JOSIE Bugeja couldn't bring herself to farm alpacas for meat.

But after travelling to Peru to learn more about her favourite animals, she said the alpaca meat industry held a lot of potential for Australia.

"I couldn't do it, I'm too attached to them," she said.

"But that's the way it will go. We need to be able to do more with the animal in Australia.

"And it's such a lean, tender meat. I've heard it's really good for cholesterol too."

Mrs Bugeja had wanted to travel to Peru since she began breeding alpacas at her Jarravale farm in 2005 and from April 24-May 28 she finally made the trip with husband Lawrence.

While she couldn't sell her own for slaughter, she did taste Peruvian alpaca.

"When people come and see our alpacas the first thing they ask me is what it tastes like," she said.

"So now I know, it's like beef, it's very tender.

In Peru, they were predominately farmed for meat.

"And because alpacas only have two toes, they are better on the land than horses and cattle," she said.

The trip gave them plenty of insight into the animals and she said seeing them living at high altitude and in snow explained why her 51 alpacas went to great lengths to stay cool.

"They acclimatise to the tropics," she said.

"But they still go on the shed's concrete floor with their legs splayed out, to keep their bellies cool on the floor.

"And they fight over the sprinkler when we turn it on."