What kind of alpaca food do you need to keep your alpacas healthy?
Ahhh…very simple to answer. Good quality hay!
An alpaca needs an 8% crude protein diet on average. If an alpaca is pregnant or lactating, their protein needs increase to 12-15%.
A growing cria needs 15% crude protein.
So, how do you know if the hay you are about to purchase for your alpacas is of high quality? Especially if you are new to owning livestock and haven’t evaluated hay before now.
From years of buying hay and alfalfa, first for horses and then alpacas, we have learned how to judge good hay. We have had good hay and hay that ended up moldy.
Write these tips down!
These five ways to evaluate hay will help you to make a quality purchase and not waste money.
1. Pick up the bail. - A good bale of hay will sag when you lift it up by the twine. Now drop the bail from at least waist level. It should bounce. If it thuds, it’s a dud. Now cut the twine or wire. They hay should spring out.
2. Look at the color. - Now that you have a bale open, look inside and see what color it is. If the outside is bleached from the sun, that’s ok. The hay should have a bright green color inside. This is an indicator that it has higher proteins and vitamins in the hay. Thumbs down on yellow and brown colored hay. No nutrients means sick alpacas.
3. Stickiness. - When you open the bale and pull the leafs apart, do they stick together? Yuck. No good. This is an indicator of mold. Does the bale feel warmer than others? Reject this looser, too.
4. Take a whiff. - Sniff that hay! (Could this be a new reality show title?) You know what mold smells like and you can definitely smell it in hay. Quality hay smells sweet and grassy.
5. Work those eyeballs. - Really look at the hay. If you’re buying alfalfa, make sure it’s leafy with soft stems. In grassy hay, look for seed heads. If seedheads float your boat then purchase it, but it isn’t going to provide your alpacas with a lot of nutrients. REJECT! Lots of seedheads are an indication that the grass was cut when it was more mature and has lost protein value.
What is the best way to evaluate hay for alpaca food? Get a chemical analysis from a certified lab. This way you will know what exactly is in the hay and what your alpacas are getting in their bodies. When you know
what’s missing, you know what to supplement in your alpacas diet to keep them healthy and producing fiber.
How much of this high quality food should you give your animals? We feed a leaf a day per alpaca. Some alpaca owners figure on 1/3 of a ton per alpaca per year.
For treats, carrots and apples are quite popular among the alpaca crowd.
We have heard that Fig Newtons are a favorite, too. Whether they are good for your alpacas or not might be questionable.
In conclusion, alpaca food consists mostly of hay, so, make sure it’s quality. This will be a huge step to running a successful alpaca business.
