A LITTLE ABOUT OURSELVES AND OUR CREW
For years we have used the easy going alpaca as therapy animals interacting with brain injured individuals. The relationships have been as simple as nose to nose chatter and humming with a non verbal person –to hands on interaction at the birthing and care of the newborn alpaca, known as a cria.
We purchased our first, fourty-five alpacas eight years ago to participate as companion/therapy animals in a brain injury, enhanced recovery, therapy program, located in Central America .
Due to the U.S Border closure in 2003 we eventually closed those plans.
Here in Canada, with 25+ fertile females, called “hembras” we grew to One Hundred twenty five gorgeous alpacas, very quickly, but have now have down sized to approx 85 with sixteen babies born in 2009.
We all reside on two beautiful grazing ranches situated on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
‘Alpaca Acres At Arrowsmith’ is a registered family farm, and our knowledge has been hard earned and paid for in real capital, sweat, laughter, sometimes loss of dignity, and hands on, in the field, experience!
During that time we have found that:
RAISING ALPACAS INVITES A LIFESTYLE THAT EMBRACES COUNTRY LIVING, PROVIDES THE OPPORTUNITIES TO WITNESS MOTHER NATURE AT HER BEST AND PARTICIPATE FIRST HAND IN THE FASCINATING AND OFTEN LUCRATIVE WORLD OF LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT.
GREAT REASONS TO OWN AN ALPACA!
WHAT OTHER HOBBY OR INVESTMENT ACTIVTY CAN CUT, MULCH, AND FERTILIZE YOUR LAWN; EARN ENOUGH TO COVER IT’S CARRYING COSTS; HUM TO YOU WHILE YOU DO THE WORK; IS 99.9% ECOLOGICALLY FRIENDLY AND GETS YOU A TAX DEDUCTION AT THE END OF A YEAR?
PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH LIVESTOCK SHARE COMMON BONDS AND RITUALS INVOLVING DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES, WORK ETHICS AND LIFE EXPERIENCES THAT ARE HARD TO FIND OR ACHIEVE BEHIND A DESK OR IN FRONT OF A LAPTOP!
ALPACAS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF FINEST AND MOST ECOLOGICALLY FRIENDLY, LIVESTOCK INVESTMENTS, AVAILABLE IN NORTH AMERICA TODAY! THE NORTH AMERICAN DEMAND FOR ALPACA LIVESTOCK AND ALPACA FLEECE IS ALMOST FULLY RECOVERED FROM THE U.S. BORDER CLOSURE. WE ARE ALSO SEEING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN MARKET.
THE ALPACA IS A PROVEN HARDY, HEALTHY AND DISEASE RESISTANT ANIMAL THAT HAS ADAPTED WELL TO THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENT, WHETHER IN THE HEAT AND SEASONAL WEATHER OF THE OKANOGAN; THE LONGER WINTERS OF THE NORTH OR THE MORE MOIST WEATHER OF THE SOUTHERN MAINLAND AND THE ISLANDS.
THE ALPACA OFFERS VARIABLE POSITIVE CASH FLOW INCOME TO THE HOBBYIST OR HERD OWNER. OWNERSHIP CAN BE OUTRIGHT, FINANCED AND/OR SYNDICATED.
YOU DON’T NEED TO OWN THE LAND THAT YOUR ALPACA GRAZES ON OR EVEN DO THE DAILY CHORES TO RECEIVE SOME OF THE TAX BENEFITS.
LIVESTOCK OWNERSHIP DOES NOT HAVE TO BE BIG TO BE FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL. A POSITIVE CASH RETURN WITH AS FEW AS THREE ALPACAS CAN BE REALIZED WITHIN ABOUT 18 MO
ALPACAS GENERAL INFO
The alpaca is a member of the camelid family.
Alpacas are one of the longest domesticated animals in history!
Alpacas have a life span of 12 to 20 years.
ADULT FEMALES can be bred at 15 months to 2 years and annually thereafter! Gestation period is 11 ½ months and delivery is relatively easy and often supervised by ‘mother nature’ herself. The female alpaca is very nurturing and will frequently ‘supervise’ a group within her herd as well as accept ‘adopting’ an orphaned alpaca. The females also have an alpha female or two. These females take dominance in different situations, which seems to be determined amongst themselves.
ADULT MALES are considered adolescent until age of 3, but thereafter are considered herdsires once “proven”. That means when they have offspring born of one of the females. Most males are easygoing but there is the usual herd male wrestling and arguing to establish the dominant alpha male. Once that is determined, the males are happy to graze and hang out together.
