The best part of this experience is to find out that every day is different, and that every day (even for the most experienced alpaca breeder) is a learning experience. The times below can be altered to fit your daily schedule.
7:00 – 8:30 AM – Greet the alpacas and encourage them to go out into the pasture to graze and play. Clean barn or night paddock dung piles (alpacas pick a communal dung area) Once the alpacas decide where that spot is, some farms will create “Kitty-litter” type boxes around that area and fill it with sand or wood shavings for easy cleaning.
8:30 AM – Check on the mommys-to-be. If you know that an alpaca is due to have her cria then take your cria kit with you. A nice guide to have on hand is the book The Llama and Alpaca Neonatal Care by Bradford B. Smith, DVM, PhD, Karen I. Timm, DVM, PhD, and Patrick O. Long, DVM. An alpaca baby is called a cria, and is usually standing and nursing on its own within 20 minutes after birth. You might need to stand the cria up for it to learn how to balance and walk itself. Show the cria where the milk source is and if cria doesn’t have a strong suckling reflex then gently pull off the wax-like plugs from the dam’s teats. Squeeze a little milk and rub on cria’s lips. The cria then should catch on from here.
9:00 AM – Close up the feeding area and start putting feed into the containers. Rinse out water buckets and give about 2 5-gallon buckets of water with electrolytes and one bucket with fresh water. We wash the feed and water buckets with soap and water once weekly. It’s nice to have an automatic waterer for every 6 – 15 alpacas so that there’s always a fresh water source. Offer at least one container of free choice minerals. Alpacas will take this in as they need it. Set up a creep feeder, which is where only the crias can fit through an opening. Usually the older crias visit this area, so they don’t have to fight the adults for food. The younger crias get most of their nutrition through nursing. The alpacas will watch excitedly as you prepare their meal!
9:15 AM – Invite the alpacas in to enjoy their meal, and close them in so that you can monitor who is and who isn’t eating. Alpacas are stoic, so this is a good time to see if anyone isn’t feeling well. An alpaca who sticks her nose into a feeder, but doesn’t come out chewing tells you that she might not be feeling well. However, she might have consumed enough fresh grass, so she may just not be too hungry right now. Lock bred moms and babies in for about 30 minutes to give them plenty of time to eat.
9:45 AM – Since you have the alpacas closed in the barn/feed area, and after they’ve eaten, you can administer any meds, take weights, or monitor any conditions at this time. Set up a stall in an area where it’s easy to circulate the alpacas in and out. Also remember that alpacas are a herd-oriented animal, so you may want to make this area big enough for the waiting area, small work area, and then another big area for the animals to go when they are done with whatever task you are doing. (This step doesn’t happen everyday.) You might want to monitor one, a couple or all depending on the situation.
9:45 or 10:15 AM – Let the alpacas back out to graze and play, or just sun themselves. If it’s a hot day, you might choose to hose down their legs and bellies to help cool them down or as a special treat after working with them. You will want to pay special attention to your breeding males. High temperatures can result in lower active sperm counts. Be aware that too much water can cause “wool rot”. This might happen if the temperatures aren’t high enough to completely dry the alpacas’ fiber. We’ve been hosing down the animals only on days when the temperature is at least 85 degrees. Another option is to put a timer on a sprinkler and let the alpacas play and cool themselves. This is another good time to check on mommys-to-be. Usually alpacas have their crias early in the morning between 8am – 10 am, so that the cria has enough sunlight hours to dry off its coat and learn to walk and nurse.
11:30 AM – Lunch Time/Break for the “2” legged!
4:00 – 5:00 PM – Check electrolytes and fresh water if it’s a real scorcher of a day, and replenish. A second feeding for mommys-to-be and nursing moms. As mentioned earlier every day is different. You will want to plan times for breedings, which are better in the cool hours of the early morning. Plan times for sales and marketing, or a friendly visitor. If showing your animals, you will want to plan time to work on halter training, again better in the cool hours of the morning.
