There are a number of questions that are Often Asked when talking to people about alpacas.

Are alpacas easy to care for?
What do I feed my alpacas?
What are alpacas like to handle?
Why won't alpacas let me pat them?
Alpacas spit don't they?
Do people eat alpacas?
Is mulesing, crutching or wigging done on alpacas?
Will I need a barn?
Do I need special fencing?
Can I buy a breeding pair?

Feel free to contact us if you have a question about alpacas that we haven't answered here.

Are alpacas easy to care for?
Depends on what you call easy.

Alpacas require similar attention to other livestock. We give them vaccinations (you can get your vet to do this, but it's not hard once you know how), drench them for worms, trim their toenails and do regular checks of their condition and general health.

As they get older, some alpacas' lower front teeth will grow long and need trimming. They should also be shorn, normally once a year, although some of our older animals don't grow much fleece in a year so we do them every second year. You can do this yourself but it is much easier (on the back, hands, and nerves!) to get a shearer in to do it for you. There are shearers who are experienced with alpacas and some of them will do toenails, vaccinations and teeth trims for you at the same time. Please contact us if you would like details of good alpaca shearers in Tasmania.

Alpacas tend to dung in several piles around the paddock, making for easy clean up. (We've found that our males keep much neater piles than the females). The only setback with this is that you will have spots in your paddocks where nothing will grow and directly around these spots will grow long, lush pasture (which your alpacas will be reluctant to graze - Can you blame them?)

What do I feed my alpacas?
In South America, alpacas have developed in high altitude areas with often scarce and poor quality pickings. While they are capable of surviving under these conditions, they will do best on a good quality pasture.

Alpacas like to both graze and browse which means they will eat grass like a sheep but you will also find them munching on taller plants and trees. They are particularly fond of berry plants (blackberry, raspberry) and the leaves of fruit trees, so young trees will need to be fenced off if you don't want them gobbled up.

An alpaca will eat roughly the same amount as a sheep, however they do like to move (and often run) around so are not suited to being confined in small yards for extended periods.

Like any animal, alpacas will become more friendly and easier to handle if you hand feed them. With the abundance of lush pasture in many parts of Tasmania, they will have a tendency to become overweight so care should be taken to ensure you are not overfeeding your alpacas.

Our alpacas love nice green lucerne hay, carrots, sliced apples, horse muesli (a commercial mix of chaff, oats, maize, sunflower seeds, molasses etc), plain grass hay and the leaves from our fruit trees. We just wander out with a handful of these goodies and the alpacas come running.

Extreme care should be taken not to feed your alpacas garden plants as many of these are toxic to both alpacas and other livestock. If in any doubt, DON'T give it to your alpacas.

Some areas are deficient in various minerals and trace elements so a soil test and consultation with your veterinarian would be beneficial to find out if any additional supplements will be required for your alpacas. We occasionally give a selenium drench, ADE (Vitamins A, D & E) and "Nutrimol" (a trace element supplement) to our alpacas.

If you are introducing any new food to your alpacas, introduce it to them gradually over 2-3 weeks. This will ensure the animal's digestive system will adapt to the new feed more easily.

Always ensure that your alpacas have ready access to clean fresh drinking water. They will be happy to drink from a stream or creek, alternatively you can put water buckets or troughs around your paddocks (just ensure these are cleaned and refilled regularly).

We have a dam on our property but it is very deep and we keep it fenced off from the alpacas. In hot weather alpacas will like to cool down in water and may be unable to get out again if your dam is deep or has steep sides. We have seen an alpaca swim across the dam. The dam was covered in algae at the time and the poor alpaca thought he could walk on it and stepped in.

What are alpacas like to handle?
Some alpacas will let you walk up to them in the paddock and pat them and do a general check up but for most things like toenail trimming and drenching or if veterinary attention is required, it is a good idea to have the alpaca in a small area.

You can train your alpacas to stand quietly while you're working with them but this takes time if you want to gain their complete trust. Every time you do something your alpaca is not used to, his instinct will tell him to run away. This is a natural response and so having the alpaca in a small space means he can move away if he needs to but he can't go too far away, allowing you to finish what you were doing with him.

