But it’s not milling wool from sheep, but from alpacas.

Alpaca owners Isabel and Nick Renters started up the Great Ocean Road Woollen Mill this month on their property at Ecklin South after encountering a long wait to get the fleece from their animals processed.

The couple said they found all of the small woollen mills in Australia had huge backlogs, forcing many alpaca owners to stockpile the fleece shorn from their animals.

They have spent more than $400,000 to import wool milling equipment from Canada and have done training in the 10-step process to produce balls and skeins of the luxury wool that sells for up to $25 for 100 grams.

They have since been kept busy with orders from throughout Australia and overseas.

Much of the alpaca wool goes to the craft market with people using it to create custom-made beanies, scarves and jumpers.

The German-born Mrs Renters said she fell in love with the soft feel of alpaca fleece after her mother bought some alpaca cardigans when on a visit from Germany to Australia.

The couple bought two alpacas and have since grown their herd to 12. 

They said there were 150,000 alpacas registered in Australia and many more that were unregistered.

The couple aim to not only fill orders to spin alpaca fleece for others but to also create their own alpaca wool brand.

Among the markets they want to target are international tourists travelling on the Great Ocean Road during the Australian summer who wanted to take home a warm Australian-made product to a chilly northern winter. 

They intend to hold open days to raise the mill’s profile and are also investigating selling online.

The Renter’s establishment of the mill in a 15 x 9 metre shed returns wool processing to south-west Victoria since the Warrnambool Woollen Mill closed in the 1990s. 

The Renters previously ran Farmshop 1580 from their property at 1580 Cobden-Warrnambool Road where they sold organically grown vegetables but have shut it to focus on their alpaca wool mill.