Greg and Michelle researched for two years before making the commitment to become alpaca farmers.  Along the way they learnt many facts on alpacas.  Now the first question that they get from people is, "What's an Alpaca?"  SO, alpacas are cute curious creatures that are bred for their luxurious fiber that is comparable to cashmere.  They originate from the high plains in the Andes of Chile, Bolivia, and Peru and are part of the camelid family.  Alpacas are one of the easiest livestock to maintain, they are very clean, hardy and have few health issues.  The alpaca industry is the oldest livestock industry in the Americas.  The Incas domesticated them 6000 years ago and only royalty were privy to wear garments made from their fiber.  Their fleece is much softer and stronger than wool, but is also free of lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic yet has 22 natural colours.   Making it a perfect choice for people looking to go natural .    On a recent business trip to Pacific Sun Alpacas of Duncan, BC Michelle received permission to reprint the following article, originally titled Alpaca 101-Continuing Education More Alpaca Facts on: Breeding for Fiber Mostly it is genetics. It is important to understand fiber growth to help you make good breeding choices for each fiber type. In Australia they are making leaps and bounds in recovering from their disastrous sheep breeding programs, quantity over quality. The alpaca world should keep a close eye on their industry and learn from their mistakes and successes. Just recently the news of an ultra fine merino fleece braking the twelve micron barrier with a micron count of 11.9 was huge news for the natural fiber industry! Shearing Fiber Sorting & Grading This topic is probably the most important topic if we are at all interested in having a viable fiber industry in North America. Why are we raising alpacas? For the fiber? What makes alpaca so much better than the other fibers that are on the market? When we put alpaca forward to the public it must be superior to the other products on the market. I believe we are putting alpaca forward as a cashmere soft, durable, odorless, nonappearance, lightweight garment, comfy warm but never to hot product. That said every time a consumer feels alpaca products and it doesn't fit this description we are damaging our industry. It is up to each of us interested in a sustainable industry to work towards producing the best natural fiber on the market today. Now for the farmers only interested in breeding and selling stock need to take heed as well because if your stock doesn't fit the criteria you have lost your customers. In June of 2004 I completed a course at Olds College in Alberta Canada and received my certification as a fiber sorter. I found the course well worth while as I learned in depth about fiber structure, how it grows and why it behaves the way it does. We were very lucky to have Cameron Holt teaching the course and were the first in North American to take such a course. I have taken many workshops and read as much as I could on my own but this course taught me so much more than anything I have done in the past. Am I an expert? No far from it! The best time to do your sorting is on shearing day. You need to put quite a lot of thought into your system and how the flow of fiber from the alpaca to the finished sorted fiber bag will work best. Draw out a map to make sure you are being efficient and the risk of contamination is minimal. Micron Groups   Huacaya US Canadian 1 <20 microns Royal Baby Ultra Fine 2 20 to 22.9 microns Baby Super Fine 3 23 to 25.9 microns Superfine Fine 4 26 to 28.9 microns Medium Medium 5 29 to 31.9 microns Strong Strong 6 32 to 35 microns Coarse Coarse   Suri     1 21 to 23 Fine Fine 2 24 to 27 microns Medium Medium 3 28 to 32 microns Strong Strong 4 33 and greater Coarse Coarse To sort fiber properly it should be within two microns each other. The criteria is color, micron, length of fiber, longs and shorts need to be in it's own bag. Each fleece will most likely have longs and shorts, so for each color you will need two bags for each of the fiber grades, grading one to six, so you now have 12 bags for each color. Please note you may combined colors just decide which colors your are going to have. There ere are twenty two natural colors but most likely you will decide to mix some of your colors. You will of course want to keep your whites and black separate unless you want gray. I sort my colors as; white, light fawn, brown, black, gray and rose gray. 6 colors X 12 = 72 separate bags. Each bag should be numbered one through to six marked for color, shorts or longs and grade, one being Royal Baby up to Strong. See micron chart for grading standards. Canadian Standard Lengths Huacaya Lengths   Worsted Longs 3- 6 in. 80-150mm Worsted or Woolen Shorts 