of South American camelid: llamas and alpacas are domesticated and vicuna and guanaco remain wild and are protected species. All four are found mainly in Peru, in the Andes, with smaller numbers in Chile and Bolivia. Alpacas were domesticated from the wild vicuna six to seven thousand years ago.

“The Incas were very successful in further refining the alpaca for better fibre quality. When the Spanish invaded Peru in 1532, they destroyed the breeding programmes and the alpacas were decimated in numbers and quality in favour of sheep.

“But there are thought to be about 3.5 million alpacas in South America and they are now being successfully bred in North America, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, China and throughout Europe.”

Salt of the earth

ALPACA fibre was popularised in Britain by Sir Titus Salt, founder of Salt’s Mill and builder of the factory village at Saltaire, Bradford.

In 1834, he found some of the fibre going begging in a Liverpool warehouse and recognised its virtues.

He found a way to mix it into soft and lustrous cloths which made his name and laid the foundations of his fortune.

Salt later served as Mayor of Bradford and was made a baronet by Queen Victoria.