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One of the things I appreciate most about alpacas is how easy they are to care for compared to other types of livestock. They do need some preparation before coming home, but once settled in are much easier to care for than some livestock.
Prior to bring their animals home, the new alpaca owner will need to do a little remodeling around the farm. Prior to getting alpacas, I had horses and goats. My horses had field fence - the kind that starts with a small opening on the bottom and gets larger at the top. It also isn't "no climb" so the horses would accordion it down by leaning over it, and the dogs could get their head through it. With a hot wire running along the top it worked well for the horses, but the alpacas were another story. I didn't want them to stick their head through it, and I definitely didn't want the dogs sticking their heads through near a cria. So I had 5 ft tall no climb (also know as woven mesh) 2 X 4 wire put up.
I also needed to figure out what I was going to do for shelter for them. My original thought was to buy one of those metal car port, but a neighbor's nephew is a carpenter and was able to build me a no sided shelter for less than I would have payed for a car port. A three sided shelter works well also. The top of the line option would be a fully enclosed barn.
As it comes closer to the time when the animals are to come home, a source of hay and supplements need to be found. Some farmers buy from the local feed store, while others band together and go straight to the hay grower and contract for a portion of their crop. This is the best way to go if you have enough storage.
Feeding regimes are a common subject for debate in the alpaca community. Grass hay should be the bulk of the diet, and pellets and mineral supplements should be used to fill in the "nutritional holes" of the hay in the diet. Like many alpaca breeders, I find that it can be challenging to keep weight on older animals, or ones who are nursing. Medical causes should be ruled out first, but alfalfa is something I commonly add to my girls diet. Some fear this will throw off the calcium phosphorus balance due to the high calcium content of alfalfa, but because the majority of calcium in alfalfa is not bio-available, this does not happen. I have also tried beet pulp (my girls won't eat it but other have had success with it), Calf Manna and Equine Senior on my old skinny girls with some success.
A subtopic within the topic of feeding is what kind of pelleted supplements to feed alpacas. Some say don't feed corn. Some say don't feed sweet feeds (that is horse feed with molasses to make them more palatable.). Some say don't feed any at all. To me, pellets are like our daily multivitamin. So I give it to my girls and youngsters daily, and also to the boys once a week or so. Loose minerals are frequently offered, and sometimes added as a top dressing to the daily pellet ration. Some people have also had good luck with mineral block salt like that which is given to horses or cows.
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