1.5-3 in. 40- 80 mm Woolen < two in. < 60 mm Overgrown > 6 in. >150 mm Suri     A 6 to 8 in. 150-200 mm B 4-6 in. 100-150mm C 2-4in. 50-100 O/L 8-12in. 200> Is important that your lengths are not mixed as the longer fibers will have ends sticking out of the yarn as it wears. Your beautiful socks in no time will look like fuzzy dust bunnies. Also they can make the yarn feel more prickly than it really is. You don't want your yarn to shed either. Mark your sorting table with the lengths for easy reference. Don't throw away the under two inch lengths you can have it made into battings for making quilts or stuffing pillows. You should also check for soundness of fiber. You can tell if the fiber weak or tender by holding a small staple between your thumb and index finger grasp the other end with your other hand hold tightly and flick the center with your middle finger, if it brakes it is tender. Dated Oct. 1, 2004. Attached, FYI, is the new Canadian Alpaca Fibre Harvesting Code of Practice. The Code of Practice is meant to be used as a guide for the Shearing process and for submitting fibre to CANCAM. Please note the changes in Huacaya short and long fibre lengths for 2005. Huacaya short: 2-4 inches; Huacaya long: 4-6 inches. These changes came about as a result of discussions with Cameron Holt at the Sorter/Classier Workshops. The changes in the length parameters will hopefully help to alleviate the current shedding problems we are having with some of our products e.g. socks, felt, etc.   Area's of Fleece In the sorting process it is much easier to separate the different areas of the fleece as it comes off the alpaca. You can use cardboard pop flats marked with the different area's in which to collect the fleece as it comes off the alpaca.     Blanket Britch Neck Middle or upper leg Lower leg Belly       You might have quite a few of these flats and they can be stack on top of each other if the shearer gets ahead of your sorting. Have record sheets ready which you can fill out and put on top of the fleece in each flat. Many people (guilty of this my self before I knew better) just snatch up the fleece and put it in a clear plastic bag perhaps keeping the blanket separate marked with the animals name and grading it as first's and seconds, this is not sorting! To have a good finished produce you can not by-pass the sorting and grading process which in it's self is almost an art form, none the less, I suggest you either take a good course or hire a qualified expert to do the grading for you. To sort properly you must be able to asses the fiber micron and put it in the proper sorting bag. The only fiber you should be throwing away is perhaps the very dirty and extremely contaminated fleece like the but and the birds nest at the base of the neck , if you don't have a use for it perhaps someone else does.   top of page ^   Understanding Fiber Histograms     top of page ^     Alpaca Birthing  I am not a vet so please do not take me as an expert. If at any time you are unsure of what is happening in the birthing process please call your vet. The vet would preferred you called instead of having him or her having a much tougher job later because you didn't call. Although 90% of birthing is straight forward and the mom takes care of everything with no need of your intervention you should be prepared to help if necessary. We have had fifteen births on our farm and out of those we have had to help in only four births if we hadn't I am sure we would have lost the crias and perhaps the moms as well. I strongly suggest you take any birthing clinic you can. If there are not any near by why not host one your selves or take an on-line course. Let other breeders know you are having one, it's a good way to meet people and start net working with others in the industry. Birthing Kit have on hand and ready to grab, in it you should have: vets phone number. towels for drying cria. blow dryer. cria coat. clean shoe lace. 7%Iodine in 35 mm film canister. sterol latex gloves . vet wrap. cria nipples & bottle to fit nipple. red tube with catheter tip (60cc syringe) in case you need to tube the cria. K-y jelly for lubricating. digital thermometer. kept in fridge -Oxytocin use only if told to by vet. kept in freezer- colostrum alpaca or llama is the best but goat is alright. pen and paper for taking notes. information, diagrams on improper cria presentation and what to do.   