THE INFANT ALPACA is called a ‘Cria’ and generally weighs in at 14 to 21 lbs. at birth, stands up and is capable of running within minutes of being born. Nursing for up to 6 months, the CRIA learns very quickly, doubles their birth weight during the first four months and steadily thereafter achieving the full adult weight at around 18 months to two years. At birth and in their first few months the alpaca cria simply amazes with its speed, innate skills like dust bathing at 4 days old or participating in a male neck wrestle at 7 days with another one week old male cria, though they have never witnessed this event elsewhere!
Watching these little ones during their first few weeks makes all the memories of all the time Adults weigh 130 to 190 pounds and stand 34 to 36 inches at the withers
But alpacas are livestock animals, and should not be considered as a traditional pet! Alpacas don’t do tricks. Will not respond to whistling unless it involves a handful of grain and it is not advisable to have one ride in the front seat of the car.
In fairness to the alpaca, if you cannot financially handle at least 2 alpacas – then consider having it kept in a herd environment administered by others. This is because they are very social animals and should be companioned by a constant buddy be that a dog, sheep, goat etc., but most preferably another alpaca.
FOOD, GRAZING
The alpaca, in its natural “alto plano” habitat, grazes on whatever is available in the open plain year round and often have minimal or little shelter from the environment. However, given the different perceptions of the North American Breeder/Rancher it seems to be a standard that the alpaca does like the comfort of a three sided, roofed shelter, and we have found, here on Vancouver Island, that they love the “Scotch Broom”, wild blackberry and all fruit trees.
Alpacas need fresh water throughout the day and during the summer months need a separate communal wading pool big enough for a adult alpaca to settle down in (8” to 12” inches deep). This is especially important for any pregnant alpaca, who will stand in a queue just to get into the pool. Lawn sprinklers with a high spread will also be requested.
Supplementary Feeds. As Vancouver Island has virtually no Selenium in its natural grasses, the initial breeders here, researched, and in partnership with Top Shelf Feeds of Duncan, created a food pellet that possesses the vitamin and supplemental contents required here for a generally healthy alpaca. BUT taste was not foremost in the decision. Thus we have always mixed this pellet with a 14 or 16% dairy mix. The dairy mix has many different grains AND a molasses type of coating. Though there a mixed opinions on the use of the dairy mix, we have not had any ill effects from it. Plus if there is a broken fence and they have gone “walk about” they will return at the dead run when they hear the grain being shaken in a bucket.
Alpacas seem to all come with internal watches and know to the second when dinner time is!
Depending on location (need for extra body heat; need for extra selenium) the overall cost of your grain/pellet will very) But for us, we find that we go through about 3- 20k (55lb) bags of each a week. BUT I also have 80 alpacas 20 of which are adult males. The supplemental costs are about $240.00 a month. We feed pregnant and nursing females 2 cups per alpaca a day. The males are supposed to get half a cup every other day. We have talked to people who have told us that they do not give their males any grain. We chose to because it makes us feel better, AND if they do get out somehow, you can bring them back with a shake of grain instead of running madly up and down your road.
FIELDS
Alpacas require very small grazing area to be happy guys. You need access to one acre of fenced in grazing land per 6 adult alpacas. If supplemented by hay you can hold as many as 10 alpacas per acre without issue.
SPACE:
They require one acre of graze land including shelter and water access per 10 adult animals. When ever possible use this ratio! For example: Five alpacas would need ½ acre but 7 alpacas you should have a minimum of 1 acre. Note: The quality of the graze land influences size desired. An acre of gravel top won’t support 2 let alone 6 animals whereas a ¾ acre field of rich grass running beside a creek could support up to 8 animals! Our experience has been to allow good quality acreage size as follow: 1 to 2 alpaca: ½ acre; 3 to 4 alpaca: 3/4 acre; 5 to 6 alpaca : 1 acre: 10 alpaca. We suggest work in multiples using this as a guide and your herd should graze comfortably.
ALPACAS ARE SOFT TOED and generally do not destroy soil or grass roots as they cut and grind the grass instead of tearing it and its roots from the soil. While after a wet or snowy winter the field might look like a quagmire, we find that the grasses return with the Spring growths
SHELTER & SHADE:
An amazingly hardy animal the alpaca adapts extremely well to the Canadian four seasons and can graze in the open throughout the year! A simple three sided shelter with cover providing feeding crib and hay coverage on the floor to sleep at night suffices. We often use the tarp covered portable garage/shelter available at most Canadian Tire and Costco stores.
