Marshfield Crosskeys LtdThe Farm
Marshfield Crosskeys Ltd use some of the land for keeping the Alpacas. These lovely sheep have a unique character and our on view to our caravan and camping guests.
Phone us : 01432 820101 or mobile 07745262413
Email us : enquiry@marshfieldcrosskeys.co.uk
Totally free range farm eggs for sale
We have a choice of freshly laid eggs for sale from our extensive free range chickens, call in at Marshfield Crosskeys to collect your next batch of eggs.
Alpacas(latin name - vicugna pacos)
These are domesticated species of South American camelid developed from the wild alpacas. They resemble a sheep in appearance, but are larger and have a long erect neck as well as coming in many colors, whereas sheep are generally bred to be white.
Alpacas were originally kept in herds that grazed on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile.
Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas were not bred to be beasts of burden but were bred specifically for their fibre. Alpaca fibre is used for making knitted and woven items, much as sheep's wool is. These items include 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 colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States. Alpacas and llamas differ in that alpacas have straight ears and llamas have banana-shaped ears. Aside from these differences, llamas are on average 1-2 feet taller and proportionally bigger than alpacas.
In the textile industry, "alpaca" primarily refers to the hair
of Peruvian alpacas, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally
made from alpaca hair but now often made from similar fibers, such as mohair,
Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality English wool. More
about Alpacas
