- Alpacas
place minimal stress on the land when compared to most other large
farm animal due to the soft pads on their feet.
- Stocking
rates of 5-6 alpacas per acre are usual,
but allow for rotation in order to provide land management.
- Alpacas
are herd animals and do not fair well when kept alone. Males may
be kept in pairs but females require to be kept in groups of 3 or
more.
- If
keeping breeding females, the cria (baby) will need to be weaned
from its mother at around 6 months of age. Ideally this should be
in an area out of sight of each other to reduce stress levels for
both mother and cria. If numbers allow the cria should be placed
with other cria. Watching weanlings play together is enchanting
for us and also seems to provide distraction for them.
- Some
owners do not separate the cria from the mother and rely on the
mother to stop the cria feeding when she is ready. The danger here
is that if the mother is due to give birth that the ‘weanling’
will take the first milk (colostrum) away from the new born cria.
However, I have not heard of any actual problems from breeders
using this method.
- Beck
Brow Alpacas of Cumbria can help provide temporary accommodation
for weanlings belonging to customers if required. We usually
separate ours for at least 8 weeks.
- We
have found that alpacas rarely challenge fencing and are usually
content just to graze with the herd. However, stud males are more
likely to risk escape when females are nearby. We use fencing;
both post and rail, and sheep netting, with either a wire or
wooden rail on top. We keep the height at a minimum of 4 feet.
Barbed wire should not be used.
- We
have also found that splitting large areas into smaller paddocks
allows for easier handling and field maintenance. Handling areas
are particularly useful for husbandry tasks and can be easily
erected with the aid of alpaca hurdles or as a permanent fixture
using post and rails.
- A
field shelter should be provided to give protection from the
extremes of the weather. It is equally important to provide
shelter from the sun as well as the cold and the wet.
- Paddocks
should be kept as clean as possible and we recommend regular
‘poo picking’ (we do each paddock 3 times each week, but this
will depend on stocking rates).
Check
land for poisonous plants. For a list of plants visit the British
Alpaca Society (BAS) website. www.bas-uk.com
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