Question 1

I'm considering buying a couple of neutered male alpacas as pets to keep the grass down on my three-acre farmlet in Pukekohe. Can you comment on the worming routine that you would recommend? What about other injections, medications or things that I would need to do periodically?

Hi George,

Firstly, thanks for stepping up to ask the first question on this forum. I'll do my best to answer your questions.

I'm delighted to hear that you are thinking about getting two alpacas, not just one. Alpacas are herd animals and really need to be kept with at least one other alpaca. You mention that you have three acres. If you divide that up into (say) three paddocks, you could comfortably graze six or eight alpacas. But it's a good idea to try just the two for at least one year to give you an idea of how much grass they consume. By the way, one alpaca eats just about as much grass as one sheep.

One bonus of having a low stocking density, is that you will have fewer problems with internal parasites. We run about five alpacas to the acre and that does cause some problems with worms. You'll be running less than one alpaca to the acre and can probably get by with injecting an anthelmintic (Dectomax, Ivomec, etc.) once every four months. Some very experienced breeders would tell you that once every six months is sufficient. If you aren't having your vet do fecal egg counts on a regular basis, then I would urge you to consider the four-monthly regime.

If you are uncomfortable giving injections, several of the oral drenches (Oxfen, Genesis, etc.) are very effective and easy to give.

I recommend that you discuss a worming routine with your vet, however, as I can only tell you what we would do on our farm.

You should also be giving an annual CDT injection. This would be a 5-in-1 or a 10-in-1 injection to protect your alpacas against clostridial diseases. Other experienced breeders would recommend doing this twice a year. So, once again, you should discuss this with your own vet.

There is one other activity that I would encourage you to do, and that is keeping your alpaca's toenails trimmed. The lighter the colour (of the alpaca), the more often you will have to trim their nails. We trim toenails on the white alpacas about every two months and the black ones every four months. The browns are somewhere in between.

After your male alpacas arrive, I would encourage you to have your vet come out and do the following:

1. Give them a thorough health check (if this wasn't already done by the person selling you the alpacas).
2. Recommend a worming protocol and help you decide who is going to administer it (you or the vet).
3. Show you how to inject and/or drench (if you are going to do it yourself).
4. Show you how to trim toenails.

All the best with your new alpacas.

Chuck Rademacher