It can be difficult to assess the health and nutritional status of alpacas because of their substantial fleece coverage, which effectively masks their true body condition. It is therefore most important that animals are inspected on a routine regular basis and a “hands on” assessment made of their body condition if we are to detect changes in condition occurring as they do slowly over a period of time.

We call this Condition Scoring. It is done by feeling for the extent of muscle and fat cover on the body in several key areas. The prime areas are over the back in line with the last rib and the rib cage itself. Other areas that can be used to make an assessment are the brisket between the front legs or the perineum, which is the area beneath the tail. We use a scale from 1-5 where 1 is “emaciated” and 5 “obese”. In this way it possible to detect when an animal is losing or gaining weight and a reason for the loss or gain will be either expected such as some loss of condition when in early to mid lactation or unexpected when disease or poor nutrition may be suspected. Changes in feeding management or health routines can then be made based upon real evidence of need. It is however important that the same person does the assessment each time to avoid differences between personal perception causing inconsistency in the results.

In winter in this country we experience a higher level of cloud cover and therefore lower light intensity than in summer. The effect of this upon all classes of young-stock is a susceptibility to Vitamin D deficiency, which presents itself as rickets. Green forage is a good supply of vitamin A from which animals can synthesise vitamin D by the action of sunlight on the skin. In low light intensity the production of Vitamin D is reduced. In hay making some of the vitamin A in the green plant tissue is converted to D, so well made hay can be a useful source of vitamin D. We can also counteract low levels of vitamin D very simply by administering a vitamin supplement at critical times such as the onset of winter and repeat it through the winter until day length has increased in spring. Vitamins can be administered by intra-muscular injection or orally in the form of a paste. As a matter of routine we supplement all our stock three times over a winter. Current recommendations are to supplement Vitamin D at the rate of 1500 iu Vit. D per kg body weight three times through the course of the winter.

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