Signs of pre-labor can be: the Mammary glands enlarge (called bagging up) up to three to four weeks before delivery but with first time moms may not happen at all. wax on the ends of the teats. the belly takes on a different shape seems to drop. Vagina may look larger, pink,elongated and open. their hip bones seem to stick out more. they seem irritable with lots of humming. they are lying down and appearing uncomfortable. the length of last pregnancy can be good indicator but not all ways. they lose their cervical plug 2-3 weeks prior or hours before delivery. A wise experienced farmer once told me that unless you see something coming out the back end of the mother there isn't much you can do. One thing alpacas teach us is patience that is for sure. With gestation period of eleven and half months give or take a month it can be a long wait. The one thing you can do is make sure there is all ways some one around to keep an eye on them once they come into that time frame. I have heard the story to many times of surprise births and the cria might have made it if someone had been there to call for help or just help get a leg straighten out. Active Labor One of the great things about alpacas is that they birth around lunch time give or take four hours. I think they developed this because they originate from the high Andes mountains, if a cria is born to early it will freeze and to late it will not be dry in time for night and would freeze. It is very uncommon for alpacas to birth in the evening or during the night but it does happen sometimes. We had a seasoned mom give birth at eleven at night last year. I was late in doing my evening check so I happened along just as her waters were braking which I heard as I could not see in the dark. So we don't take any thing for granted, from then on we put the near delivery moms in the barn at night. Stage One Labore Amniotic fluid leaking from vulva. noticeable bulging and softening of the perineum (genital area). interest of the rest of the herd in her hindquarters. restlessness. lack of appetite. lack of cud chewing. frequent trips to the dung pile, sometimes without peeing or pooping. frequent trips to water trough. rolling. getting up and lying down frequently. increased humming. lying down with hind legs kicked out to one side. kicking at her belly with hind feet. The period of Stage one labor can last between 1 to 6 hours, but 2 is more average. Call the vet when you are sure labor has started and nothing is happening. you see a nose and nothing else. the female is pushing nothing is coming. feet pointed up. legs no head. she is rolling for a long period of time. stage one of labor lasting more than two hours. Stage Two Labor Stage 2 labor is the actual birthing process which is pretty fast about 30 to 60 minutes. You should see a bulge from the vagina which is the membranes or sack you may see feet pointed down and or a noise with lots of fluid around it. You can see the contractions and sometimes the mother may groan and be humming with them. If everything is progressing normally there is not much for you to do but wait. Once the hips are pasted the umbilical cord brakes and out should slid your bran new cria. The mother may have the cria standing or cushed and perhaps she might get up and down while in the middle of delivering. She may stop and eat grass not to worry all is normal. If you see she is stressed by the interest of the rests of the herd you may want to separate her with few of her friends to keep company in a smaller clean pen. Remember that alpacas are herd animals and get their sense of security from being part of the herd. Call the vet if you feel anything is not normal or if it is taking to long. Educate your self on how to birth a cria so you can help if need be. Don't wait for the vet if your alpaca is in trouble you have to go in and help her out. I am not going to go into how as I am not a vet but you can get some books, take a clinic, do an on-line course and perhaps set up a support network with other breeders in your area. Most alpaca folks are friendly and helpful if you need help call on them. Stage Three Labor After the baby is delivered, the placenta will be expelled. Normally this should happen within the first to six hours after delivery. The mom may appear uncomfortable and may not allow the baby to nurse until it is expelled. While the mom is having a well deserved rest we dry off the cria, dip the cord and make sure the cria is in the sun to dry off, if there is no sun and it is cold we will blow dry. We leave them for a bit to rest and get to know each other. Her friends are put out with the rest of the herd and mom and cria have the pen to them selves. It is very important that the cria be up and nursing as soon as possible. The nursing will stimulate the passing of the placenta and the cria will get the antibodies from moms colostrum. Once the cria is trying to get up and nurse we come back and wash moms teats and make sure the wax is off the nipples, called clearing the dame. We get the cria sucking and give her a baby suppository to help it pass the black tarry substance which can be very hard to pass and then leave them alone for some bonding time. By this time the placenta is usually passed we examine it to make