What is an Alpaca?
The Alpaca is part of the Camelid Family which also includes Camels, Llamas, Guanacos, and Vicunas. There are two types of Alpaca — the Suri known for its long pencil non-crimped type fibre, and the Huacaya which is the more common of the alpacas with a crimped fibre.
Alpacas are very gentle and easy to handle; they are curious but cautious animals. They don’t bite as they only have teeth on the bottom. They do spit sometimes when provoked. They make wonderful pets as they are intelligent, easily trained and very gentle with children.
They are very kind to pasture as they have padded feet and therefore do not churn up the ground. They deposit their droppings in piles in a few places which makes clearing up easy.
How long does an Alpaca live?
An Alpaca can live to about 20 years of age.
How big are Alpacas?
Alpacas are about 36″ tall at the withers and weigh about 45–50 kg.
What do Alpacas eat?
Alpacas are ruminants with three stomachs. Alpacas mainly eat grass and have hay available at all times. We also feed our Alpacas a feed supplement twice daily which ensures they recieve the right balance of vitamins and minerals. You can keep between 5 and 10 Alpacas on an acre depending on the quality of your grass and the time of year. Clean fresh water should be available at all times.
Do Alpacas need shelters and fencing?
Alpacas require a shelter in their field to enable them to get out of the rain and bad weather as they have no lanolin in their coats. They will also use the shelters in very hot weather to shade from the sun.
Alpacas do not challenge fencing so four foot fencing is adequate, all barbed wire should be removed as they easily get tangled in it and are unable to free themselves.
Are Alpacas kept on their own?
NO. Alpacas are herd animals and should be kept in minimum groups of two or three. Alpacas can be kept with sheep or goats for good protection against foxes.
What is an Alpaca”s gestation?
An Alpaca”s gestation is about 11 month but can be 2 weeks early or up to 6 weeks late. they give birth to cria which are usually born in daylight hours. They rarely have twins, but if twins are born then only one or none survive. Cria are weaned at 5–6 months.
Are Alpacas difficult to breed?
Females are usually bred at about 18 months. Alpacas are induced ovulators so can be bred at any time, the females are generally re-mated 2–6 weeks after birth. Males become fertile any time from a year and a half to three years old.
What are Alpacas used for?
Alpacas are used for breeding stock, fibre producers and field pets.
How do you transport Alpacas?
Alpacas are easily transported in covered trailers (horse or livestock trailers). Alpacas tend to go into the kush position (sit down) when being travelled.
What colour is an Alpaca?
There are a wide range of colours: 22 in fact, consisting of whites, fawns, browns, blacks, greys and rose greys. They stay the same colour from birth. They need shearing once a year.
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