You should never need to use force to restrain an alpaca. Even an un-handled alpaca can stand quietly with minimal restraint. Some basic training is a good idea and will enhance the relationship with your alpacas (for both you and them). We like TTEAM and also the John Mallon method as they both work with the alpacas natural instincts rather than simply forcing the animal to comply. There are books available on training alpacas. We like Llama Handling and Training: The TTEAM Approach by Marty McGee Bennett.

If your alpacas know that you are inexperienced, they WILL play up on you. This generally stops once you gain your confidence and they realise that you mean business, but are not out to get them. We had an adolescent male who was an absolute horror to work with. We persevered and he settled down as he matured. He's now a good natured wether.

Much depends on the temperament of the individual alpaca, how patient you are with them and most importantly, whether their previous experience with you (or other humans) was scary for them.

Why won't alpacas let me pat them?
Alpacas are naturally wary of humans and of any other creature or item they are unfamiliar with. (Ours are scared of the wheelbarrow - unless it has hay in it!)

Here's an analogy for you. Imagine having a grizzly bear or a crocodile come up and reach out to touch you. You'd back off fast wouldn't you? As far as an alpaca is concerned you are a predator who might just want to eat him. When you put your hand out to an alpaca he doesn't know what your intentions are and will be very cautious of you. However, being curious animals, an alpaca will want to check you out so he probably won't run away, but you will find that he will stay just out of your reach until he trusts you. This can take a long time with some alpacas.

We have some alpacas that will allow us to do just about anything with them and and some that just hate being touched. Often an alpaca will be placid and trusting out in the paddock (where they can move away if they need to) but get nervous and flighty when confined in a pen. None of our alpacas like strangers touching them, although they'll tolerate a pat on the neck by someone feeding them a nice treat.

Alpacas are not naturally a touchy, feely animal and they do like their personal space. If you you want a pet that will do somersaults when you come home, lay in your lap and boost your ego - you need a dog, not an alpaca.

Alpacas spit don't they?
Yes they do.

Alpacas use spitting to disagree with each other and as a form of defence. If a female alpaca is put in with a male when she is already pregnant, she will spit at him to make him leave her alone. There are also often disagreements over who gets the first handful of food as well.

We have found that generally females are more likely to spit than males (males tend to be more physical with each other while the girls argue by splattering their opponent). It is often hereditary as well, where you will see a family group of particularly spitty alpacas and another family which you will rarely if ever see spit at all.

It is rare that an alpaca will spit directly at a person. Once you get to know your alpacas, you can tell when one is going to "let loose" at another and have time to move and avoid being splattered.

While it is disgusting to be caught in the way, when you have alpacas you quickly learn that it is a communication tool they use and while it is "yuk", it is nowhere near as revolting as when humans spit at other humans - that is "YUK!".

Do people eat alpacas?
In parts of South America, alpacas and llamas have been used as a source of meat and skins for thousands of years.

Currently, in Australia, alpacas are bred mostly for the beautiful, soft fleece (wool) they produce. There are alpacas being used for meat though and restaurants that offer it on their menus. Just as meat from cattle is called beef and deer is venison, the term being used for alpaca meat in Australia currently is Viande. Here at Intrepid Alpacas we are vegetarians, so have not tasted alpaca meat, but apparently it is quite a lean meat with a taste described as similar to sweet lamb.

As time goes on and the number of alpacas increases, there may be a market for alpaca meat (and hides) as well as for fibre. Alpacas breed so slowly, however, that it will probably take some time for there to be enough alpacas to supply a meat industry. I also believe that Australians as a whole are reluctant to explore meat that is not the traditional beef, lamb or chicken and changing this attitude could take some doing.

Here at Intrepid Alpacas, our alpacas are much more trusting and friendly towards us than they were before we gave up eating meat. I think they can somehow sense that we are vegetarians and that we will never kill and eat them. (Or perhaps they just figure we would've eaten them already by now if we were going to!)

Is mulesing, crutching or wigging done on alpacas?
These are procedures used on sheep which are intended to reduce flystrike.

Some breeds of sheep have been specifically bred with a greater area of skin in order to produce more wool from each sheep. They have folds of skin which, particularly around the tail area, become very warm and moist, attracting flies to lay their eggs there. The sheep's fleece is removed so that the area is not so attractive to flies. In the case of mulesing, the folds of skin are sliced away to leave a smooth, bare skinned area.

