About Alpacas

Most people know about camels. The camelid family also includes the wild guanaco ("wa-NAH-ko"), the domesticated llama, and the fiber-bearers: the wild vicuna ("vee-KOO-nya") and the domesticated alpaca.

There are two alpaca breed types:

suri - on the left (pronounced "surrey") Suri fleece hangs down from the body in beautiful pencil-like locks.

huacaya - on the right (pronounced "wah-KI-ah").  Huacaya fleece is wavy or crimpy which gives them their fluffy, teddy bear-like appearance.

In many parts of the world, including their native South America, alpacas are eaten. However, in North America, alpacas are raised as a fiber producing animal. Some larger breeders in North America have reveled that they also slaughter some of their cast offs for their own consumption. In South America, they are also sometimes used as "pack animals". Although they can not carry a large load, nor do they have a lot of meat.

The average alpacas stands about 36"  tall at the withers (the point where the neck and spine come together). Females on average weigh between 100 and 150 pounds, but can be larger especially during the last few months of gestation.  Males weigh roughly 140 to 200 pounds. For the most part, alpacas are a gentle intelligent animal.  Like many herd animals they have a keen sense of "family" or herd mentality.  They like to be among themselves and are rarely seen alone and at a great distance from the rest of the "family". Like people each one can have their own personality, likes, dislikes and even temper tantrums !

DO THEY SPIT ? Why yes of course they do and it's the experienced alpaca farmer that can tell when that might happen and is quick to duck out of the way of the flying green stuff !  Alpacas spit when provoked or agitated with one another. Most times it's over food and at each other rather than at you.

TOES? - Alpacas have two toes, with hard toenails on the top and soft pads like a dog on the bottom. The toe nails must be kept trimmed regularly to ensure comfort and health.  Because of this, they are very gentle on the land and do not compact the soil or dig it up like a horse or cattle.

Teeth -  Alpacas have a single row of teeth on the bottom of their mouth and a smooth hard palate or dental pad on the top.  The forage that it favors is gently cut by the bottom teeth and crushed against the palate in a back and forth motion before it is swallowed and digested.

Stomach - Alpacas have a single stomach divided into three compartments. They produce rumen and chew cud much like a cow. This highly sophisticated food processing capability makes the alpaca one of the fuel-efficient forms of livestock in existence anywhere in the world!  It also makes their dung one of the best natural fertilizers available.

Females

A young female will show signs of maturity and readiness for breeding at 14 - 18 months of age.  However it's best to wait until she is fully grown before actually breeding her. Many breeders wait until she is 24 months of age. Females are "induced ovulators," which means that the act of mating and the presence of semen causes them to ovulate. Females sometimes conceive after just one breeding session, which can last anywhere from 5 minutes to well over an hour.  Occasionally they do have troubles conceiving. Artificial insemination is technically difficult because the act of breeding stimulates ovulation - but it can be accomplished. Babies conceived from artificial insemination are not able to be registered with the

.  See the tab about males for more information on breeding.

The gestation period is between 11 and 12 months, most commonly between 335 - 345 days. Females usually have single births and human intervention is sometimes needed. The average newborn (called cria) weighs between 15- 20 pounds, with delivery occurring usually during the daylight hours, more often in the morning. The newborn cria is usually standing and nursing within 90 minutes of birth, and will continue to nurse until weaned at approximately 6 months of age. Twins occur about every 10,000 births. The time between giving birth and rebreeding can be as little as 3 weeks but most often is between 4-6 weeks. The average life span of the North American raised alpaca is around 20-25 years,

A female will generally give birth standing up. Labor and delivery of the cria by an experienced female without

human intervention usually takes about 1 hour. Once the cria's head is presented and it's breathing air the dam may take a break, walk around and even graze wile the cria dangles out of the vulva.  This allows fluids to drain from the cria's lungs. After a few moments the female will once again give some gentle pushes either while standing or laying down and the rest of the cria will fall to the ground.  Alpacas do not clean off their young which are born with a thin flexible film covering the body. The cria will flop around on the ground to remove the film.  A cria should be attempting to sit in the sternal position within 10 minutes of birth and be standing and nursing within 60 -90 minutes. About 30 minutes after the cria is born or "hits the ground" the female will expel the placenta.

