General Husbandry

The alpaca is a lean, hardy animal which carries a lot of fleece, shorn they look like skinny little giraffes for a while. As such, symptoms of illness or imbalance are not easy to spot until the very last minute. It is not to the alpaca’s advantage to voluntarily show any weakness which means that when the symptoms are obvious it usually means that any deficiency or disease has taken a firm hold on the animal and it is more often than not time to call the vet. It is essential that alpacas are monitored at least twice a day.

This can mean no more than a walk round the paddock to check that all is well, which ninety nine times out of a hundred will be the case but they do need looking at.  Alpacas are rapidly building a reputation as an easy to manage user friendly livestock, all of which is true, but if you are under the impression that they look after themselves you are mistaken. As with all livestock it is our responsibility to take care of the health and welfare of our charges, a routine quick visual inspection twice a day once in the morning another at feeding is quite sufficient.

That beautiful fibre can mask a lot of things, weight loss, abscesses and infection and the only way you will know what condition your alpacas are in is to body score, touch and feel and get hands on and close every so often with your alpacas.

Please, if you have no intention of ever going near your alpacas go and buy a snake!

WARNING: when you are an owner it is hard to keep out of the paddocks. We at Toft Alpacas find our charges a constant amusement and distraction. Alpacas are a great excuse to leave the office and wander around the garden on the pretence of work. Excellent!