On an alpaca farm in central King Country it's simply a matter of a female alpaca spitting or sitting when a male ventures near and the pregnancy test is done.
Photo: Susan Murray
If she spits that's a sign for him to move on. If she sits, come on over.
Alpaca females ovulate when they hear a male oogle, so if she didn't get pregnant during an earlier visit, in eight or ten minutes his repeat job is done.
"Speed dating," says co-owner of Nevalea Alpacas Leonie Walker.
Do they ever get it wrong?
"Occasionally, the young maidens are a little bit hard to tell," says husband Neville.
The Walkers have been farming alpacas for 15 or so years and steadily the numbers have climbed to 1100, making it the largest alpaca farm in New Zealand by a country mile.
The next biggest farmers only have 400 alpaca and even then there are only three or four. The average herd size is nine - large lifestyle farmers.
Neville says it's a shame the industry hasn't kept growing because there is great demand for the silky soft fibre and they earn "ten times more" from alpacas than they do from their 700 ewes.
Photo: Susan Murray
Everything they produce, garments and yarn they sell through their on-farm shop.
Leonie says lockdown was marvellous for wool sales.
"It just picked up since Covid. Everyone really got back into knitting because they were at home. And we kept on sending parcels out, it was all non contact."
Covid did put a dent in the farm tour side of the business where people could do treks or have a picnic with an alpaca.
Previously hardly a day went by without an overseas visitor popping in.
"But New Zealanders have been good.
"And now there are forward bookings through until March next year. Overseas are coming back, from the UK and Australia," Leonie says.
Last month Nevalea Alpacas featured in a New Zealand travel article in The Times in Britain and while it was news to the Walkers, Leonie says with a grin "they'll be most welcome."
Photo: Susan Murray
Photo: Susan Murray
Photo: Susan Murray
