An Open Letter to Alpaca Breeders: Males for Nunoa

You can help Peruvian farmers!

I am writing to tell you of an opportunity for you personally to make a difference in the lives of poor farmers in the southern Peruvian highlands. I have been associated with the Nunoa Project in Puno District in Peru for five years. We have been working in the small farming town of Nunoa to improve the lives of alpaca farmers there. The local economy relies totally on the sale of alpaca fleece. Over the past three years we have seen the prices decrease from $3 per pound to $1 per pound! This has had a profound negative impact on the lives of the alpaca farmers there as you can well imagine. They use the income from yearly sales to buy everything they need. Most communities are able to grow their own potatoes and quinoa for food but some are at too high in elevation and cannot even do that. They must purchase food, clothing, medicines, cooking supplies, etc. from the money they get from sales of alpaca wool and a small amount of meat.

We have worked with three poor communities in the area. The local mayor selected these communities as being particularly in need of assistance. In assessing their herds it became apparent that they have three main problems. Firstly they experience periodic high cria loss rates approaching 60% in some years due to an untreatable disease called enterotoxemia. This disease results in sudden deaths of crias in the first two months of their lives. The area was not familiar with a very effective Peruvian vaccine which will virtually eliminate this terrible disease. We have provided this vaccine to one other farm in the area for two years and their losses have ended. The new local government has seen these results and now plans to provide vaccine for many farmers this fall. Pneumonia causes the second highest cria losses as newborns are delivered during the rainy season from December through March and if weak at all succumb to respiratory infections. Antibiotics may help but most communities are too poor to afford them. We are exploring the idea of cria shelters for newborns at risk with the local government.

Now comes the part where you can help. The other major areas of need are in improving birthing rates and fleece quality. The three farms selected by the mayor all have a common problem- not enough top quality males are being used to breed the herds each year. This results in low pregnancy and birthing rates, typically 30 to 40%. Another financially stable, well managed farm in the region routinely achieves birthing rates of 80%. It can be done in Nunoa. On top of the low birthing rates there is the issue of poor quality wool in herd sires. If you combine the low production from poor reproductive management, cria deaths, and poor quality wool you can see that the cash crop, alpaca fleece, continues to decline in value every year. This of course results in less and less income, worsening the cycle of poverty. In spite of all of this the people are upbeat and very hospitable. They are extremely hard workers and dedicated to their animals. It is obvious each time we work with them on their herds. It has taken time to gain their trust but we have it and have promised to help them.

We now need your financial help. Our plan in conjunction with the local animal authorities is to provide four top quality males to each of the three communities selected by the government. We need to do this in November. We can purchase these animals from a local farm for $10,000. Twelve top quality males for that small sum! If you would help us with a donation to the Nunoa Project of at least $1000 then in a short time the money would be available for this initial project and we can get it going for this year’s breeding season. That’s only 10 US farms contributing $1000 each. Please start the project off by sending your tax deductible donation today made out to Nunoa Project by credit card donation HERE or by mail to:

The Nunoa Project
Victoria Flahie, Treasurer
2902 Shetland Road
Toledo, Ohio 43617

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email me.

You personally can make a huge difference in the lives of many Peruvian farm families,

Steve Purdy, DVM President, Nunoa Project Peru