Re: [AlpacaTalk] free choice question
Heather - Our alpacas are all in very good weight and a few too heavy. We
must have either a difference in hay quality or most likely different-aged
alpacas. Our oldest alpaca is only 8.
SUSAN OLSON
Alpaca Loco
Riverside, CA
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In a message dated 3/11/2009 9:24:11 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
alpacatalk@westwind
The rule of thumb that we were taught when we started with alpacas
was 1/3 ton per year per alpaca. That's how we've always ordered hay,
and we usually have enough to last a whole year. With greater
stocking density in the pastures, we don't count the actual pasture
grass and forage into our calculations for feeding, we just don't
think we have enough to sustain anyone.
We've had a pretty hard winter this year for our location, several
inches of snow on several occasions, and even had some dusting of
snow just this weekend. Last year we had snow in April 20th! So that
will add challenges to keeping weight on. Much of Southern
California, except the mountains and high desert, doesn't really have
cold winters where you get any freezing at all, much less snow or
hard freezes.
I looked at my farm calendar, and one bale will feed 5 boys anywhere
from 5-9 days. I don't know why there is so much variance. But I
figured an average of 8 days, as that is the most common interval
between new bales. So that makes 2.5 lbs per day, which comes to
912.5 lbs per year. Almost half a ton.
For the girls and crias, I don't have that info because I'm not in
charge of hay in those pastures. We have full bale feeders as well as
lower feeders so babies can reach. We even have large rubbermaid bins
bungeed to the fence inside the stalls that hold about 1 flake each,
for extra hay feeders until we can manage to build some more proper
feeders.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that although technically that
full bale feeder will feed 5 boys for a week, not everyone gets to
eat at the same time. I've found 4 is the most that can eat from a
box that size without a lot of arguing. Additional hay boxes for the
boy's pastures are on the to-do list as well, to be placed on
opposite sides of the stalls.
Different areas and climates will have different feeding
requirements. Maybe you could do some field trips to farms in your
locality to see their set-ups and their feeding regime. Everyone will
do it differently!
Heather
On Mar 11, 2009, at 8:56 AM, _sleepypinesaz@
(mailto:sleepypinesaz@
> I guess that I will keep hay out all the time, and just keep an eye
> on them
> day by day.
> Pam
>
> You are welcome to visit my website...
> __http://www.freewebs
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> Please join:
> _TriCityCraftsForSa _TriCityCraftsForSa
> (_http://groups.
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>
> In a message dated 3/11/2009 8:22:25 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> _alpacatalk@
writes:
>
> That's interesting Susan! We have hay out at all times, and struggle
> to keep weight on many in our herd. We have hay boxes that hold an
> entire bale. In the adult male pastures, we have one of these feeders
> in each, and one 100 lb bale will feed five adult males for
> approximately one week. So they're eating 2.85 lbs per day.
>
> We do separate into groups for pellet feeding time, keeping the
> piggies together, the slowpokes together, so everyone gets their
> correct amount. And we bowl feed the pellets, definitely do not pour
> them in a line on the ground the way I've heard one breeder say to do
> it, and we don't care for the plastic raingutter feeder method
> either, except in creep feeders for crias, which we currently do not
> have.
>
> Heather
>
> On Mar 11, 2009, at 8:00 AM, _sleepypinesaz@ On Mar
> (mailto:_sleepypine
>
> > Hi Susan,
> > Wow...I wondered about it, because they sure chow down on that
> > orchard grass
> > with huge mouthfuls, lol.
> > Thank you,
> > Pam
> >
> > You are welcome to visit my website...
> > ___http://www.freewebs
(http://www.freewebs
> punziwu/_)
> (__http://www.freewebs
(_http://www.freewebs
> punziwu/) )
> > Please join:
> > _TriCityCraftsForSa _TriCityCraftsForSa
> > (__http://groups.
(http://groups.
> (_http://groups.
(http://groups.
> >
> > In a message dated 3/11/2009 12:10:24 A.M. US Mountain Standard
> Time,
> > _LunarStruck@
(mailto:LunarStruck@
> >
> > Hi Pam,
> >
> > We free-feed hay to our pregnant females and crias but not to the
> > males.
> > We feed our males once or twice a day so they have hay most of the
> > day.
> > One of our females is, I'm ashamed to say, VERY fat. If we had the
> > pasture
> > divided properly, I would separately the fatties from the thinnies
> > and feed
> > them
> > accordingly.
> >
> > SUSAN OLSON
> > Alpaca Loco
> > Riverside, CA
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> ************ ************
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> query=employment_ que&<WBR>ncid=
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posted by Chaddo at 6:55 PM
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