The alpaca is an animal native to the Andes Mountains of South America, but the animal can be found on hobby farms around the Midwest.
Often mistaken for llamas, alpacas are low-maintenance animals that do well in cold weather, provide high quality fiber, and don’t require a lot of work.
Melanie Bonacci of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, has had alpacas on the acreage that belongs to her extended family since 2018. After they moved to the country, they started acquiring animals: first a goat, then alpacas, mini donkeys and pigs.
The family has seven alpacas: four males, two females, and a female cria, or baby, born in May of last year.
The breed is usually intelligent, quiet and observant, unless threatened. They warn the herd with a high-pitched noise, like a donkey’s bray. Bonacci said she hears her alpacas make the sound when the family dogs walk the fence line, especially if a cria is there.
“It’s an alert,” she said, “and if one makes the sound, the others pay attention. They’ll pace back and forth as they make the sound.”
They will spit at each other and sometimes humans, if they are threatened. Bred females will spit at males who might try to breed.
The word “spit” is a misnomer. Alpacas will bring up their stomach contents, so the spit is usually a green grassy mix. Sometimes the spitting is predicated with pinned-back ears as a warning.
Alpacas will use communal dung piles, Bonacci said, which keeps the grazing area cleaner and limits internal parasites to one area. The dung is similar to small pellets, she said, which are easier to pick up with a shovel or large scoop.
The average mature alpaca weighs between 120 to 185 pounds with an average height of 36 inches at the shoulder. At birth, crias weigh between 15 and 20 pounds and are standing within two hours of birth.
Female alpacas, like llamas, are induced ovulators. The act of copulation induces ovulation about 24 to 36 hours after mating. Gestation is 11 and a half months, and rarely does the mother need assistance in birthing.
“They usually have pretty easy births,” she said. With the last cria they had, “we walked to the pasture, and there’s a baby.”
Once the cria is born, the entire herd will gather to greet the new baby, then leave the mother and baby alone to bond.
People are also reading…
Unlike llamas, alpacas are not beasts of burden. Their wool, which is softer and finer than llama wool, is highly desirable. They need to be shorn in the spring, Bonacci said, so that the heat and humidity of the summer doesn’t affect them as much.
Alpaca wool is water and flame resistant, which increases its value. It has a certain amount of crimping, Bonacci said, which determines its quality. The higher number of small folds in the fiber, the greater the quality.
Bonacci sorts her shorn fiber into three categories. Fiber firsts (often called the blanket fiber) is shorn off in one full piece and is the sides and back of the alpaca. Seconds include the belly and neck fiber, and thirds are the legs. Seconds and thirds are shorter fibers than the body and of lesser quality.
She has a local shearer come in to do the work, then sends the wool to a mill in Iowa to be spun. She notes the fiber doesn’t hold dirt well; when it is shaken, the dirt falls out of it.
Alpacas offer more fiber colors than llamas do.
The animals are winter-hardy, having originated at high elevations. Bonacci provides a windbreak and shelter, but even during the cold snap Nebraska experienced in December of 2022, the animals didn’t use the shelter.
“In normal winter weather, they’re out laying in the snow,” she said, “and they won’t go in the shelter when it’s raining.”
When her animals are shorn, Bonacci has the shearer trim their nails and check and grind their teeth, if needed.
Alpacas are forage animals, eating grasses and hay, although they need supplemental protein and benefit from supplemental feed, especially in the winter. Alpaca feed is specially formulated in crumbled form or small pellets to lessen the chance of choking, which the animal is prone to.
Bonacci feeds her animals in long shallow troughs, which allows them to be spaced out and forces them to eat slower and taker smaller mouthfuls, which helps prevent choking.
Alpacas are less independent than llamas and more comfortable in a herd.
They communicate with each other with a variety of sounds: humming, which is a sign of happiness, curiosity, distress or worry or snorting, when an alpaca has invaded another’s space. Mother alpacas cluck to their crias, and male alpacas click to signal friendly behavior. They will scream when being attacked, or screech to scare an opponent or when the males fight.
The alpacas at the Bonacci acreage aren’t pets, Bonacci said.
“They’ll come running right up, but they don’t like to be petted,” she said. “They’re friendly, but not in-your-face friendly, like a goat.”
But they’ve given her four kids, ages 9 to 17, a chance to experience animal agriculture. The kids help with shearing and got the chance to watch the cria as it grew.
Freelance writer Ruth Nicolaus loves (nearly) everything about the Great Plains, but mostly its people. She lives in eastern Nebraska. Reach her at editorial@midwestmessenger.com.