Alpacas are born clean skinned around the tail and belly areas and the fleece remains short on the insides of the legs. This means they are not prone to flystrike. Alpacas come complete with a short tail which is never docked. It makes a great fly swatter. Alpacas tend to remain clean around the back end, without any intervention from humans.

This is a fabulous design from nature, and another great reason to have alpacas (as if there weren't enough already). We are hoping that alpaca breeders won't sacrifice this great feature in the quest to get more wool off their alpacas.

There is a trend in Australia currently to breed alpacas with woolly faces. In my opinion, this appears to be simply for visual appeal, rather than to serve any useful purpose. The fleece around the face is usually too short to be of any commercial use. If you have alpacas with woolly faces, you may need to give them a trim occasionally - mainly so the animal can see where he's going, but also so you can see those lovely alpaca eyes.

Will I need a barn?
A great big, warm, insulated barn is high on every alpaca owners wish list.

Many people go to great lengths to build magnificent barns or shelters for their alpacas and are disappointed to find their alpacas sitting out in the rain or snow instead. We have found that alpacas prefer to be outside.

They will seek shelter in extreme circumstances, such as in hot weather, so some form of shelter is a good idea. Trees are great for this purpose and your alpacas will most likely prefer them to a shed. A three sided shelter will also be utilised by your alpacas particularly in hot weather. We have a portable shade house for one of our paddocks that has no trees, and our alpacas use it (after much looking, sniffing, circumnavigation and consultation amongst themselves!)

We do have a large shed where we have put our alpacas the night before shearing. They don't like it much to start with but settle down very quickly once you leave them to it. It is also good to have a shelter to put a sick alpaca or a new mum and cria if the weather is bad. If you do need to confine your alpacas for whatever reason, make sure the shed is free from anything that could injure your alpacas, and always keep at least two alpacas together. They are herd animals and most alpacas will fret or try to get back to the herd if separated.

Do I need special fencing?
No. Ordinary five strand wire fencing is fine.

On our property, we have some plain wire, some sheep fencing (RingLock) and some barbed wire. We are gradually getting rid of all the barbed wire as it serves no purpose for us and just increases the chances of injury especially as alpacas like to poke their heads through the fences to eat the grass on the other side.

You need to ensure that there are no bits of wire sticking out and that if your alpacas do put their heads through, that they can get back out again.

Alpacas are certainly capable of jumping normal fencing but are disinclined to do so. We have only had one alpaca jump a fence. He was a particularly nervous animal and was being cornered. He took fright and easily cleared the fence. However, once on the other side, he just wanted to get back in with the other alpacas.

You will need a small yard where you can put your alpacas while doing routine checks, toenail trimming etc. If you make this yard freely available for your alpacas to use, they will be happy to go into it when required. A handful of lucerne hay will have them in there in no time!

Can I buy a breeding pair?
Sure, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, an adult male alpaca will generally want to mate with any female alpaca he has access to. So, you'll need to make sure your female is old enough to breed, before putting your male with her. This is from about 12 months of age for a female. Males are generally not capable of breeding until they are around 2-3 years, although there have been cases of younger males mating successfully.

If you run a male and a female alpaca together all the time, you won't know when (or if) your female is going to deliver her cria. You may see them mate and be expecting a cria around a particular date, but she may not have become pregnant with that mating, or she may have lost that pregnancy at some time since and remated with the male, without you knowing. This may not be important to you, but if, like us, you'd like to be around for the birth so you can assist if something goes wrong, then you'll need to have a fair idea when the cria is due.

Some males will attempt to mate with a female while she is giving birth. This can be a disaster for the baby that you've waited nearly 12 months for. You also want to give your female a few weeks to rest after giving birth before re-breeding her.

These are just a couple of things to consider when thinking about buying a male and a female alpaca. They are very collectible animals though so chances are, once you have your breeding pair, it won't be long before you get the "alpaca bug" and want a few more.

Wethers (castrated male alpacas, sometimes also called geldings or caponas) are always good to have around. They are less expensive to buy than breeding animals and most can be kept with males or females with no problems.

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