Disclaimer: This is how WE take care of our alpacas. The care you give your alpacas needs to take in account the region you live in, how the weather is, and what your Veterinarian suggests.

Compared to other farm animals, alpacas are very easy to care for. Many alpaca owners are retirees or young families.

Daily care can easily be done by one person. Every morning we spend 45 minutes to an hour on our daily chores. Alpacas need plenty of clean fresh water. The water must be changed daily, as they will not drink dirty water. Alpacas need plenty of grass or hay. We suggest using good quality orchard grass hay. We feed Blue Seal Norm Evans Camelid Blend (Starter/Gestation/Lactation) grain. We sprinkle a small protion of minerals on their food daily and have a free choice mineral bucket available, especially in the summer months. The alpaca beans must be raked up and removed to either the compost pile or directly to plants as fertilizer. Fortunately, the alpacas have a shared "potty place." They may have more than one potty place per pasture, but there is no need to search for beans once a potty place has been established.

Every 2 weeks, we give our expectant mothers and Cria a vitamin supplement. We use cherry flavored LAMA ADEB12. It is an oral vitamin supplement. The alpacas do not seem to mind the vitamins.

Once a month, each of our alpacas (except those mothers who are 60 days away from giving birth or who have just been breed) is given a dewormer shot (subcutaneous). These shots are very important due to the high number of deer in our area, so we maintain a very strict schedule. We alternate between Ivomectin and Dectomax. This is one of those days where it is extremely helpful for me to have a second person. Shots may also vary from region so please contact your veterinarian about suggested shots and schedules.

Some shots are given yearly, such as the CDT and rabies shots. I administer our CDT shots, however, the vet must give the rabies shots. Once again, shots may vary from region so please contact your veterinarian about suggested shots and schedules.

We have the vet visit us to give ultrasounds to our alpacas who we suspect are pregnant. No one wants to find out 11 months later, that the pregnancy did not take. We also have the vet give yearly rabies shots, do blood draws for ARI registrations, check the general health of our alpacas, and do health tests such as BVD tests.

In the summer months, we make sure that the alpacas have plenty of shade and spray their bellies for relief during the hottest times of the day.

In the winter months, we make sure that the newer cria have a cria blanket to help keep them warm.

Other chores include purchasing grain and hay, halter training an alpaca, working on marketing and sales, attending trainings, and participating in shows.