A message from the Skinner Family:
Quechua Enterprises was founded by and for the Skinner family children. It carries forward a deep dedication to the indigenous Quechua people of the Peruvian Andes - hardworking families who sustain themselves through subsistence farming, wild crafting, and raising livestock suited to the rugged highland terrain.
Medical resources in these remote highland communities are extremely limited. In partnership with the Quechua Benefit program, the Skinner family helped build a medical center that now provides essential healthcare to the Quechuan people who need it most.
In 2017, Snowmass Alpacas was sold to Lynn Edens of Little Creek/Accoyo America Farms in New York. With her generosity, the Skinner children were able to retain a select group of elite Snowmass Alpacas to continue a small but highly refined breeding program.
Today in 2026, the Quechua herd remains small yet exceptionally strong. The few alpacas we have sold are cherished as "gems" - the result of many decades of careful Snowmass breeding, now continued under the Quechua banner. Quechua Enterprise's (QE) is owned by 3rd generation Skinner children guided by parents, Don & Julie Skinner, who have been breeding alpacas for over 40 years. Their expertise in breeding exceptional alpacas has been their goal from the outset.
We have recently made available the first group of young males (born 2023 & 2024) with outstanding genetics, sold to Red Granite Ranch and Ironhide Alpacas, along with four incredible upcoming males. These carefully selected individuals carry forward the program with exceptional promise.
The ancestors of the alpaca, the vicuna, are the finest fleeced animals on the planet. Vicuna is the soundest in their genetic expression of fleece, as they are a wild species and have not been domesticated. Their microns consistently range from 13 to 15 microns, with a primary fiber that is 17 to 18 microns. These primary fibers are removed by the generational Peruvian people in the production of end products, making them truly finer than cashmere. They also only use a small area of the blanket of the vicuna as the wild markings of white bibs, and underbelly are more hair-like (primary fibers). The alpaca was domesticated from the vicuna in the Incan times and then added influence on the llama genetics in the Spanish Colonial times. This creates a strong frame alpaca with heavier fleece weights but also stronger, less consistently fine fleeces...
The Skinner breeding program has selected only the finest and most consistent fleeced individuals for their breeding program from Peru, which were smaller-framed and more true alpaca than the large specimens, showing some llama genetic traits. The Skinners fine-tuned this with a more selective process with a focus on color consistency in colored fleeced, meaning using Stud males that do not have the vicuna wild white bib and undercoat, rather solid color throughout, meaning an extension of finer fleece traits found in the blanket to be over the frame of the alpaca...
All of our breeding stock traces back to pure Snowmass Select genetics, honored over many years of dedicated refinement.
For detailed lineage information, pedigrees, or any additional questions about the available males, please feel free to contact Cadence Rarden of Ironhide Alpacas, whom we chose as a young, enthusiastic alpaca breeder showing so much promise for the Alpaca Industry moving forward to represent a select few alpaca stud males for Quechua Enterprises.
www.ironhidealpacas.com
[email protected]
~ Julie, Don, Nick, David, Maree, Heidi Skinner
Quechua Enterprises was founded by and for the Skinner family children. It carries forward a deep dedication to the indigenous Quechua people of the Peruvian Andes - hardworking families who sustain themselves through subsistence farming, wild crafting, and raising livestock suited to the rugged highland terrain.
Medical resources in these remote highland communities are extremely limited. In partnership with the Quechua Benefit program, the Skinner family helped build a medical center that now provides essential healthcare to the Quechuan people who need it most.
In 2017, Snowmass Alpacas was sold to Lynn Edens of Little Creek/Accoyo America Farms in New York. With her generosity, the Skinner children were able to retain a select group of elite Snowmass Alpacas to continue a small but highly refined breeding program.
Today in 2026, the Quechua herd remains small yet exceptionally strong. The few alpacas we have sold are cherished as "gems" - the result of many decades of careful Snowmass breeding, now continued under the Quechua banner. Quechua Enterprise's (QE) is owned by 3rd generation Skinner children guided by parents, Don & Julie Skinner, who have been breeding alpacas for over 40 years. Their expertise in breeding exceptional alpacas has been their goal from the outset.
We have recently made available the first group of young males (born 2023 & 2024) with outstanding genetics, sold to Red Granite Ranch and Ironhide Alpacas, along with four incredible upcoming males. These carefully selected individuals carry forward the program with exceptional promise.
The ancestors of the alpaca, the vicuna, are the finest fleeced animals on the planet. Vicuna is the soundest in their genetic expression of fleece, as they are a wild species and have not been domesticated. Their microns consistently range from 13 to 15 microns, with a primary fiber that is 17 to 18 microns. These primary fibers are removed by the generational Peruvian people in the production of end products, making them truly finer than cashmere. They also only use a small area of the blanket of the vicuna as the wild markings of white bibs, and underbelly are more hair-like (primary fibers). The alpaca was domesticated from the vicuna in the Incan times and then added influence on the llama genetics in the Spanish Colonial times. This creates a strong frame alpaca with heavier fleece weights but also stronger, less consistently fine fleeces...
The Skinner breeding program has selected only the finest and most consistent fleeced individuals for their breeding program from Peru, which were smaller-framed and more true alpaca than the large specimens, showing some llama genetic traits. The Skinners fine-tuned this with a more selective process with a focus on color consistency in colored fleeced, meaning using Stud males that do not have the vicuna wild white bib and undercoat, rather solid color throughout, meaning an extension of finer fleece traits found in the blanket to be over the frame of the alpaca...
All of our breeding stock traces back to pure Snowmass Select genetics, honored over many years of dedicated refinement.
For detailed lineage information, pedigrees, or any additional questions about the available males, please feel free to contact Cadence Rarden of Ironhide Alpacas, whom we chose as a young, enthusiastic alpaca breeder showing so much promise for the Alpaca Industry moving forward to represent a select few alpaca stud males for Quechua Enterprises.
www.ironhidealpacas.com
[email protected]
~ Julie, Don, Nick, David, Maree, Heidi Skinner
QE MALES AVAILABLE
SELLING BY QUECHUA:All currently reside at Ironhide Alpacas/Red Granite Ranch. Please click their names to learn more about each male.
|
OWNED BY IRONHIDE/RED GRANITE:
|
Seven elite males have been released from the Quechua Enterprise program, genetics that have not left the QE program for over 10 years, only selling overseas to an astute Polish breeder. Four of those seven are available for purchase directly from QE; the other three are available for limited breedings by Ironhide Alpacas & Red Granite Ranch, Ltd. From pure white excellence to deep, generational color excellence, these males each other something special. Breeders looking to take their program to the next level should look at these males.
As stated above, please reach out to Cadence for additional information about the males to find the perfect one for your program.
As stated above, please reach out to Cadence for additional information about the males to find the perfect one for your program.