Alpacas Make Excellent Field Pets

Fifteen years ago the only place that you would have seen an alpaca in this country would have been in a zoo. Then in the mid 1990s a large importation of 600 animals was brought into the UK. Some of the importers were people who wanted to breed these fascinating animals, recognising their potential as fibre producing animals to find their place in the future of British farm livestock, whilst others saw an opportunity to market an unique animal that they believed, and rightly so, would capture the imagination of people in the United Kingdom.

Today there are in excess of 10,000 alpacas in the UK. Many are in the hands of competent breeders, who are carrying forward the selective breeding programmes necessary to produce the quality fleeces demanded by the processing industry to produce the high value garments alpaca is renown for. As many again are finding homes as pets with people who become engaged by this animal's interactive character, ease of management and the fact that they lend a certain presence to their property.

So what is involved in ownership of alpacas as pets?

Perhaps the most important thing to say first is that these animals need daily care. Field pets by their very nature are dependent upon their owners to ensure that they have food to eat and that they continue in good health, so a daily check is essential. It is also of course the best way to develop a trusting relationship with the animals if you feed and handle them regularly. Alpacas are prey animals and their basic instinct is to not trust us, whom they see as predators, and therefore we have to work to break down their desire to take flight and run by desensitising them to our touch and presence. This takes patience and an understanding of their point of view, but is rewarded by an animal that will come up to you willingly and eat from a proffered bowl or take a tit-bit from your hand. Bits of carrots and apples work well! They can also be halter trained and lead as a pony is. We have recorded several instances of therapeutic value attributed to the development of a working relationship with alpacas both with adults and children. In part this may be due to their size but largely it is a result of their inquisitive and gentle nature.

Alpacas are herbivores and they spend nearly all their time eating in order to acquire enough to keep body and soul together! They do not need supplementary feeding with grains or proprietary feeds such as calf or sheep feeds provided that we supply good quality grass to graze and supplementary hay all year round but principally in winter. The essential point to remember is that the fodder provided should be of good quality. Supplementation of their diet then is confined to the provision of essential vitamins and minerals through a specialist camelid feed such as “Camelibra”, which is increasingly becoming available through agricultural merchants.

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