What do alpacas eat?
Eighty percent (80%) of the diet of alpacas and llamas must be quality grass and/or hay. Alpaca and llama diets vary across different regions of North America, depending on the pastures, available supplements, and breeders’ preferences. The remaining twenty percent (20%) of the diet should consist of pellet, mineral, and probiotic supplements.
The Camelid Stomach
Alpacas and llamas have three stomachs. The first stomach is a big “fermentation vat” for all the hay and grass they eat. The second and third stomachs extract the nutritional components of your food intake. So, to keep your alpacas and llamas healthy, you need to keep the first stomach, the fermentation vat, in constant good working order.
Pasture grass and hay
The grass or hay from your pasture should have about twelve percent (12%) protein. You can contact your county agricultural extension office for information on how and where to grass test your pasture. Typically, a grass or hay analysis will cost around $15 to $20 US dollars. If you are buying hay, get “horse quality” hay. You will need approximately one 70 pound square bale per animal per week, plus another ten percent (10%) of hay for contingencies. For example, if some females come to your ranch to breed. If you need to feed 6 adult alpacas hay for 16 weeks, you would buy (6*16) = 96 plus 0.10 * 96 = 9.6, or 106 bales.
The hay you buy should not be moldy. Do No Let the hayboy unload the hay from your truck until he has performed a “smell test” on several bales. It should have a sweet grassy smell. If it smells moldy, it’s moldy. So don’t buy weed.
regular meal times
It doesn’t matter what time of day you feed your alpacas supplemental pellets, as long as you feed them at a regular time every day. This helps keep your first stomach in good working order.
The alpaca’s stomach generates a lot of heat. Therefore, you can change the feeding schedule to better match the season of the year. For example, if you live in a very hot summer climate, you may want to feed them at night, rather than during the day, to avoid generating unnecessary body heat during the hot part of the afternoon.
Supplemental Pellet Feed
Many alpacas owners are feeding too many additional granules. There is a relationship between how much an alpaca eats and the production of fine or coarse fiber. Superfeed alpacas and produce coarse fiber! While we don’t want to starve our animals to produce fine fiber, the goal is to feed them efficiently.
There are different brands of quality alpaca pellets, which usually come in 40 to 50 lbs. bags. A pellet with about fifteen percent (15%) protein is recommended. Each bag has a final label that gives the nutritional values, the quantity of granules for males, non-pregnant females, pregnant and lactating females, and young (babies). Generally, pregnant and lactating females should receive 1 pound of pellets per day. Males and non-pregnant females should receive 1/2 pound per day, and pups should receive 1/4 to 1/3 pound of pellets per day.
In winter, when grass is not available and the alpacas are eating hay, I increase the number of pellets per day by fifteen percent. In the summer in my area (East Texas), I greatly reduced the daily pellets because the animals have access to plenty of grass. In addition, it is so hot that the animals do not go out to eat in the sun. Rather they sit in front of the fans all day. So they don’t move much and therefore don’t burn as many calories. They need less food in summer.
Alfalfa
I also mix alfalfa with my pellets for certain animals, at certain times. However, you should be careful about overfeeding alfalfa. Too much alfalfa interferes with the balance of calcium and potassium available in an animal’s system. I usually feed 5 parts pellets to 1 part alfalfa for my pregnant females. Males only get alfalfa in winter.
other supplements
Other food supplements include minerals and probiotics. Alpacas and llamas need selenium and other minerals that are not available in some North American soils. The minerals come in the form of loose granules and as compressed blocks. I have found that mineral blocks are significantly less expensive than loose pellets. When you buy mineral block, don’t No buy blocks of salt You probably won’t find mineral blocks made specifically for alpacas and llamas. So buy the equine or goat mineral blocks.
Probiotics are another important food supplement. Probiotics have microorganisms that help the alpaca’s first stomach break down the tough cellulose in hay and grass. There are two categories of probiotics: those based on lactobacillus and those based on brewing years. Both are excellent. If you see an alpaca have diarrhea, probiotics help get their digestive system back on track. You can sprinkle a teaspoon of probiotics over the daily granules for several days. I always offer my alpacas and llamas probiotics after giving them oral deworming medications.
