'Best show ever' as alpacas pack in crowds

WARWICK SMITH/Manawatu Standard

SUPERSTAR: Alpaca Waiheke Snowshell, with handler Ashlee Peters, at the auction yesterday. Snowshell sold for $40,000.

Relevant offers

She's one of the only alpacas of her kind in New Zealand, and at a cool $40,000 Waiheke Snowshell is definitely the most expensive.

The white female huacaya alpaca went under the hammer at the 2009 National Alpaca Sale in Feilding yesterday, fetching a record $40,000 from an overseas investor.

Buyers came from as far as Britain and Fiji to bid on the eight elite alpacas, held on the last day of the 2009 Alpaca Expo at Manfeild Park.

Breeder and previous owner Keenan Scott, who owns alpaca stud Waiheke Alpaca, said Snowshell was well-known in the industry for her high-quality fleece.

"She's one of the best in the world, she's one of a really elite breed of animal," Mr Scott said.

"There's been a lot of buildup to this auction. These animals have been selected for months."

Alpaca fibre is treasured for its fine texture.

Snowshell had a coat that was "as fine as cashmere," Mr Scott said. Her selling price of $40,000 beat the previous record of $32,000, making her the most expensive alpaca in New Zealand.

Though Mr Scott would be sad to see Snowshell go, he still had five of her siblings among the 200 alpacas on his breeding farm, and had bought another alpaca to take home black suri Sherlin Breeze, a steal at $14,000.

His aim was to breed an animal with fibre even softer to the touch than cashmere, he said.

Expo organiser Eric Lister said about 6000 visitors came to check out the national fair, held in Feilding for the first time this year.

"Every single bed in the town was booked out they're all putting pressure on me to run it again, people are saying it was the best national show ever."

Sellers left happy, and there was a steady flow of people in to see the 440 alpaca breeds, fleeces and alpaca crafts, with the recession not seeming to have too much impact on the top sellers.