A life packed

By Jim Mynard
ROBERT and Helen McLeod of Kalpara Park Alpacas, Tynong, were mentioned in despatches during the Berwick Show president’s dinner on Saturday, 28 February, but not by name.
Show president Gordon Cumming commended the enormous team of people who worked hard to make the annual show a success and to maintain its 160-year-old tradition.
Robert and Helen were on that team.
Robert worked all day Saturday as a steward and Helen worked in the alpaca section so they both, with many others, earned the president’s gratitude.
They own and run the Kalpara Alpaca stud at Gleeson Road, Tynong, but on this occasion the animals were left at home.
Robert was born and bred in the country and grew up on a dairy farm.
Although he moved to the suburbs as he grew older, the pull of the land was all powerful.
He was born at Morwell, lived at Yinnar, and attended the Yinnar State School.
The family later moved to Narre Warren where they owned a dairy farm near the old Narre Warren tip.
Helen’s family lived in Dandenong and she was educated at Dandenong Girls’ School.
She worked for an insurance company and Robert became an electrician through an apprenticeship with Heinz 57 varieties.
Their lives came together when they met at a Uniting Church youth group and were married in 1967.
They have three children Cheryl, Brett, and Darren.
Helen said Robert wanted to get back on the land, but not into dairying so they considered their options, which resulted in ideas such as running an emu and deer farm that was eliminated for a range of reasons.
They now have about 100 alpacas.
Helen described herself as ‘really a city girl’.
“However, I like it here – it’s nice and quiet,” she said.
“We actually bought a few alpacas during 1990 before we came to Tynong and had them on agistment at Romsey.
“We bought the Gleeson Road farm in 1992 and started with only five or six animals.”
The alpaca is native to Peru and Chile and its larger cousin the llama was used as a pack animal.
Traditionally they were grazed in the mountains of Equador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile at heights of about 3500 to 5000 metres, equal to the height of Mt Buffalo in north-east Victoria.
But they also thrive in Australian conditions.
They are highly prized and protected in South America and produce an excellent fleece and also provide meat for a niche market in Australia.
Alpaca meat was once considered a delicacy by people living in the Andes, but Peruvian law has banned it from being served because of the animal’s protected status in that country.
The wool is used for making blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world.
The fibre comes in more than 52 natural colours as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States.
Creswick Knitting and Merino Gold use alpaca wool for their high quality knitwear.
Kalpara Park animals are registered with the Australian Alpaca Association, except for a few males that are neutered and sold as guardians to sheep and goat farmers.
Robert said they concentrated on one bloodline, so for the most part the mob is a family.
This comes from selecting those that have done well to retain in the mob.
“Some are in to the third generation of our line, with our oldest animal aged 17 and out to pasture, living a life of luxury because she will not be joined again,” he said.
Robert said they’d had one up to age 22 and she gave them babies until she was 18, but they generally lived to about 15.
“Kalpara Park is about 16 hectares (40 acres) and we run 60 on the home farm with 40 on a more than eight hectare (20-acre) turnout paddock that is mainly used to isolate the males,” he said.
“Males are called ‘macho’ females ‘hembra’ and babies ‘cria’.
“Between cria and adult they are called ‘tua’.
“Generally they are a placid animal, but once in a while a macho will want to be the boss and just now we’ve got one fellow with some younger males where he can be top of the mob without too much trouble.
“That’s for his own good because the older males in the out paddock won’t put up with it and could rough him up a little.”
Robert said the animal had single births with twins extremely rare and it was believed Australia had only three sets of alpaca twins.
“We don’t mate animals if they weigh less than 45 kilograms and they can have one cria every 14 months,” he said.
Robert and Helen have settled into a pattern of birthing the animals from September to March and they shear during November.
Wool provides a sideline to their main source of income that is mostly derived from breeding and selling.
They have good stock and this brings a demand to have their top machos joined with animals from other mobs, which is another source of revenue.
Animals are sold to lifestyle people on small properties as grass eaters and they are becoming more and more popular with sheep and goat farmers because they keep foxes and dogs away.
“Once we sell a couple in a district for guardian work, other farmers see what they can do and we get more demand for wethers,” he said.
Alpaca have been known to die defending sheep against a pack of wild dogs.
They will kick a fox down and pummel it with their front legs so that it is loath to return.
Robert said they avoided showing during the summer because the wool had not then reached the required 30 millimetres in length after a November shearing and the cria were too young.
“But we still help at the shows,” he said.
“We go to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show, Lardner Park, Sale and Alexandra with our breed.”
They hold two farm open days a year at Kalpara Park and are looking forward to National Open Week from Saturday 2 to Sunday 10 May and to Farmworld from Thursday, 26 March to Sunday, 29 March at Lardner Park.
Farm World is Australia’s Premier Mixed Farming Field Days held on more than 20 hectares (50 acres) of exhibition area. More than 650 exhibitors and 50,000 people attend the four-day annual event.
Farm World showcases farm machinery and equipment, pasture, fertilisers, irrigation, motor vehicles, nurseries, cattle and livestock including alpaca and working draught horses, cooking and home interest exhibitions.