The long-necked, doe-eyed camelid is not often associated with a good burger, despite being a staple of South American cuisine.
But Australian Alpaca Association president Ian Frith said an alpaca meat trade was "imperative" to the future growth of the industry.
Mr Frith said meat production was the third leg of a stool — if that stool was a metaphor for the alpaca industry — with the other two legs being fleece and genetic breeding.
"Sometimes that little stool can be rocky, so if you add the third leg you've got a steady platform to take the industry forward," he said.
Earlier this year Mr Frith announced an ambition to double the national herd by 2021.
Mr Frith keeps more than 5,000 alpacas on his farms at Berry and Binda in New South Wales.
To help create a viable supply chain, he also bought his own abattoir in 2016.
"We go through 50-plus tonnes of alpaca meat a year through our sales," Mr Frith said.
"It is the future. The export demand is huge.
"[Exporting] will triple our turnover, so we've got to get more animals on the ground."
Mr Frith said the industry had tried to transform itself from a hobbyist pastime to a viable part of Australian agriculture.
"The truth is if you're going to be a rural, sustainable industry you've got to go forward and make those markets," he said.
"If you do your maths … you will make a very good living, but you must sell the products your alpaca gives.
"Don't cry and think 'they're too cute, I couldn't eat them' — so are lambs, so are baby goats, so are calves and so are chickens."
Mr Frith markets his products to restaurants as a gourmet delicacy, but he said it was unlikely to be a common fixture of the mainstream Australian diet any time soon.
WA late to the BBQ
While states such as New South Wales and Victoria are embracing the meat trade, Western Australia is not.
Mr Frith said it was because there were fewer large breeders and WA was more isolated.
Most breeders in WA have herd sizes below 50, according to Australian Alpaca Association figures.
Len Baxter, president of the WA branch of the association, has 50 alpacas on his hill-top property in Gidgegannup, about 40 kilometres north-east of Perth.
Mr Baxter thought the industry in WA was static.
"Over the last few years all of the alpaca breeders have developed to a certain stage, but have now levelled off a bit," he said.
"The big focus for many years was on the fibre, but as you get more and more animals and a lot of males, of course you cannot use all the males that are bred.
"The obvious answer is meat."
But Mr Baxter said the meat trade in WA would develop slowly.
"It's going to be the upper end of the market restaurants and the like … but it won't be for every household," he said.
Bucking the trend
One butcher having a go is Gary Hine, owner of The Naked Butcher in Mundaring, in the Perth hills.
He started buying alpaca meat off a small breeder about five years ago, and his mustard and alpaca sausages have been an eye-catcher in the window ever since.
"It's very similar to goat meat, it's quite sweet," Mr Hine said.
"They have good carcases and good yield on them. People who try it once will come back and try it again."
Mr Hine said finding a constant supply was tough, and he would sell more if he had it.
"We'll get through a carcase a week easily," he said.
His supplier is Keis Alpacas, which is run by husband and wife, Keith and Isi Cameron.
They rear their herd of about 60 alpacas on a property in York, about 100 kilometres east of Perth.
Even though they specialise in the black alpaca wool, Mrs Cameron said meat production was an important part of their business.
"We focus on the bluest of black alpaca wool we can possibly get," she said.
"Like all of us, they will go grey…. [and] their fleece cannot be used in our clips, our bails to go away. Those then will be culled either for meat or sent away.
"So we decided to enter the meat market, which has been very successful for us."
The Camerons process their alpacas at an abattoir in Corrigin, the only one with camelid certification in the state.
"Initially it was hard," she said.
"It was brand new for everyone.
"They're taller than sheep so they couldn't go where sheep go. They're not as big as cattle so they couldn't go through the cattle chute."
Mr Cameron said having multiple product lines from the alpacas kept the farm profitable.
"It just keeps the dollar sign ticking over," he said.
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