I want to make big money from alpaca farming and realize my dream of getting rich

Program highlights: He once struggled in Shanghai for more than 10 years, owning a company with more than 100 employees. Attracted by alpacas one day, he returned to his hometown grassland despite everyone's opposition, confident that he could turn alpacas into a big industry. How will he unfold the wealth of alpacas?

Autumn on the grassland is no longer the peak season for grassland tourism, but at this scenic area there is a group of tourists who have come specifically to witness the elegance of one kind of animal. What attracts everyone is these alpacas.

Tourist 1: I'm from Inner Mongolia, so I came here specially today to see an alpaca base like this. I've seen two or three of them before, but this is my first time seeing a herd of alpacas like this. It's really great.

Tourist 2: I came specially to see them, I came to Inner Mongolia just for them.

Reporter: Where did you come from?

Tourist 2: I'm from Harbin.

Tourist 3: Its eyes seem to have no whites, just black, and they're especially beautiful, big eyes. Especially cute, adorable, as the popular internet word goes, mengmengda.

Among the excited tourists, one female tourist suddenly made a bold and intimate move--like this, she wanted to feed a carrot to an alpaca with her mouth.

Tourist: Come here, come here. She likes alpacas, she really likes alpacas.

Reporter: Aren't you worried at all? Getting so close?

Tourist: Not worried at all. It's clean, it's not dirty.

Alpacas belong to the order Artiodactyla and the family Camelidae. They originated in South America, mainly distributed in the highlands of Peru and Chile, and are also found in Australia. The owner of these alpacas before us is Chi Haitao. In 2013 he introduced breeding stock from Australia and started artificial breeding of alpacas in Inner Mongolia. In three years, his alpaca herd has already reached more than 200. Chi Haitao told the reporter that farming alpacas is one of the most important choices in his life.

Chi Haitao: I think I'm over 40 this year, and choosing alpacas is my last career, I'll just keep doing it, I won't do anything else. I've set my sights on it, and I'm sure I can make it big. This will definitely make big money, big money - saying money is a bit vulgar - let's just say I can make it even bigger.

Reporter: What happened?

Tourist: It spat at her.

Yang Guoliang, general manager of a scenic area in Xilamuren Town, Damao Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: The person behind got spat right in the face.

These seemingly gentle alpacas, why did they suddenly start spitting at tourists?

Reporter: What does it feel like?

Tourist: Like being hit by a bunch of broken chalk tips.

Reporter: What about the smell?

Tourist: The smell is chive-like, a pungent smell.

Yang Guoliang, general manager of a scenic area: Chive smell.

Reporter: When do they usually spit?

Yang Guoliang, general manager of a scenic area in Xilamuren Town, Damao Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: When they're competing with each other, or when we don't sincerely feed them this tasty food, they get a little moody with each other, and then they (spit).

Chi Haitao: All right, all right, you keep teasing them and not letting them eat.

Reporter: What does this call mean?

Chi Haitao: Acting cute, acting cute to beg for food. Look how pitiful it is, hurry up and give it something to eat.

What business opportunity did Chi Haitao see in alpacas? How will he win wealth with alpacas?

Technician Song Yongxiao: It's angry, spitting.

When the reporter went to Chi Haitao's farm for an interview, Chi Haitao was leading workers to catch alpacas and check their teeth. The alpacas forcibly held were very angry and kept spitting. Spitting is the alpaca's self-defense.

Technician Song Yongxiao: Stop spitting, stop spitting, all right, it's angry, it's really angry.

Alpacas' teeth must be checked every year. Teeth that have grown too long like this need to be trimmed. After being spat on by alpacas many times, Chi Haitao figured out a little trick for catching alpacas.

Chi Haitao: When I catch it, first I have to let it know that I'm catching another one, not let it know I'm catching it. Actually I'm watching it, you see, and I've caught it. First trim its (teeth) first, come on, let's look at its buck teeth first.

Reporter: So long.

Chi Haitao: Pretty badly buck-toothed, right? Trimming teeth depends on the situation. We check once a year, and during the check we trim the ones that have grown long, and don't trim the ones that haven't. If you trim too short, it also affects their grazing. Buck-toothed girl has a big temper. Stretch forward a bit. It's very uncooperative. Here we go. This is a very painful thing, just like when a person gets a dental problem, repairing, filling or pulling a tooth, it's a very painful thing.

[Wealth Classic] I want to make big money from alpacas

Reporter: But it didn't struggle free at all. Let's see how the teeth are now?

Chi Haitao: Look, it was buck-toothed just now, now it's trimmed even.

Reporter: It's bleeding.

Chi Haitao: It should bleed a little, slightly. This ugly girl, hold it, hold it. When catching it you have to be careful, it spits often.

Technician Song Yongxiao: It's playing dead, not moving.

In March 2013, Chi Haitao left Shanghai, where he had struggled for more than ten years, and returned to his hometown in Inner Mongolia to farm alpacas. This choice of his was once opposed by everyone around him.

Chi Haitao originally ran a medical device trading company with more than 100 employees in Shanghai. But in order to farm alpacas, he returned to Inner Mongolia alone, leaving home and company to his wife to manage, living apart from his family.

Friend Wu Kaihe: You're doing so well in Shanghai, why bother running to that place? Why go back and live apart from your family?

Wife Jiang Changmei: Mainly I thought it was too far to take care of the family. He didn't come home for a year, and rarely called.

Chi Haitao: As a man, you always have to be like this to accomplish something. If you're too sentimental, you won't accomplish anything.

Why do alpacas have such a great attraction for Chi Haitao?

[Wealth Classic] I want to make big money from alpacas

In 2009, alpacas were spoofed by netizens online as one of the "Top Ten Mythical Beasts," and overnight they became stars on the internet. It was at this time that Chi Haitao noticed alpacas. Besides finding the alpacas' appearance cute, he also learned about their economic value online, which surprised him greatly.

Alpacas are herbivorous animals raised for both wool and meat, among which alpaca wool has the highest economic value.

Chi Haitao: Very warm, very warm, feel it.

Alpacas can be shorn starting from one year old like this, once a year in May, producing an average of 3-5 kg of wool each time. The wool from an alpaca's first year is the best, priced at 300-500 US dollars per kg on the international market. How big is the difference between alpaca wool and sheep wool? Chi Haitao made a comparison for the reporter.