WHEN Mike Coghlan retired, he found he had time on his hands. As he was cutting the grass on a six-acre paddock, he remembered a small photo he has seen in a magazine.

This had caught his interest then and his thoughts returned to the very cute animal in the picture. It was a cria, a baby alpaca. Originally he has planned to lease out the pasture but this didn't work out so he was looking for a way of avoiding having to mow it.

Later, he was at the Bath and West Show and came across the alpaca display. In those days, some 10 years ago, this was very small and consisted of a few of the first alpacas to be imported into the UK. It was love at first sight and Mike began to make enquiries. The British Alpaca Society (www.bas-uk.com) sent him information and a copy of the society magazine, "Alpaca". This contained adverts offering alpacas for sale, so Mike pursued his investigations, talking to some of the owners. He then went to Australia to visit his daughter only to find, a little to his surprise, that there were alpaca breeders there. He spent some time talking to them and asking questions. In the end, with advice from the breeder, he ordered six pregnant females to start his herd.

Early on, Mike made a couple of decisions. Firstly he decided he did not want to be an agent for another breeder but wanted to breed his own stock for sale. Secondly, he decided that he would never enter an imported animal in the show ring. He wanted to see the standard of British-bred alpacas improve to prize-winning quality.

When his alpacas arrived, Mike eagerly awaited the births. That first year, he had five male cria and only one female! However, his interest had been fired and he wanted to know more. That sent him on the long journey to Peru, one of the natural homes of the alpaca. He attended the third International Alpaca Fiesta in Arequipa in 1997. He was completely bowled over. The animals he saw there were so different from the ones in the UK. Their outstanding quality was obvious.

At the Fiesta, he learned of the Accoyo herd. This was developed at Macusani, Peru, by the renowned alpaca breeder, Don Julio Barreda. He has bred a line of alpacas with exceptionally uniform phenotypes and fine fleeces. Mike just knew that he had to obtain some Accoyo animals but at the time it was impossible to export them to the UK.

Mike's wife, Kate, is a professional flute player and teacher and, in 1998, she was invited to teach a term in Bloomington, Indiana. Mike joined her there and during that time remembered that he had been given a visiting card at the fiesta by Anthony Stachowski, a breeder of 10-12 years' experience and who was the first to import Accoyo animals into the USA. Mike got in touch and visited Anthony in Mantua, Ohio. It was a long drive but a very worthwhile one.

Anthony showed Mike his herd of around 150 animals, which again were superior to those Mike had seen back home and much more like those he had seen in Peru. Accoyos from the USA were not for sale either but Anthony had just imported 300 into Canada. The animals had been quarantined on a French island off the Canadian coast before moving to the mainland. Mike and Anthony went to see them and, with Anthony's help, Mike picked out three breeding males and nine females. Frustratingly, they had to reside in Canada for 12 months before they could be exported so they eventually arrived at Heathrow in August 1999 - on the day of the solar eclipse! After passing a veterinarian inspection, the animals travelled to Oxfordshire. In spite of being "on the road" for more than 36 hours, when they arrived, they simply walked out of the trailer and started grazing.

Thus Mike was the first person to import Peruvian alpacas into the UK. One male and two females had been imported for another breeder, so Mike was left with Don Carlos, a white male, and Don Camillo, a fawn animal, and seven females.

Almost immediately, Mike began winning prizes at major alpaca shows with their offspring. Don Carlos and Don Camillo were hired out a stud males and soon their offspring from other females were also lining up for prizes in the show ring.

Mike is particularly interested in the sire's progeny class which is for three offspring with the same father. He is very proud to have won this class four times out of six at the BAS National Show. While he obviously likes to win at the shows, he is equally pleased to be beaten by even better alpacas because that means that the standard is continuing to rise.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Mike attended the Australian National Alpaca Show in October 2003. Here he saw a superb animal, Cambridge Accoyo Cajamarca, in the ring. He tracked down the owners, Catherine and Matt Lloyd, and ended up importing him, two other males, six pregnant females and three cria at foot. In due course, they joined the Blenheim herd in April 2005. They were followed by three Australian-bred Accoyo alpacas from Shanbrook Alpacas, owned by Ron and Diane Condon.

Now the herd numbers more than 100 and Mike expects to sell 20-25 each year. He is one of around a dozen UK breeders who are genuinely breeding alpacas for sale rather than importing animals to sell on. It makes him very proud that there are now 17 UK herds with herd sires originating from Blenheim. He believes that this is one of the things that gives him the most enjoyment from his alpacas. As he says, they are intelligent, nice to handle and so beautiful.

However, 100 animals produce a lot of fleece every year and Mike firmly believes that the future for the alpaca in the UK lies in creating and maintaining a demand for the fibre. He was twice involved in unsuccessful attempts to establish a fibre cooperative and it became obvious that this was not going to be viable at present. This meant that he had to look for ways to promote and sell his fibre himself. Here he was helped by Kate who located a commercial spinning mill in Lancashire that, somewhat reluctantly at first, agreed to process the Blenheim clip.

In 2006, half a tonne, all graded by Mike, went for processing and, using the mill's network of contacts, the yarn was woven into natural-coloured fabrics which were then tailored into stunning coats, skirts and jackets. As Mike produces a lot of fine fibre with a diameter under 22 microns, this is ideal for blending with 30 per cent superfine merino wool to improve the processing.

Alpaca is a wonderful fibre. It is soft and warm and light, making an alpaca coat a joy to wear. Mike's experience is that these garments do not crease and they are also very hard wearing.

Following his success in 2006, Mike has bought-in fibre from other breeders in 2007 and intends to get it processed into fabric which he will then sell to tailors who will make and market their own garments.

It's been a long journey since he first saw those alpacas at the Bath and West but Mike wouldn't have changed it for anything. His final comment? "I've never had so much fun in my life!"