If anyone loves talking about alpacas its 13-year-old Jamie Harrison of Omokoroa who is an avid alpaca advocate.

The young Bethlehem College student and her family have 11 of the South American animals on their lifestyle block, and took one of their youngest males - Aspen – to join Graeme and Kay O'Dea of Ridgedale Alpacas in Hot Springs Road, for National Alpaca Day yesterday.

Jamie Harrison (13) of Omokoroa with Aspen her 14 month old macho (male) alpaca.

The public open day is an opportunity to get close to animals and learn more about the species.

'They are fun to be around. You can go into the paddock and they'll walk up and give you a kiss,” says Jamie, who is keen to become a vet.

The Harrison family's small flock of alpaca has its origins in those bred by the O'Deas who have, in the last 14 years since they began their own flock, helped many others get into the industry.

Kay says what began as an interesting hobby has grown into a small business based on breeding animals for sale and the handcrafts she makes from their high quality fibre.

Alpaca on Graeme and Kay O'Dea's Ridgedale Alpaca farm near Katikati were among those taking part in the National Alpaca Day on Sunday.

The couple have never lost their love of the animals, which they describe as calm and easy to work with. At one stage they had 60 animals on their 12ha block of land, making them one of the bigger alpaca farmers in the country.

However, they have reduced the numbers to around 25 in recent years, and run a few beef cattle on the farm too.

The open day is an opportunity for people who don't normally have the chance to get close to animals to do so, says Graeme. Alpaca have such a quiet temperament there is no concern about letting people, including children, feed and pet them.

'Alpaca are ideal for lifestyle farmers as they don't need a lot of land and you can have as few as two, but never one alone as they are very social animals.”

Nationally herd numbers are growing slowly with the biggest breeders having up to 180 alpaca.

Kay and Graeme O'Dae have been breeding alpaca for 14 years and were among the 6 Bay of Plenty alpaca owners to open their farms to the public on Sunday.