For more information and photos of a birth on our farm see

"Alpaca Pregnancy & Birth"

Males

The male alpaca matures more slowly than the female. A male will typically begin to show signs of willingness to breed between 2 1/2 and 3 years of age.  He may think he can breed before that and young adolescent males will sometimes exhibit breeding actions with other young females or adult females. The males penis is very long and thin like a pencil and until the age of sexual maturity it is adhered to the prepuce or sheath that covers it.

Breeding is done in a prone position and can take anywhere from 10 - 60 minutes. During a breeding the male will move his penis from one of the females "horns" to the other.  During this time he is dribbling seman in each horn to await the female eggs for fertilization.   Most pregnancies occur in the right horn.  While breeding the male makes a continuous orgling sound and moves his front legs occasionally along the sides of the female. The female will remain in a kushed position, moving her head and sometimes looking up and back at her lover.  She rarely makes any noise at all and sometimes will eat or just appear to be totally bored with the whole process.

Males should not be bred more than once every 24 hours.  This allows him to not only regain his composure and strength, but for the penis to relax, re-enter it's sheath and his semen to reproduce to sufficient potency for impregnating another female.

Male alpacas that are not going to be used for breeding purposes should be castrated at around 2 years of age. These males are often used as companions for females when traveling or for young males being weaned from their dams.  Castration also helps to maintain the micron of their fiber in the older years. They are usually sold at much reduced prices as pet quality animals and make wonder PR animals for your farm or for 4H studies and performance training for shows. {/tab}

The main thing alpacas eat is grass or hay.  Of course fresh green pasture grasses are best. Many grasses are good for them including Bermuda, Coastal, Timothy and Orchard.  Fescue is OK with some limitations. Depending on your pasture maintenance, fescue can be fed as long as you keep the grasses short in the pastures where you have your pregnant females.  Taller fescue is high in endophytes which has been known to cause late term females to abort the cria.  There is an endophyte free fescue as well. Alpacas eat

approximately two pounds per 125 pounds of body weight per day. So a single 60-pound bale of hay can generally feed a group of about 20 alpacas for one day. You should give alpacas access to free-choice mineral supplements and plenty of fresh water to drink. We use automatic waterers in our pastures and have buckets available in the barns with water that has had electrolytes added to it.  This helps during times of high heat and cold.  We put our minerals out near the hay on a flat little table we attached to a post in the barn. The girls just lick them off the table. We use Stillwater 104 brand.

Female alpacas should also get a grain supplement year round and the males get it in the winter.  The grain you choose should be high in any nutrients that may be lacking in your soil or hay.  So it's important to get your soil and hay tested so that you can adjust the feeds if needed.  Lactating females and those in the final 6 weeks of pregnancy usually need more nutrition and should get extra grain.  For females that have trouble making enough milk for the cria, there are lactation herbs that also can be added to the feed during the last months of gestation and during the first month of nursing it's cria.

Fiber

Alpacas are raised for their

It's also warmer than wool for the same weight, and has other desirable qualities such as flame resistance.

Unlike sheep's wool that contains significant amounts of waste material and lanolin, alpaca contains no lanolin and is usally a relatively clean, dry fiber. This makes it easier to process and eliminates the need to wash and soak several times before processing.

, yet much less expensive and more easily acquired and processed than cashmere.

including white, beige, several shades a fawn, brown, gray and black.  The lighter colors can be easily dyed to provide a rainbow of colors for a fiber artist.  Some people also experiment with the darker colors to a unique product.

Alpaca can also be blended with other fibers like fine sheep's wool, cashmere, mohair, bamboo, silk and angora.  These blends also make alpaca extremely versatile for use in everyday wear and also as expensive designer fashions. The scales of the alpaca fiber are unique in the way that they lay against the hair follicle shaft. This is believed to be why many people consider it to be hypo-allergenic, especially the ultra soft baby alpaca.

Shelter & Fence

As a general rule, alapcas need at minimum a 3 sided shelter that will allow them a space to escape from inclement weather or the hot sun.  There should be enough room for all the alpacas in the pasture to kush comfortably and not invade the personal space of the other alpacas in the shelter.  There should also be room for a hay feeder, weather it be on the wall or the ground, and a bucket of water.