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Leanne Mastin & Carl Di Stefano			Contact Us Our Philosophy FAQ Alpacas in general

So you want to find out about alpacas.
Well let's face it there are lots of official organisations and dictionaries that will tell you the obvious stuff.But here are some things we've learnt along the way:

• Alpacas need other alpacas around or at the very least sheep
• When the Spanish Conquistadors killed large numbers of alpacas they triggered an unnatural selection. The remaining alpacas are the descendants of the ones that got away, the ones that ran up the mountains, the ones that lived in the desert and found food where food was not obvious. Thus today's alpacas are very hardyAlpacas get a lot of nutrition from their food. They are very efficient processes of food. By the time the food has come out of the non-smiling end of the alpaca there is not much nutrition left. Therefore alpaca faeces is less likely to contain microbial contaminants.Alpacas do their poos in one spot. Even 2 day old alpacas know this. Nutrients in alpaca are concentrated. 1 metre from most poo piles you are unlikely to get any nitrate or phosphate readings. On a really steep hill this may extend to 2 metres.
• Alpaca spit stinks
• Alpacas grieve and as part of that grieving process they can get angry. An angry, grieving alpaca may run from one end of the paddock to the other stomping it's feet.
• Alpacas have different personalities just like people do. Some are curious, some are shy, some show bravado and some like eating more than others.
• Alpacas can hold off birth until conditions are favourable.Alpacas can miscarry and sometimes you may never even know this has happened.
• Alpacas have soft padded feet and don't disturb the ground much. In fact alpacas have less impact on the ground than kangaroos. In November 2005 we had some fencing done and the fencer drove his car down the paddock. No other vehicle entered that paddock until October 2006. 11 months after the car had squashed the grass, and despite numerous alpaca walking on it, the tyre marks were as clear as the day they had been made. I call this the Neil Armstrong theory and suggest that if an alpaca walks on Earth undisturbed it might outlast Neil Armstrong's footprints on the Moon.
• Alpacas are heavy and awkward to carry - although it is possible. A sick alpaca can be almost impossible to carry. Halter train all you animals so if you have to get them to a Vet you can do so on their own steam.
• Alpacas are treated as livestock by Australian Government agencies but many Local Government personnel have not dealt with alpacas before and can draw very unusual conclusions. They are no more exotic a species than a sheep.
• A run away alpaca is hard to catch but it will probably look for other alpacas. Sometimes the best thing to do is get out of it's way and it will walk towards the herd.
• Alpacas will avoid going to the toilet in your house. Letting them walk around the house is a good way of getting them used to you, although they can become mesmerized by television. If they do wee in your hallway it will be a big one because they have been holding on for so long they lost control.
• Alpacas mate when they are ready. Thus a female that spits off at a male is unready and this may mean she is pregnant.Once alpacas ovulate things get confusing. An alpaca that has been exposed to a male, but not mated - like one of our girls that likes to sit next to the male by the fence, can become convinced that she is pregnant for about 14 days and spit off a male.Males are called machos. That's where the term macho came from. A macho man is really a stud male.Females are called hembra. It hasn't really caught on in common English usage.
• Babies are called cria. Most people will spell it wrong on first hearing it.
• Baby alpacas try and make friends with anything. This includes children, other cria, birds and on rare occasions coconuts.Cria love running in long circles around the paddock. Mothers will push their babies to their teats using their noses.
• While some alpacas have been on television playing football, we have found that they are very inaccurate shooting for goal when your team is 2 points down and the siren seconds away. We suggest playing them in defense instead.
• When people mistake an alpaca for a llama the best answer is, alpaca is like a sheep and llama is like a pony.When a little kid comes up to an alpaca and says, "Woof", don't say anything. Just enjoy the moment and let the alpaca explain that it is not, in fact a dog.
• Alpacas keep foxes away. Try keeping alpacas in the paddock with the chickens for 11 months and then letting the alpacas out of that paddock for 1 night. Then count the number of intact, live, breathing chickens in the morning and subtract this from the number that you had last night.
• There will be a leader in the herd. Befriend her. Bring her gifts of lucerne. She will work with you in subtle ways to let you know if things are wrong.