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DisclaimerI do not claim to be an expert on the needs of alpacas. The information you will find on this page is based on my own personal experience here on NEWAIM Farm. There are many books available on this subject and any new breeder should buy and read several of them. You should consult with your vet on any health related issues. That said, I hope the information provided here will help answer some of your questions.Al |
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1. What do alpacas eat? Primarily alpacas eat grass. Either by grazing in your pasture or by eating the hay you provide. When purchasing hay avoid timothy and alfalfa. These grasses don't provide the right mix of nutrients for alpacas and the seed heads get stuck in their fleece. What is generally recommended is second cut orchid grass. This however may be a bit difficult to find. What you need to look for is hay that is leafy and has small diameter stems. I buy enough hay to feed 1 bale per week to each alpaca during the time when pasture is not available. In addition to hay or pasture, you will need to feed your alpacas some fortified grain. This is grain with additional vitamins and minerals added. Buy something that is specially designed for use with alpacas. We use the alpaca maintenance crumbles from Agway. This mixture was designed by Dr. Norman Evans and it has worked well for us. I am sure that other manufacturers have similar products. How much you feed depends on the weather and the breeding status of each animal. In general we feed 1 cup of grain per alpaca in the morning and in the evening. We also use Agway's mineral supplement which can be provided free choice or sprinkled on top of the other grain. Of course clean fresh water should be available at all times. Return to Top of Page |
| What type of shelter do alpacas need? Alpacas only require a basic 3 sided shelter with the open side facing either south or east. The floor can be gravel as long as it is high enough to stay dry during wet weather. A wooden floor also works well. If you are in a buggy area, a larger shelter that is more "closed in" with a shed roof extending out from the open side provides a place where they can get some relief from the bugs. Having running water and power available is a big plus. More for you than the alpacas. When you get more than a few animals carrying water gets old quickly. Power will allow you to have a light or two in the shelter and run heated buckets to keep the water from freezing in the winter. Having water, run below the frost line, and power available dramatically reduces the effort required to take care of your precious alpacas. Return to Top of Page |
| Are alpacas difficult to handle? The short answer is no, but I never have short answers so here goes. As livestock goes, alpacas are fairly small animals. Most of our adult animals weigh between 140 and 180 pounds. So on the occasion that you need to make an alpaca do something they really don't want to do, two people can usually get the job done. I find that the more you handle you animals the easier they are to work with. The time you spend halter training is time well spent. Take them on walks, talk to them and scratch their necks. I feel that it is important that the alpaca learns to trust you and not associate you touching it only with unpleasant experiences. If the only time you touch your animals is to give shots or trim toenails, neither of which they particularly enjoy, then they will try to get away from you every time you approach them. So try to have some pleasant interactions with them and the less pleasant activities will go a lot smoother. Return to Top of Page |
| When can I start breeding my alpaca? Some of the books I have read say you can breed a female alpaca as young as 14 months as long as she weighs at least 110 lbs. I prefer to wait a little longer myself. Based on my observations, females continue to grow until around 2 years of age. Alpacas are generally rebred 18 to 21 days after giving birth so once you begin breeding a female she will be pregnant and nursing for the rest of her productive life. Because of this I usually wait until my females are approaching 2 years old before breeding. Male alpacas usually become sexually mature at around 2 years. Some mature as early as 18 months and others may be 3 years old before they mature. Since the male neither gestates nor lactates, I would use a male as soon as he is up to the job. Return to Top of Page |
| How much pasture will I need? The answer I usually give to this question is 6 to 9 alpacas per acre of pasture. Of course the quality of your pasture plays a big role in the number of animals it can support. Our pastures are not that great and they easily support 6 alpacas per acre. Dividing your pasture into several small paddocks and using rotational grazing practices will significantly increase the number of animals it will support. Return to Top of Page |
