SNOWDEN — Some women approaching middle age take jobs or go back to school when their kids leave the nest. Others take up hobbies or start businesses.

Joon Powell/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Tori Sawyer, 16, calms a young alpaca after its first shearing in Snowden on Friday morning. At top right is alpaca farmer Leslie Leake.

Joon Powell/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Maggie Sims examines bags of alpaca fleece.

Joon Powell/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Professional alpaca shearer Jamie Jones inspects an alpaca in Snowden.

When Leslie Watson-Leake's children left home some six years ago, she went out and bought an alpaca.

It wasn't completely a whim.

Watson-Leake had read up on alpacas, the South American cousin of llamas, camels and giraffes. But at $12,000 each, buying one was a lot like bringing home a sports car. In fact, Watson-Leake's husband, John, quips that the couple didn't "talk for a while" after she bought the animal.

The couple's awkward silences didn't last long, however.

The Leakes, who then lived in Chesapeake, began breeding alpacas and shearing them for their fleece in 2001. After moving to a farm in Snowden, in Currituck County, in 2004, the couple set up AlpacaNaca Farm. They currently care for about 30 alpacas, half of which they own, the other half belonging to owners who've bought the animals from them.

What eventually won John Leake over?

"Making money," he says.

Breeding alpacas is extremely lucrative. One female can fetch about $18,000, and a half-interest in one male alpaca recently sold for $750,000, Watson-Leake says.

"so we now have our first $1 million alpaca," she said.

On average, the Leakes say they sell about one alpaca a month.

The alpacas' fleece, which is sheared in April, is also valuable.

"A full grown male animal can shear between six and 13 pounds (of fleece), depending on their density," Watson-Leake said. "When you sell it raw you sell it by the ounce. You can earn $3-4 an ounce."

Alpacas, which resemble sheep but are larger and have a long, erect neck and have fleece of many colors, have always been valuable animals. The Incas were the first people to domesticate alpacas and the animals' fleece was then considered 'the fiber of the gods," Watson-Leake says.

"If you were not royalty and were caught wearing alpaca you were instantly put to death," she said.

Increasing the value of the alpacas is the fact that they can no longer be imported into the United States from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile where they're kept in herds. Consequently, demand exceeds supply.

Watson-Leake believes there is tremendous potential for alpaca breeders. North Carolina State University's School of Textiles, for example, has produced a business plan that details potential products that can be made from alpacas' fleece, enlisting the help of Italian clothes designers in the effort.

According to Wikipedia, the number of items made from alpaca fiber include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarfs, socks and coats.

While AlpacaNaca Farm is believed to be the only operation of its kind in northeastern North Carolina, there is a cluster of alpaca farms in the western part of the state. Watson-Leake believes there may now be enough interest to get yarn and clothing makers to switch over to producing alpaca products.

"We are at a number ... where some of the major mills in North America can be convinced to convert their equipment over so as we can create a North American industry," she said.

Alpaca products are also easy to wear, Watson-Leake says.

"Alpaca is hypoallergenic. Everyone can wear it," she said. "It comes in 27 natural colors; it is a purely organic product."

For Watson-Leake the income from breeding alpacas and selling their fleece was important. But there was something else drawing her as well.

"At that time in your life you start to reassess what you want to do with the rest of your life. I guess you can say it was like my mid-life crisis," she said. "It was a way of channelling that nurturing instinct into another area."

She shows her affection for the alpacas by giving names to each of them at AlpacaNaca Farm. There's Thunder Boy, Grand Slam, Mr. T and The Sundance Kid.

The Leakes began shearing their alpacas last week. With the weather becoming increasingly warmer, it was a necessity, Watson-Leake said.

"they don't like it but we have to get (the fleece) off them or they will die," she said.

The Leakes are currently eying yet another business opportunity from alpacas. They're considering opening a shop in September that would sell products made from alpaca fiber.