IMPORTANT The alpaca due to its fleece coat is susceptible to heat and needs shade cover in the Summer months. If sheared in late Spring the shade is needed to protect against sunburn and sunstroke.
COOLING
Interestingly alpacas love being hosed down below the head and will stand and slowly pivot while you spray them. Fill up a wading pool and let the party begin!
Sometimes, the more the merrier seems to be the rule of the day! But the pregnant girls can get just plain nasty to each other regarding who has precedence in the pool.
For all though, it is a great way to chill out. Just grab and ice tea, a water hose and pretend you are working wetting down the beasties.
FENCING
Alpacas do not normally challenge fences. So the main purpose of fencing is to keep predators OUT and to keep order within the herd itself! The perimeter fence should be at least five feet high, with a no climb wire to the ground level with bar to deter would be predators. Four foot high interior cross fences are usually satisfactory with a top rail for strength and security.
Mature males do need to be sequestered from females and crias. In this case the separating fence needs to be at least five feet high with anti jump bar, and robust enough to stop the male from overrunning!
HEALTH
Alpacas are pretty sturdy and disease resistant animals. But they do require regular shearing, de-worming , vaccinations and to have their toe nails and teeth trimmed two, and possibly three times per year. All of these procedures can be done at one time, once when the alpaca is sheared and one other mid-way date. Most do not require a veterinarian on any kind of regular basis.
BUT you should have access to a veterinarian familiar with the alpaca to provide annual checkups and when necessary emergency care.
WELFARE
Like all livestock- the herd must be checked physically at least once and preferably twice during the day. These are still animals that frequently graze in the open pasture and nature can come at them hard! Pre-mature death of a cria, predator attacks, intra herd territorial stand off’s, etc. do occur and the alpaca is essentially defenceless!
Talk to your vet and get a good handle on the type of medical/veterinarial issues you may experience, and have a plan of action and procedure known to the handlers. These plans should cover, birth problems; gashes or large open wounds requiring sutures; dental and eye infections; fractures; and sometimes sunstroke. Many of these issues can be managed by yourself once you know what you are dealing with.
It is a good idea to have a “grab and go” bag handy (include a couple of “info cards ) index cards with first up stuff on them so that in an emergency you have some quick info to hand –especially in the middle of a field. Also the phone number of at least two vets,
CONTENTS
You should at the very least have; some bandages, or at the very least some clean clothes to cover a wound until help, or a better work place is available.
In ours I have some iodine vials, dressings, a bottle of water, lots of different size syringes (washing eyes or wounds), a generic antibiotic cream, small flashlight; vet wrap, and a handful of latex gloves ,tweezers, and a survival blanket (foil) (Total cost including bag about twelve dollars).
In the workroom cabinet I have, more iodine wash, antiseptic soaps, pedia-lyte, Pepto Bismal, dressings of all sizes, and a bottle of Scotch.
At our place we also have a folding stretcher. This was invaluable when one of our more adventurous girls broke her front leg just below the shoulder. We placed her on the stretcher; boot laced her on; put the whole rig in the van and headed to the Vet. He even did the surgery right on the stretcher and we took her back home. All very safely for all parties, and more especially the alpaca as she was not able to move about and injure herself further. Plus she presented us with her first cria about six days later.
SAFETY
With a perimeter and interior fence in place your animals are safe against most dangers. As with children you will become accustomed to the ‘sound’ of the happy vs endangered herd! There are some sounds that will get you smiling and others running for the paddock!
ALPACAS HAVE NO REAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS except to spit or flee. A cria does not have the ability to spit with any effect, so Mother Nature has armed them with an amazing speed capacity to escape predators and suspicious looking butterflies.
WHAT WILL AN ALPACA CONTRIBUTE
They are the world’s most ecological lawnmower!
They are the source of fibre/fleece most sought after in garment production world wide.
They are highly efficient and extremely ecologically friendly grazing animals with a far less invasive carbon imprint than most other grazers.
Alpacas are often used in Europe to clear underbrush and scrub.
Their poop, fecal matter, fertilizer (has different names for whatever the chore is) is one of the most immediately user friendly natural fertilizers available, requiring minimal treatment to add to any garden.
They are often the source of endless entertainment (especially the crias). They are a source of peace and contentment at the end of a day.
THEY ARE UNICORNS IN TRAINING!!!