sure there are no missing sections which could still be inside the mom and cause problems later. That is about it until the next day when we weight and give shots for both mom and cria. We weight the cria daily for about a month and then once a week for the first three months and then monthly after that. top of page ^   Registries Explained ARI & CLAA Registries The Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI), which is closely aligned with the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA), is the organization that oversees registration of alpacas in the United States. The Canadian Livestock Records Corp. (CLRC), in conjunction with the Canadian Llama and Alpaca Association (CLAA), handles all the registrations for alpacas in Canada. At the end of 1998, both ARI and CLAA closed their registries to any new alpacas. No Alpaca can be registered with either the ARI or the CLAA unless both parents are already in the registry. Anyone can import alpacas into North American but they cannot be included in either registry. Every alpaca in both registries is DNA blood typed for proof of parentage before the application for registration is approved. Registrations are not transferable between the two registries. All the alpacas that were imported from Chile, Bolivia or Peru before the registries were closed had to be screened in order to be accepted by either registry. Any alpaca that did not pass screening was not allowed to be registered. All alpacas had to be screened in their county of origin and then transported to Canada or the U.S. This rule was adopted as one of the earlier imports was not screened until the alpacas landed in Canada. Subsequently, some of the alpacas did not pass screening (mainly because their fiber was a bit coarse) and therefore we have a few unregistered alpacas in North America. Each alpaca had to be screened separately by people working for U.S. importers and people working for Canadian importers. The same standards were used by both sets of screeners, however a fee was payable to each registry for every alpaca screened. The fee to be screened for entry into the ARI was $500 US per alpaca. Some Canadian importers had their alpacas screened for entry into the Canadian registry but elected not to pay the fee to have their alpacas screened for entry into the ARI. At this time there was a reciprocal agreement on the table between Canada and U.S. and these importers were confident that their alpacas would be able to be registered with the ARI at a later date. Consequently, the reciprocal agreement was not completed and these imported alpacas have never received entry into the ARI. You often hear these alpacas referred to as single-registered, whereas alpacas that were screened by both countries and received entry in to both registries are often referred to as double- or dual-registered. It is also of interesting to note some Canadian importers intended to have their alpacas screened for entry into both registries but were not able to accomplish this before the closing of the registries on Dec. 31, 1998. Only alpacas that are registered with the ARI can be shown at AOBA-sponsored shows in the U.S. and only alpacas that are registered with the CLRC can be shown in CLAA-sponsored shows in Canada. Alpacas from either registry can be shown in International shows as well as all other local shows. There is really no difference in the quality of the alpacas that are single- or double-registered. The majority of single- registered alpacas are offspring of alpacas that passed the same screening process as the double-registered alpacas. The real difference is the price. Double-registered alpacas sell for three or four times more than their single-registered counterparts. For anyone wishing to raise alpacas mainly for the fiber, single-registered alpacas are a more cost effective way to go.   Alpaca Feeding Alpaca are a ruminant, not a true ruminant because they have one stomach with three compartments but they chew their cud just like a cow. They need to have a low protein hay and pasture grass. Protein levels should be 8 to 10% for adult males, non pregnant and non lactating females. For pregnant females they need 12 to 14% protein for the first two trimesters and 12 to 14% for the last trimester and older weanlings (tues). Lactating females need 13 to 15% protein to produce adequate milk and not lose too much weight (see body scoring to access weight). They need to eat two% of their body weight each day to be healthy and be able to meet their reproductive needs. An average alpaca of 140 pounds would need to eat two pounds of hay per day. Because it is to hard to see what they are eating we feed free choice hay all the time. We use a dairy hay but test the hay for protein levels, nitrate and potassium levels to make sure it is suitable for our