Alpaca Feed question

[affacat]

Hi @affacat - for more in-depth information regarding raising Alpacas please check out the Llama & Alpaca section on our sister site: https://www.backyardherds.com/forums/#llamas-and-alpacas.42

I had no idea. Thanks

 

[WthrLady]

All female. I do not believe any blood relation but id need to double check. It was a rather quick purchase... We had planned on getting alpaca, and even built a shed to that end, but weren't completely ready yet when the right deal came up.

Online research isn't helping, since many seem to make it overly complicated

They are one of the MOST UNCOMPLICATED animals. LOL.
What are you feeding?

 

[affacat]

They are one of the MOST UNCOMPLICATED animals. LOL.
What are you feeding?

Well, they seem uncomplicated, but when we Google feed we get lines like "Nutritionists say that late-gestation females usually require grain at a rate of 1% of their total body weight" which leaves us scratching our heads.

Right now they are grazing and we are supplementing with maybe 1/3 scoop 3x day. (So, 1 scoop a day). The largest doesn't seem particularly interested as the other two.

We also have alfalfa pellets but don't give them any. We are buying hay this weekend.

They seem fine. They are happy to be fed but don't seem starved or stuffed... They generally eat 80% of what we provide and we save the rest for later that day.

 

[WthrLady]

Well, they seem uncomplicated, but when we Google feed we get lines like "Nutritionists say that late-gestation females usually require grain at a rate of 1% of their total body weight" which leaves us scratching our heads.

Right now they are grazing and we are supplementing with maybe 1/3 scoop 3x day. (So, 1 scoop a day). The largest doesn't seem particularly interested as the other two.

We also have alfalfa pellets but don't give them any. We are buying hay this weekend.

They seem fine. They are happy to be fed but don't seem starved or stuffed... They generally eat 80% of what we provide and we save the rest for later that day.

Ya, if you dig, there are people that make it too complicated.
I meant what brand and type of alpaca feed.

I raise large males. Mine are all almost the size of llamas.
They have free access to their pasture, barn and feed. If I find they're leaving feed behind, I cut back. They eat less pellet when the grazing is good.
I still make sure they have their alpaca feed, I cut back on the timothy grass pellets.
It's their toenails I cannot keep up with. They are too powerful for me to hold. They were wild when I got them, and still have a horrible problem standing still.
The shearing team simply tie them down.
I can't even flip the beasties.
Otherwise they're sweet as peaches.
I do have one that goes totally boneless the second a lead clicks to his halter. LOL The giant puffy weenie.

 

[ThinMintTheChicken]

It's their toenails I cannot keep up with. They are too powerful for me to hold. They were wild when I got them, and still have a horrible problem standing still.

It takes my entire family except for my younger brother (4 people including me) to contain one of them. Luckily the one that likes to kick almost always cushes during toenail clipping so he's okay to get. All of them scream and spit though lol

I do have one that goes totally boneless the second a lead clicks to his halter. LOL The giant puffy weenie.

One of our sheep does that
He dramatically collapses on the ground and refuses to get up
He's a sweetheart though and wags his tail when people pet him

 

[WthrLady]

Stormy, plops right down, locks his legs and you are NOT moving him. Period. End of Sentence, Elvis has left the building.

I have tried EVERY tranquilizer out there, NOTHING works on them.
I WISH I could find something to stone them out to do their nails every 4 months or so.
I swear I cracked a bone in my arm a couple of years ago trying to hold a foot for a trimming. We owned a paca trapper and that wasn't strong enough for a big male that did want to be in it.
We made a large alpaca stock holder, like you see for goats and cattle, and that worked ONE season, but they won't go near it now. I had one kick and then try to rip my arm through to the center during a nail clipping. That was an ugly bruise and cut.
Drops, powders, mix ins, pills, nope, nothing works.

 

[affacat]

Ya, if you dig, there are people that make it too complicated.
I meant what brand and type of alpaca feed.

It's Payback brand, not sure if there is a type I'll see if the bag is still around.

The alfalfa is a local Oregon brand but we barely give them any of that.

 

[affacat]

I don't know how helpful this will be if you don't have these scoops (3 qt, got them here: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/3-quart-feed-scoop) but this is how I usually feed our alpacas.

Black line is how much I feed 4 adult females +1 cria
Yellow line is how much I feed 4 adult male alpacas
Green line is how I would feed 3 alpacas
Red line is how much I fed our 2 pairs of male alpacas before we combined them in the same stall/pasture

View attachment 3082929
I also usually feed 4 large flakes of hay to our females + cria
3 1/2 flakes to the 4 males
Used to feed 1 1/2 flakes to younger males and 2 flakes to our adult males
I would estimate that you give yours about 2-2 1/2 flakes of hay
^^This is for the night
In the morning the females and males get 2 flakes each for the day and they also get time out in the pasture

Kind of a confusing system, but I've been doing it for almost 3 years without any issues.

That scoop graphic is very helpful. Is that green line once a day, or once per meal x times a day?

 

[NatJ]

I have tried EVERY tranquilizer out there, NOTHING works on them.
I WISH I could find something to stone them out to do their nails every 4 months or so.

I read of someone who had sheep but didn't like to trim hooves.
His sheep had to walk through a passage or corridor to reach the water trough.
He dumped rocks there, so the sheep had to walk over them every time they wanted a drink. He kept making the rocky section longer until the hooves were wearing down at the right rate.

I don't know whether you could do anything similar with your alpacas, but if trimming their hooves is such a big problem, it might be worth considering!

 

[affacat]

Stormy, plops right down, locks his legs and you are NOT moving him. Period. End of Sentence, Elvis has left the building.

I have tried EVERY tranquilizer out there, NOTHING works on them.
I WISH I could find something to stone them out to do their nails every 4 months or so.
I swear I cracked a bone in my arm a couple of years ago trying to hold a foot for a trimming. We owned a paca trapper and that wasn't strong enough for a big male that did want to be in it.
We made a large alpaca stock holder, like you see for goats and cattle, and that worked ONE season, but they won't go near it now. I had one kick and then try to rip my arm through to the center during a nail clipping. That was an ugly bruise and cut.
Drops, powders, mix ins, pills, nope, nothing works.

These are are our first foray into livestock (plenty of poultry before). Sounds like we have our work cut out for us!