| Will I need to have my own male? Eventually you will probably want to own your own stud but I wouldn't recommend it to start with. The females you purchase will probably be bred when you get them so you are set until the following year anyway. If you buy a breeding male to start out with you immediately have to build 2 sets of infrastructure, one for your females and another for your male. This complicates the start up process significantly. Also, like most species, intact males of breeding age are a bit more difficult to handle. Their urge to breed dominates their behavior. I feel that it is best to get a little experience handling these critters before adding raging hormones into the picture. There are many good quality studs around and their owners would be happy to breed your females for you. Stud fees can range from $500 to $5000 or more. Generally you should expect to pay around $2000 to breed to a good show quality male. Return to Top of Page |
| How long is gestation in an alpaca? The average gestation period for an alpaca is 345 days. This is only an average, the actual gestation can vary from 320 to 390 days or more and still result in a normal cria. Early births are more of a concern than late ones because most of the cria's development takes place in the last 3 months of gestation. Our experience has been that births usually occur between 335 and 355 days after the last breeding. Return to Top of Page |
| Will I need any special equipment? Probably the single most important piece of special equipment you will need is a set of scales. We have an analog livestock scale, but I wish now that I had bought a digital scale. You should have a scale that will measure in 10ths of pounds. It is very important to be able to accurately weigh your alpaca. It is difficult to judge the body condition of your alpaca through all that fleece and you need to know weight in order to determine the dosage for many medications. Cria need to be weighed every day for the first week or so and then weekly for the next few months to make sure they are continually gaining weight. We use a digital hanging scale and a sling to weigh our cria. If you have a digital platform scale you can use that by weighing yourself and then weighing yourself while holding the cria. Return to Top of Page |
| What kind of fencing will I need? Good fencing is very important to ensure the safety of your animals. The primary purpose of the fence is to keep predators out of your pasture. Of course you want to keep your alpacas in the pasture as well. Most alpacas will not challenge a fence and they are pretty easy to contain. If they do manage to get out they will usually stay close by because they do not want to be far from the rest of the herd. We use 7 strand, 5' high, high tensile electric fence. This type of fence is often referred to as New Zealand fencing. This makes a very nice low maintenance installation which doesn't obstruct your view of the pasture. One advantage of this type of fence is that it uses springs to keep the tension in the wires and needs only a few posts. We have had trees fall on the fence pushing it right to the ground. Once the tree was removed the fence popped right back up with no damage what so ever. Of course there are many other suitable types of fencing, this is just what most of the farms in our area have chosen to use. Return to Top of Page |
| Will I need a guard animal? The answer to this question, like so many others, is "Well, that depends". Your fence is your first line of defense against predators. If you have known predator problems in your area you may want to consider a guard animal to protect your alpacas. Both llamas and dogs are routinely used to guard alpacas. Both have advantages and disadvantages and you should evaluate your choice carefully before making a commitment. We chose a dog as our guardian. There are several breeds of dogs, referred to as Livestock Guardian Dogs, that have been used to guard sheep for thousands of years. The dog we use is a Maremma and he has worked out very well for us. The down side of using a LGD is that they tend to bark at anything that comes near the pasture. While they are just doing their job, it does tend to irritate the neighbors. Another downside is that there have been a few occasions where the dog has attacked the animals it was supposed to guard. If you decide to get a dog, get a dog that comes from working stock and from a reputable source. LGDs are very large, strong dogs and they tend to behave differently than your average dog. They are intelligent and think for themselves. They view your commands more like a recommendation than an order. Llamas are the other alternative. Llamas seem to be quite effective against dogs and coyotes. They will bond with your alpacas and will confront a predator as it tries to enter the pasture. Not all llamas are suitable to be guards, they need the right personality for the job. You should work with an experienced llama breeder when selecting a guard llama. Our primary reason for selecting a dog over a llama was as a deterrent to unwanted people entering our pasture. Our pasture borders a main road and we get a lot of people stopping to look at our alpacas. While this is nice from a marketing perspective, there is always the risk of some idiot going into the pasture. To date we have found no one interested in opening a gate with Zeus standing on the other side making it very clear that he does not want them there.  click for lager image |
| If you have other questions which are not addressed here, feel free to send me an email
at al@newaim.com. I will attempt to answer your question
or refer you to someone who can. I hope you have found the information on this page to be helpful. |