[uksfdawn]

I know there are some forum members who dislike Alpacas, I have a small herd of 8, two males 6 females, I dont intend to breed, I do think there is enough of that going on sometimes for the wrong reasons, my two males were castrated a month ago, 6 of them were registred with BAS I havent joined myself, as I have no intention of showing, I keep my little herd for there fleece that I process myself, I find they are very enjoyable animals to have around, I have had them 18 months now, they are  a registered herd with DEFRA which they are suppose to be in Wales, the boys are halter and lead trained the girls I am in the process of training, I want them trained so they re easy to handle with nail trimming and shearing also if they need medical attention, they are also very good at letting me know when there is a fox about.

[Creagan]

I don't have Alpacas, but was curious about the thread title. What do people do with them? What do they taste like

[Chrissie]

Great thanks  - I think I am narrowing it down to Alpacas then as our main reason for getting 'another' animal is to keep the fox away from the chickens and lambs....I think in due course I can see myself with donkeys but maybe when we move to a bigger place - don't want to cram in too many animals....

Also I have never heard anyone eating them - it's the fleece isn't it?
Did they used to be Shepard animals carrying stuff or is that more what Llamas are / were used?

anyhoo...

Next question then    :

How many? Ideally we hoped for one who would be joining the gang of sheep who are very friendly and love company - someone said at least 2 but better 3 as they then don't constantly bicker about who is the boss (again, three I would find too many for the size of the field - especially if there will be 3-4 lambs in there soon as well....)

Males or females? I have heard from a friend 'who knows someone' who has 2 months old castrated males but I am not sure if that would be too early and their personalities haven't fully come out? I know for our dog he was at least 1 1/2 before we thought about getting him snipped...

What do you guys think? 

[Chrissie]

ops - sorry guys  just noticed I replied to the wrong thread  Weighting up between Alpacas and donkeys as fox deterrents.... should have been in the next topic down....

[greenbeast]

ops - sorry guys  just noticed I replied to the wrong thread  Weighting up between Alpacas and donkeys as fox deterrents.... should have been in the next topic down....

Alpacas are eaten in this country, i know someone breeding them for meat

[MAK]

A couple of lads heading to watch Wales play football in Toulouse stopped at a service station. They joined a group of on watchers and police men watching an elderly couple trying to close their car boot that had two Alpacas in. The Alpacas did not want to put their heads down to continue their journey and so the scene gathered quite an audience.
Maybe because you don't eat their meat Alpacas are not considered as livestock and so can be moved about in a car boot.

[chrismahon]

Sheep, or at least Big sheep like Texels, can deter foxes. They can be eaten of course and they don't have long necks to get stuck in car boots. Our fox attacks started immediately we sent our pet Texel Lauren to her new home prior to moving here- big mistake, as we lost 10 chickens in 3 attacks!

[Marches Farmer]

As I understand it (from a friend who has 30-odd alpacas) they're extremely susceptible to bTB but, as they're not considered farm livestock, have no controls over movement, let alone pre-movement testing.  She stopped taking hers to shows some years ago and is very concerned about he biosecurity side of things with "drive-by matings" facilitating  un-bTB tested stud males to go all over the country. 

[big soft moose]

There's an article in one of the small holding magazines this month about someone raising alpacas for meat - i'll see if i can find it in a minute.

That aside it was the susceptibility to BTB that puts me off the idea (although to be clear I don't yet have any animals - i'm still planning).  Ive also heard that in scotland they are subject to TB testing in the same way that cows etc are, if thats true i could see it being rolled out accross the uk in due course

[big soft moose]

oops didn't notice the age of this thread - ignore me