Re: [AlpacaTalk] RE: corn/beet pulp

 

I also bought alfalfa pellets from the feed store to supplement when we discovered that our hay was crap, but we didn't want to feed extra alpaca pellets since they would then get too much vitamins and minerals. Some of them ate them ok, but I also usually had to moisten them and let them sit overnight. It was a pain, and I wish they'd mill them in the smaller size pellets. But we've found that the dairy grade alfalfa hay is actually easier to feed, since we just break up a flake per hay box and fluff it up really well so everyone can get some.

Heather

Heather Zeleny

White Lotus Alpacas

Oregon

Holistic Farm and Elite Fleece

http://www.whitelotusalpacas.com

http://whitelotus.openherd.com

http://www.facebook.com/White.Lotus.Alpacas

On Jan 28, 2011, at 7:46 AM, jelizabethfarms1@bellsouth.net wrote:

Heather>>>

I have long envied you your custom feed! You say your mom had it 
formulated with just enough grain to get the alfalfa to hold together in 
a pellet. I tried alfalfa pellets a year or so ago but they were too 
large and my pacas rejected them. I also tried alfalfa chunks and 
about half my guys rejected that as well. I am now considered the 
alflafa pellets again and perhaps soaking them. Or Tractor Supply now 
carries a chopped alfalfa hay which is what I have been thinking about 
using. But it will be messy and difficult to store out of their reach 
and out of the reach of all the other critters. The pellets in a bag I 
can keep in the dead chest freezer I use for feed storage.

I can't get a steady source of decent orchard grass around here. That 
is what I started out using when I got my first alpacas as that is what 
I read was the preferred hay. But the only guy around here that grows 
it ripped me off 3x in a row (I was a newbie) and I will not do business 
with him. I know there is controversy about feeding bermuda, but that 
is what I have been feeding for years. For simplification I had to 
find a hay that would work for both the horses and alpacas. There is 
also a lot of controversy about feeding bermuda to horses....sigh. I 
could feed them much cheaper fescue, but then I would have to keep 
something different for the alpacas and it just got too complicated. 
So now I just have about 8 round bales delivered at a time and that can 
feed it to both and move it around when one runs out before the other. 
I have been doing this for at least 5 yrs and they all seem to be doing 
great.

I truthfully cannot even remember why I started the beet pulp and likely 
will let it go when spring gets here. I know it helps the dogs a lot - 
I can tell a difference in their stool and their coat; and I know it is 
good for the elderly horses. We were already using it for the horses 
when folks here started talking about giving it to their alpacas so it 
was easy enough to add to their feed. Now I recall - it was because it 
helped keep the additives I was using - flax seed, minerals, de, on the 
feed rather than at the bottom of the feeding tray going to waste. I 
no longer top dress their pellets with any of these additives - no 
reason, just got out of the habit.

Janice

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