Management

Alpacas are a South American native and a member of the camelid family. They came mainly from Peru and Chile and are cousins to camels, llamas, and the lesser known vicunas and guanacos.

Alpacas eat any pasture grasses, although they do better on some species of pasture more than others. They will also eat hay and other dry supplementary feeds. They are easy care animals, ideal for people with limited farming experience. Shearing, toenail-trimming, annual innoculations, and worming once or twice a year are all that is required as they are generally very healthy and remarkably disease free.

Alpacas give birth during the day and have very few birthing problems. Linley provides full on-going after-sales management advice and will assist you with all your management questions.

The Alpaca Association of NZ also offers a wealth of management information and members receive an information pack with fact sheets covering every aspect of alpaca management.

It is highly recommended that all owners of alpacas join AANZ -- even if you only own a couple of wethers.

Alpaca farming

A basic shelter will protect your alpacas from the worst of the seasons. At Cresta Viento Alpacas Linley has a small “alpaca house” for her female alpaca and another for the males. They will often choose to enter the house for shelter on their own but in very inclement weather Linley will shut her alpaca inside. One is a converted sheep shelter and the other an old orchid shade house – conversion was easy and inexpensive.

They are not animals that require molly-coddling and only the very young cria (baby alpaca) need shelter in their first few days. Cria coats are available to protect young animals born in the coldest winter months.

Alpaca pasture

Alpacas will eat just about anything but there are some grass species that are better for the alpaca. At Cresta Viento Alpacas the pasture is quite old and rough and the alpacas thrive. Linley uses lime to improve soil PH levels and promote healthy bacteria. It is also a tool to minimise the risk of facial eczema.

Elise Atkinson, of Federated Llamas, in her handbook "Llama:Alpaca General Husbandry" suggests a pasture mix she has found successful. Elise has been farming Llamas and Alpacas since about 1990, and has a wealth of practical knowledge about camelid farming.

Elise’s pasture mix is:

• 1 kg "Kara" cocksfoot (for roughage)
• 9 kg "advanced tall" fescue
• 1 kg "Kahu" timothy
• ½ kg "lancelot" plantain (good winter growth)
• ½ kg "tonic" plantain (for nutrition and medicinal purposes)
• 1 kg yarrow (for good health maintenance)
• 2 kg colensor
• 1 kg "prestige" clover
• 1 kg "sustain" clover
• 1 kg chicory (puna)
• Mints ( a couple of handfuls)

Dandelion is good for the liver, and contains vitamin A&C and is another good additive to this mix. The mix will cover approximately 1 ½ acres (0.6 hectares) if oversown (spread on top of the soil, rather than planted). You can also add other herbs such as thyme and fennel.

David Musgrove presented the following pasture mix for organic farms at the NZ Alpaca Conference 2007. It includes species that will help eradicate weeds and thistles, and is suitable even if you are not organic!
Mix given is in kg/hectare.

5 kg Gala Grazing Brome
2 kg Kahu Timothy
8 kg Advance tall Fescue
5 kg Vixion cocksfoot
3 kg maru phalaris
6 kg Wairau lucerne
5 kg Colenso red clover
5 kg Supreme red clover
12 kg Desmond white clover
1 kg Choice chicory
5 kg Tonic Plantain

Toxic plants

Alpacas will taste anything that comes within reach, so it pays to become familiar with toxic plants to ensure none "sneak" into your pasture (or are reachable over a fence). Many toxic plants become more palatable and more toxic once they’re dead, so don't make hay from paddocks infested with poisonous plants, and if you remove them by cutting them out, make sure you remove the plants from the paddock.
The following is a short list of common poisonous plants:

• All nightshades
• All lilies
• Tomato & Potato plants
• Foxglove
• Toot
• Inkweed
• Hemlock
• Oleanders
• Rhododendrons & Azaleas
• Ngaio
• Daytura
• Willow-weed
• Jerusalem Cherry
• Mallow
• Buttercup
• Macrocarpa

Alpaca facts

• There are 2 types of alpaca – the long-dreadlocked Suri and the teddy bear-like Huacaya
• Alpacas have soft padded feet, making them gentle on pasture.
• They have two toenails on each foot which require periodic trimming.
• There are no top teeth in the front. They have a hard plate on the roof of their mouth to provide bite.
• The height of an average alpaca is 100cm at the withers - small enough to be readily handled by women of smaller stature, just like Linley!
• An alpaca's gestation period is 11 to 12 months, about 340 days
• They have single births (twins are extremely rare occurring once in about every 2000 births).
• Cria are normally born without assistance between 10am and 2pm on warm, fine days.
• A baby alpaca usually weighs between 5-8kg at birth and giving birth is called “unpacking”!

Contact Us for more information.