About Us

Braeside Alpacas has been in the business of breeding quality fibres for craft use for 18 years. Up until mid 2008 our flock of sheep and later our herd of alpacas were grazing our little farm near Crookwell which was blessed with granite soils, native pastures and scenery to match.

However our circumstances have changed and we are now settled in the picturesque O’Connell Valley half way between Bathurst and Oberon. We were fortunate to find a small farm on the slopes facing north with mature trees and native pastures. We have plenty of work to do with building fences, fertility and biodiversity, but we are confident our animals will thrive here.

We first started out with coloured crossbred sheep. We were interested in the “moorit” gene, which gives fleece ranging in colour from champagne to deep red brown. With careful selection and choice of rams (very hard to find), the flock is a consistent winner of broad ribbons in fleece shows.

The flock could now be described as corriedale—medium type—with fleece in the range of 25 to 28µ and a standard deviation of around 3µ. Our sheep are selected for long stapled, soft handling, lustrous, stylish fleeces on a sturdy frame. Colours range from cream, a full range of fawns, brown, grey and nearly black.

The alpacas were added to our farm in 1998, initially as stock guards. These bright, alert creatures have excellent long-range vision and serve to alert the flock of danger, and actually chase foxes away. We really enjoyed having Jet (black of course) and Rusty (red brown of course) around and pretty soon after, we bought our first female and I basically switched from spinning wool to spinning alpaca!

With both our alpacas and our sheep, we are aiming to breed fibre that is a delight to prepare and a pleasure to spin—soft handle, lustrous and stylish with a full range of colours.

We also sell breeding stock in alpacas, and guard or spinning wethers. Our entry point is not stud stock, but good easy breeders and good mothers: perfect for the small breeder looking to increase their herd with healthy reliable females, of good Peruvian and Chilean bloodlines.

Sires that have influenced our herd include: Purrumbete Inti, Peruvian Don Julio, Peruvian Heritage, Purrumbete Brigantine, Jolimont Biando, Purrumbete Highlander, Peruvian Sonoma, Suricaya Black Night, Purrumbete Oscar and Wyona Nazcan Chief.