About Us

Yuralee is managed and owned by Peter and Susan Nielson and their family. We became interested in alpacas back in 1995, and recognising the future of the industry we were quick to begin learning about these wonderful animals and their capabilities as fleece producers before acquiring our first alpacas back in 1996. That was the beginning of Yuralee.

Yuralee is one of the oldest established alpaca studs in South-Eastern NSW having been established, as previously mentioned, near Bega in 1996.  Susan spent four years on the committee of the Australian Alpaca Association (AAA)(Southern NSW Region) during its early years and is again a member of the comittee for 2007/2008.   Meanwhile Peter was a steward at many Alpaca Shows, and we both worked hard to promote the industry at shows and events held by the Southern NSW Region of the AAA.  With Susan on the Committee of the Far South National Coast Show we convened and organised the Alpaca Section of that show for four years.  During 1998 as Yuralee grew it became apparent that bigger more capable premises were needed and the search was on to find a new home for the herd. This cumulated in 1999 when we found our present home on the edge of the picturesque village of Candelo.

Later when the AAA determined that there was a need for a Market assurance Program to ensure the health of alpacas, Yuralee was once again in the forefront being one of the first studs in the local area to adopt the MAP program and more recently joined the Q-Alpaca program.

To ensure that we have a well managed and healthy herd of Alpacas we work with our local Veterinarians. Healthy animals breed healthy babies therefore increasing the viability of our Alpaca herd. Peter who previously specialised in the transport industry has turned this to our clients advantage by meeting the transport needs for their Alpacas.

More recently we have seen the perceived benefit to the Alpaca fleece Industry from the SRS®Alpaca’s Australia and we are the first stud in south-eastern NSW to join with this group of far sighted fellow breeders to further improve the fineness and quality of our fleece and the fleece carrying capacity of these animals.

During a recent Yuralee Herd review Dr Jim Watts SRS ® Advisor commented:

“This Huacaya herd has excellent frame and I suspect high fertility. Most of the hembra have the ‘Triple Wedge’ conformation (see photo)

that we are selecting for in SRS®breeding programs in order to improve (indirectly) the feed conversion efficiency and weaning percentage of the alpaca. I consider the frame and fertility to be two important features of the herd which must not be diminished”

(Dr Jim Watts Alpaca Classing Report: Yuralee Alpacas 15/10/2006).

In 2004 with well over 200 breeding females in our herd, and many show ribbons to our credit, we decided to take a different approach.  As our plan had always been to be commercial producers we sold off many very good quality female Alpacas to other breeders often meeting the most stringent health and breeding requirements for animals selected for Embryonic Transfer. Our herd now comprises 100 breeding females with 60/70 of these being core quality-breeding females and 20 excellent quality young maidens ascending to a breeding role our numbers are on the rise once again.

In the near future we intend to be SRS® seedstock producers. However in the interim we are currently able to offer a limited number of females for sale that have been assessed by Dr Jim Watts and are pregnant to SRS® breeding males, who are also multiple Broad-ribbon show winners. Our female's fleece breeding qualities will continue to improve in the on going process of breeding the perfectly fleeced alpaca that is of high fertility and has excellent conformation. In addition we are making steady progress in breeding Alpacas with significantly higher feed-conversion.

Over the years we have helped many new breeders into the industry (click here to see just some of our client testimonials).  At Yuralee we believe it is important to match the animal to the purchasers needs and we spend a lot of time achieving this. Yuralee’s evolving business and breeding plans have enabled us to sell to established breeders who are looking for new and improved genetics to improve their herds.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our advice and look upon our clients as part of the Yuralee family to whom we offer ready assistance, together with reputable advice and quality but realistically priced animals. If you buy an animal from Yuralee you can count on support and advice from people with a real depth of experience in the industry.