Aussies hungry for alpaca meat

An alpaca meat producer says he can't export because the demand for the product in Australia is growing so quickly.

Ian Frith, from Berry in southern NSW, says he's already sold 10 tonnes of alpaca meat into the restaurant trade this year.

He's been producing alpaca meat for 18 months now, but his animals are also bred for genetics, fleece, hides and live export.

Mr Frith says alpacas are no longer an expensive animal to buy.

A smoked alpaca leg produced in Berry in NSW.
Some of the other alpaca cuts include strip loin, rump, shoulder
roll, back straps and neck rosettes.

"Twenty years ago when the animals first came in, yes you were looking at $20,000, $25,000, $60,000," he said.

"My stud animals, yes I've got one there insured for $250,000 but they're breeding and my genetics.

"But these ones we buy, we breed; it's not expensive because they're not the creme de la creme, they're being bred for their confirmation and their meat."

For meat production, the Huacaya breed is preferable over the Suri alpaca.

"We find with Suris, while the meat is exactly the same, they don't carry the same amount of body of meat, because they've got a flimsier frame," he said.

"When we kill the animals, we look at dressing at 58 to 59 per cent, which gives us a 40-kilo carcass and that's the Huacaya."

Some of the alpaca cuts include strip loin, rump, shoulder roll, back straps and neck rosettes.

Mr Frith says at 94 to 95 per cent fat free, it's a very lean meat.

"It's very high in iron, very high in protein, very low in cholesterol, but it can also be very unforgiving when you're cooking, because it hasn't got that fat in it."

The alpaca breeder describes the meat as tasting somewhere between lamb and veal.

Source: ABC News, 5 April 2013