needs. Besides hay and pasture alpacas need minerals which we give to them in a pellet made by our local feed mill which is designed by our vet and the feed company. It is designed for our soil conditions in our area and also contains grounded up grains mixed and compressed into pellets. We feed a cup a day per alpaca which seems not very much but if you over feed you might find your stock gets the runs from to much protein. More is not necessarily better in this case. In North American we tend to over feed if your alpacas have lose stools and you have checked for parasites have a look at your feeding program you might be over feeding. To ensure that every one gets a fair chance at getting their share of grain we have many little feeders all over the barn, it's like an easter egg hunt at feeding time everyone looking for the best place for grain but they settle down quickly and the grain is gone if five minutes. Pasture is just as important and you should make sure there are no toxic plants in the fields. If you are planting a new pasture you should get the soil tested to see what you need to add to it. Also you should have a good variety of different grasses so there is grass growing through out the growing season. Alpacas are ideal small acreage's and You can keep between five to ten per acre. Water is the last thing on my list and probably the most important. It must be clean and the containers should be clean out once a week and the water changed every a day to keep it fresh. In the summer we have many large containers spread out in the fields to make sure no one is going with out water. In the winter we take hot water out to the barn to heat up their water because if the water is to cold they may not drink enough. You should see them crowd around when we bring it out in the morning you'd think it was hot coffee. To summarize alpacas need clean water from a clean source. free choice hay, protein levels checked. minerals. grain or pellets. good pastures free of toxic Plants.   *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. top of page ^     Alpacas Health Alpaca Stomach The alpaca has one stomach with three compartments see diagram: As you can see alpacas are not really a true ruminant. In reality they have one stomach with three areas dealing with digestion in a similar manner as other ruminates but a true ruminate has separate stomachs. It is very important to the digestion process that there is constant movement in the stomach particularly in the C3 or the fore stomach were it is critical for fermentation with out it you are in trouble and can develop a colic. Put your ear to the rib cage you should hear lots of gut sounds. Something interesting to note about the alpaca stomach is that the fore stomach has much more movement than other true ruminants. You will have layering of food and the movement mixes the food with stomach juices braking down the food and being absorbed and utilized. There are many things important to this process , stomach bacteria are essential and ph levels which change in the different compartments as the food moves to the lower stomach.   top of page ^         Body Scoring I think that one of the most important things we as breeders need to understand is body weight, that loss of weight can be early warning signs of possible health issues. In North America we have a tendency to over feed our animals because we care so much for them so I see more of a problem with over weight alpacas than underweight. We need to have our alpacas at optimum weight for reproduction, breeding, fiber production and able to ward off illnesses. The easiest way to keep track of your alpacas condition is to record it's body score and don't be fooled by fleece coverage get your hands on the back bone at the withers put your thumb and index figure on either side of the bone and depending on how close or far apart your figures are is the score. Some people do a one to five score and others do a 1 to ten. One is thinnest and five is obese or using the one to ten scoring five being optimum. It is fast, easy and costs nothing.     Body Score Chart         top of page ^     Pastures One of the most important thing about pastures is done in the planning stage. Planning If the planning and research are done well you will enjoy years of pleasure instead of constantly fixing this, changing that and adding to these. We say this from experience and a limited pocket book (all the money went into our stock). So many times we say to our selves if only we had done this before. Please think about how many different communities of alpacas you might have like: a main herd a weanling pen a tues or young males paddock an adult breeding males a birthing pen & pasture an Isolation or quarantine pen . You will also like to be able to rotate the alpacas every three weeks, mow what they