Alpacas for keeping grass down?

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

Not horsey, but I'm sure there'll be some good advice here...

My parents have about 60 acres of grass that's going mad. They wondered about sheep - but now we are wondering if alpacas might be more suitable, and easier to keep? They want a light grazing animal that is not going to churn up the field. The field is already securely stock fenced. Do Alpacas need to come into barns during the winter? Also, are the regulations less stringent for keeping alpacas, compared to sheep?

Obviously before we went any further we'd have to do a lot more research, etc, but the main question is.. Does anyone have any idea on how many Alpacas we might need to keep the grass under control in a 60 acre field?

 

[martlin]

You would need several alpacas, not QUITE sure, but I think it is 0.6 grazing unit, and you need 1 grazing unit per acre to keep things trimmed.
They aren't any easier to keep than sheep, in fact, I would say sheep are easier as are smaller and thus easier to wrestle with and less poaching.
The regulations are pretty much the same, although apparently you can get some sort of ''pet'' dispensation for alpacas, but probably not for the sort of numbers you are looking at.
If you get the right sheep, there is no need for wintering indoors, and some breeds don't need shearing either. You need 4-6 sheep per acre on good grazing.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

They should be aware that not being classified as agricultural has its downsides.... Alpacas are very susceptible to TB and as they can spit (the best way of transmitting it) it does present a risk to other livestock and humans, and would also be fairly unpopular stock choice with any neighbouring livestock farmers. Unfortunately the TB test used for cattle isnt at all reliable with alpacas/other camelids and since there isnt any compulsory testing partly for that reason, there has been a hidden problem of TB in alpacas for a long time. See here for more info. bear in mind that because alpacas arent in the food chain, TB outbreaks are only counted per herd not as with cattle per animal, so the numbers of animals affected is much larger than the official count.
http://www.alpacatb.com/
The rules and regs for sheep are not very onerous, the land probably already has a holding number so they just need to ring local animal health for a sheep herd flock number. Any sheep they buy in will already be tagged so they would only need to tag any who lose them over time.

For keeping down grass, sheep are much more suitable, alpacas normally are added as guardians for the sheep against foxes. It would be a very very expensive way of keeping down grass, especially as with the sheep if the plans/priorities change you can always eat them!

Both animals need shearing and sheep esp native smaller breeds are a lot easier to handle just on the basis of size (I can turn my Shetlands upsides to shear and treat them, certainly cant do that with a camelid!)

Or if they dont fancy sheep themselves they could get a local cattle or sheep farmer to pay them to graze the land. No work, a bit of money coming in and they can look at the sheep without the hassle!

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

Thank you - a lot then! I wonder if we might be better offering the use of the field to a local sheep farmer, as the numbers that would be needed sounds quite daunting.

 

[Surreydeb]

My neighbours have alpacas they are much harder to handle than my sheep and don't make much of a dent on their limited grazing! Need same care as sheep i.e foot trimming vaccinating shearing etc. Regs are the same as sheep I believe.

 

[solly3066]

Hi,

Would say sheep would be bette and easier to keep. We don't have sheep but do have 20 alpacca's on 10 acres. They are fine with the cold, but ideally do need shelter as they don't do so well being soaked and cold.

On the plus side, they are cute to look at and if handled / spent time with, they do become quite tame and have great characters. The down side...they spit!! Having been on the receiving end of this on more than one occasion...it is revolting and very unpleasant!!

Routine maintenance si feet trimming and shearing each year or bi-yearly depending on the coat, vaccinations, worming and so on. We had one die due to fly strike which was the most horrific of things but quite unusual and mites can be a problem.

Would guess sheep also cheaper to buy too!

 

[martlin]

Thank you - a lot then! I wonder if we might be better offering the use of the field to a local sheep farmer, as the numbers that would be needed sounds quite daunting.

renting the grazing out might be a good plan, there is, however, one thing to bear in mind. If you draw single payment from RPA for the land, you need to have a degree of involvement in managing the livestock, or you are not considered to be farming and thus breaching your cross compliance rules, which in turn means no money. It's a new tightening of the rules and a right royal pain in the bum.