Health is very important for everyone, even our critters! At the Garden Fair, a lady asked me about feeding and I thought this would be a great place to explain! Many people are under the assumption that alpaca fiber is spectacular no matter what. Not true! If the alpaca is fed a poor diet, fiber suffers greatly. We test our animals' fiber each year when we shear. We send it to a lab who informs us( via 25 page report) what we are doing right, and wrong. Each year we make changes that gives us more soft, more luxurious fiber than the year before. Our pacas eat a timothy/brome hay mix. It must be green, leafy and smellin' sweet. This batch of hay came from Cat at Alpenglow in Delta and the critters love it. She has sheep herself and understands the importance of good hay equals great fiber! Our beasts eat about a 60 lb bale in 3 or 4 days. We also feed a dry COB mix( corn, oats and barley) We feed this as treats and about 2 cups per day per animal. In the winter, we mix this with soybean meal for internal warmth. They also receive a mineral loose salt as free choice, which is their vitamins. And of course, lots of fresh water! They eat willow and bushes and some pasture grass. The goats are the same, although they get alfalfa pellets also to balance their minerals out. Wethers are prone to kidney stones.
So the moral of this blog is ... what goes in, comes out. Whether it is through the fiber, or at the communal dung pile!
No comments:
Post a Comment