haven't eaten and irrigate if you have the water to spare. In a perfect world you wouldn't be back to that first pen for six weeks. You would do this for the the main herd for sure and if possible perhaps have two pastures for the tues, adult males and the mommy pen as the populations usually are as high. I hope you noted the isolation pen, this is a pen (doesn't need to be huge) that needs to be on it's own were you can put new alpacas or alpacas that have been away for breeding or shows from the rest of the herd. The alpacas should not be able to touch each other and usually a double fence is in place just in case they might pass something on to the rest of your herd. Our vet likes new alpacas to spend two weeks in that pen before going in which the rest of our herd.   Soil What about your actual pastures? You need to know what kind of soil you have and what you need to do to it before planting which means you need to take a number of soil samples and have them tested We are lucky to have an excellent feed company who also deal in pasture designs which we have found very helpful. You can also contact your local Agricultural Service they are an invaluable source of information. Your agent will probably recommend doing soil testing twice a year to determine what soil amendments your particular pastures will require. Tests are inexpensive and it is wise to test each pasture individually as topography affects soil nutrition. Hilly areas experience rain runoff and thus nutrient leaching while low lying areas receive that runoff which means they require fewer amendments. Nearby alpaca or llama breeders can tell you the forage types their animals prefer. Types of forage You should consider the types of grasses that grow well in your area and different grasses grow at different times of the growing season. Never plant all one kind of grass as alpacas are use to a great variety of forage try and get the variety in the pastures. I don't not recommend clover it is much to invasive and chokes out the grasses. You will get clover anyway so why pay for it. Do not plant Rye grass it can cause a toxic reaction as it can carry an endophyte (bacteria) which can cause staggers which is a condition that looks like it sounds. It effects the central nervous system temporarily and if the rye is not removed it can become permanent or fatal. I know of a breed that had a very sick alpaca which got the staggers from eating hay that had endophyte's in it. The alpaca didn't die but sadly is handicapped. Endophytes are a natural protect for plants and many grasses carry it so make sure any seed you buy is endophyte free. Seeing we are on the topic of endophyte's please don't let your alpacas eat your lawn unless you are very sure it is from endophyte free seed most lawn seed has is not. You should plant grasses that grow from eight to ten inches tall anything over the alpacas will not eat, plant: a mix of several grasses a legume of slower growing varieties not clover Timothy grasses orchard grasses endophyte free short fescue's A couple of serious notes. If possible, invite your local agricultural agent to visit your farm and walk the pastures with you. This is a free service. Ask them to take note of the weeds and any trees growing in your pasture. They can point out those that are toxic to livestock and make recommendations for their eradication. That beautiful cherry tree in the middle of your pasture is aesthetically pleasing and provides shade for the alpacas (always desirable), but the dried old leaves on the ground may be toxic. Likewise, rhododendron, milkweed, most yews etc. are deadly. In general, a well fed lama will not browse on toxic plants, trees or shrubs - but cria are always chewing on everything they find. Eradicate such dangers or if a favorite plant, fence it off. top of page ^     Toxic Plants List Arrow-grass Azalea Baneberry Bittersweet Boxwood Bracken Fern Bleeding Heart Buttercup Burning Bush Castor Bean Cherry (Black Cherry or Wild Cherry) Choke Cherry Christmas Cherry Christmas Rose Crown-of-Thorns Daphne Deadly Niteshade Death Camas Delphinium (Larkspur) Devil's Ivy Dumb-Cane Elderberry Elephant Ears English Ivy False Hellebore Foxglove Golden Chain Tree (Laburnum) Greasewood Groundsell (Ragwort) Holly Horse Chestnut Horsetail Hydrangea Jack-in-the-Pulpit Jerusalem Cherry Jimson Weed Laburnum Lantana Larkspur Lily-of-the-Valley Lobelia Locoweed Lupine Marsh Marigold Mayapple Mistletoe Moonseed Monkshood Morning-Glory Mountain Laurel Nighshade Oak Oleander Peach Philodendron Poinsettia Poison Hemlock Potato Private Rosary Pea Rhododendron Rhubarb Scotch Broom Skunk Cabbage Sneezeweed Sour Dock (Sorrel) Spurge Laurel Sweet Pea Spindletree Tansy Tansy Ragwort Timber Milk-Vetch Tomato Water Hemlock White Baneberry Wisteria Yew     Used with Permission from Pacific Sun Alpacas