And some excellent females have sold for quite a bit more.
Alpacas are expensive for several reasons.
First of all, there aren't that many of them. As more and more people worldwide learn the advantages of alpaca ranching, demand continues to exceed supply. Second, the U.S. alpaca population grows slowly. Females only have one baby a year, and we have stopped importations of alpacas from South America to maintain the high quality of our current herd. Finally, artificial insemination has been found to be very difficult in alpacas for physiologic reasons.