About Us

Red Ridge Stud Alpacas We purchased our first 3 alpacas in 2003, a pregnant female with cria at foot and a little boy who turned out to be a gem, so although we are relatively new to the industry we are very focused to breed the very best we can, while enjoying our animals along the way.

We lived in Apple Tree Creek, Queensland, when we first ventured into the wonderful world of Alpacas. It was a great little town and our property had previously been a market garden and pineapple farm which meant it was great for growing anything except alpacas as we soon found out. The rich loamy soil dyed the fleece apricot, a colour we could have sold millions of if only it was genetic, but alas it wasn’t, so we decided to move somewhere more suitable. Hence the move to Retreat, 44km from Uralla NSW, 800m above sea level in a beautiful little valley in some of Australia’s best Fine Wool country.

We spent 18mths at Retreat, continued to show and grow our herd, and it was here that our darling Charlotte was born. A striking Rose Grey female out of one of our best females and sired by Coolaroo Ruffian.

At six months of age and her first show, Charlotte won Champion Junior Female. We were asked if we would consider putting her in the National Auction—for a small breeder this seemed like such an honour, but we decided to leave our options open.

Charlotte’s second show was Sydney Royal. Pete took the team down as I was bottle feeding a new born cria and decided to stay at home. The whole team did well winning First Class ribbons, and Charlotte went on to win Reserve Champion Junior female, Sydney Royal. For a grey to win this was pretty spectacular—usually if you’re not amongst the fabulous whites and light fawns you don’t get a look in. The next amazing thing to happen was an approach by an English buyer who offered us huge money for Charlotte, and so we sold our first export alpaca.

We have since repeated the mating and are producing some wonderful greys among other colours and whites with selective breeding and lots of homework. We are pleased to see that our breeding strategy is paying off with Supreme Champions and Reserve Champions gained with some of our latest progeny.

Rastus Retreat was a stepping stone for us and we now live at Kentucky, a lovely 100acre property with views, good grazing paddocks and easy access directly on the New England Highway, still in the beautiful New England area. This was a bare block when we bought it and so we lived in the caravan while we built the shed, then lived in the shed while we built the house ourselves. Pete works full time, I work part time and look after my 83yr old Mum who lives with us. We are still shaping and building the property but I guess that will be an ongoing project for years to come.

We now have 52 alpacas and more due on the ground this year. We are breeding animals with sound conformation and high quality dense fleece and we also believe good temperament is important. To achieve this we do a lot of homework when choosing a suitable stud male that will complement our females and add the next dimension to our plan to move forward.

We have made some wonderful friends in the industry and we love to have people visit us; whether to just to have a look, or to buy animals, please feel free to come and discuss Alpacas with us, it’s our favourite subject.