[AlpacaTalk] RE: stock feed or sweet feed

 

Ken, I have to agree with Heather here. The sweet and stock feeds will
not do good for your alpacas. Take them off it immediately! I have
always heard that alpacas don't really need grain supplement at all, tho
I feed and it seems most here do. I do it for management purposes more
than anything. They are conditioned to come to individual catch areas
to eat, so that when I need to do something to do them they are easy to
get to catch pens. It is also my method for getting more
nutrients/minerals in them. But you could likely just do away with it
altogether and offer a vit/min supplement free choice. Getting a good
quality hay is the most important place to spend your dollars.

That said, I get the alpaca formula from Southern States. Years ago Dr
Evans told me they had purchased and were using his formula. I do not
know if that is still the case. They have 2 formulas - Ration and
Maintenance. One is much cheaper than the other ($12 for 40 or 50#)
and I have had to switch to that one for the same reasons you state - no
work for the past year plus now. I compared labels and they seem
identical to me. But from all I have learned from Heather tho I don't
like the ingredients at all. I feed them small amts 2x day and top
dress with soaked beet pulp and minerals, sometimes flax seeds when I
can remember; the boys get no more than a handful. When I have a
preggie or nursing mom I supplement her with alfalfa pellets. My guys
have all been very healthy now for the past couple of years, and that
was not always the case, so I must be doing something right!

Really hard decisions have to be made under current economic
conditions. I feel for you; I'm right there. I was already struggling
to do the best I could with the resources I had and it was not enough.
The past year has been brutal. But truly your pacas would be better
off with no supplemental grain than the sweet or stock feed. I have
wondered, and maybe someone here can answer, about just buying whole
grains like wheat and I don't know what, by the 50# bag and mixing my
own. The commercial feeds put in vitamins, but as a nutritionist I know
they are using the cheapest synthetics that will allow them to list
levels on their labels. I won't use those things for my people, so
don't like using them for my animals either. For a long time I have
felt I should be able to mix up something better for them. But I have
not proceeded in that direction. But when you think about it, grains
are not a natural part of these animals diets anyway.

Janice in NW GA
PS I grew up in Owensboro, KY and at first thought that was what your
sig line said! Beautiful country.

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