What do alpacas eat?
Alpacas are ruminants which means that they chew there cud like a cow .They survive very well on lower protein feed with hay or pasture grass, providing that they have a balanced mineral diet.There are a number of commercial alpaca mixes on the market these are mainly used for providing the essential vitamin and mineral content required rather than a bulk feed which is obtained through grazing .In general they are good grazers and are not fussy eaters .Getting a hold of commercial mixes is not difficult.
The main thing alpacas eat is just grass or hay, and not much of it-approximately two pounds per 125 pounds of body weight per day. A single, 60-pound bale of hay can generally feed a group of about 20 alpacas for one day. Alfalfa is discouraged or red only sparingly, as it has high protein content that can be unhealthy for the animals. Additionally, all alpacas require access to free-choice mineral supplements and plenty of fresh water to drink.
Alpacas eat hay in conjunction with a small amount of grain specially formulated for alpacas, along with a balanced mineral supplement. Some people enjoy giving them treats such as apples, pears, bananas, and carrots, but it’s not necessary and not good to give very often. Feeding an alpaca costs less than feeding a medium sized dog.
Alpacas are principally grazers but sometimes they enjoy casual browsing. Alpacas do best on good quality pasture and benefit from having access to plant material with long fibres : eg. Hay. It is important to remember to introduce any changes to the diet gradually, over a period of a couple of weeks. This way, the microbes in the gut have time to adjust to any feed changes. Some gardens contain a number of plants that are toxic to most livestock (oleander, rhododendron, laburnum etc). Care should be taken when fencing off gardens that such plants do not overhang into alpaca areas. Likewise, there is a long history of disasters with other livestock that have inadvertently been fed prunings from such plants. Alpacas need to have ready access to good quality, fresh drinking water.
