Alpaca Nutrition

To help our alpacas have the best nutrition possible we need to understand certain underlying factors.

We should have our soil tested every two or three years, and our pasture tested more often.

It takes about a third of daylight hours for an alpaca to pick enough food, so it is critical that we have the correct balance of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals available to them.

Protein

As a rule of thumb, the greener the pasture, the greater it is in protein - unless it has been boosted with nitrogen.

Protein requirements for an alpaca  differ throughout the year. They normally require an 8% protein diet, which they achieve from proper NZ grasses without supplementation.

 This situation changes when the dam gets to the latter stages of pregnancy and also the first few weeks of lactation.  At that time a crude protein diet intake of 12 -15% is required. This requires the best padddocks and/or supplementation.

Pastures differ in crude protein (CP) at different times of the year. The same pasture can be 20% CP in spring and 6% CP in summer drought.

Excess protein can depress carbohydrate uptake, so when we have lush spring/autumn growth, it helps to  feed out hay or staw, to keep our alpacas healthy.

Fibre

Fibre is essential for the proper functioning of the fermentation vat (the gut). All fibre intake needs to be long stem fibre - at least 25% should be greater than 4 cm long to allow "scratch factor" for proper breakdown of fibre within the stomach.

Vitamins

A,  D and E are all required.

A and E will normally be suppied through green feed.

B and Thiamin (B12) should be supplemented at times of stress and fermentation disorders.

D supplementation may be required.

Minerals

Supplement the soil and the feed, rather than supplementing the animal directly by needle or direct dosing.  The soil provides the minerals to the pasture plants and grasses, which provides the minerals to the alpaca.

We can get  herbage tested and this will show how much of a certain mineral is available to our alpaca.

Water

Always have available fresh, clean, high quality water - if we would not drink it - neither should our alpacas.

An alpaca will drink 5% - 8% body weight at maintenance
                             10% - 15% in hot humid weather or lactating

Natural supplements we can feed our alpacas in winter include acacia, some eucalypts, tree lucerne, broom, karamu coprosma, pittosporum.

In summer, willow, birch, poplar, small amounts of brassicas (cabbage, cauli). carrots and most leafy green vegetables, and fruit like apples and pears.

We need to plan our farm feed for our herd;

• Understand what our alpacas need and when
• Test our water, soils, herbage and feed supplements regularly
• Compose our fertiliser requirements based on soil and herbage test results
• Don't forget trace elements.
• Ensure a nitrogen/carbon balance is maintained
• Build our main pastures to provide a maintenance diet
• Have some areas of the farm providing a lactating/growth pasture 
• Within these regimes, rotate our paddocks and clear up dung,
• Annually revisit the Farm Feed Plan
• Regularly body-score our alpacas to check the Farm Feed Plan has the right effect on them
• Remember an alpaca is 0.65 - 0.7 of a stock unit

Alpacas can stock at 12( lactating) - 20 ( maintenance) per hectare, depending on what feed and conditions are like on that hectare.

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