ABOUT US

Mangowood farm Alpacas is owned and operated by Bruce Porter and Barb Ransby. We re-located from Canberra in 1993, for now what they call a "tree change". We built our home, and bred Murray Grey cattle for many years.

Anna Gash, a colourful local identity, taught my mother and myself to spin using Ashford Traditional spinning wheels, on a deck in Nimbin, what an initiation.

After visiting Primex at Casino and the Alpaca stand I was impressed by the softness and feel of the fleeces, which I purchased and then spun, this commenced our interest into everything Alpaca.

While on a trip down south, we visited Ian and Angela Pruess in Victoria, then 'Pinjarra Alpacas', after viewing many alpacas, we knew what direction we would take, to breed black and grey Suri Alpacas.

In April 2006 we purchased our first black female Suri Alpacas, and continue to add varied Suri bloodlines into our herd when required. We are also interested in Huacaya Alpacas, especially grey and blue-blacks, their fleeces are wonderful for spinning and felting.

LOCATION

Mangowood Farm Alpacas, at Lillian Rock, is situated between Kyogle and Murwillumbah in the Richmond Catchment area of the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales.

Lillian Rock has the best of both worlds, rural living but within 20 minutes travelling time to Kyogle, 40 minutes to Lismore or Murwillumbah and an hour to Tweed Heads and the Gold Coast Airport, and 2 hours to Brisbane and the International Airport.

The Border Ranges National Park, a world Heritage listed rainforest Park, on the rim of the ancient volcano is but a 10 minute drive away. The Pinacle Lookout offers views of Mt. Warning, the escarpment and the coast line.

THE FARM

The Richmond catchment has the most fertile soils on the north coast, derived from the lava which flowed from Mt.Warning over 20 million years ago. With time and erosion the chocolate soils have evolved, rich soils with good draining capacity, ideal for pasture growth.

The property of 90 acres, on the rim of the caldera, consists of plateaus and sloping grasslands with balance of forested areas and a magnificant dam with varied wildlife, from sea eagles to black swans and offspring, ducks and other water birds, and eels.

OUR AIM

Our aim is to breed coloured Suri, specialising in black and grey, with the goal of producing the ultimate grey Suri Alpaca, with good conformation and long, soft, lustrous silky dense fibre, hanging close to the body, with a cold sensation when handled.

We are members of the Australian Alpaca Association Ltd, our region is South Queensland and Northern NSW, we are also members of the Australasian Alpaca Breeders Association.

We are members of the Q-Alpaca Programme a voluntary quality Assurance Program, developed by the industry for on-farm biosecurity. Biosecurity refers to various management practices that reduce the risk of introducing disease onto your farm.

MANGOWOOD FARM DESIGNS

With our range of natural coloured alpaca fleeces, black, grey, brown, fawn and white, we are hand picking and carding, the carded fleece either spun, knitted and crochet, or felted creating hats and garments, the silky fleece is wonderful to work with and the design possibilities are endless.