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23/05/2007, 15:22 Patmobile Joined on 23/08/2004 62 & 80 Posts 442 Alpaca Does anybody keep alpacas?  I'm thinking of keeping a few on the land behind our new house.  I thought they might help to keep the grass between the trees tidy and reduce unwanted undergrowth.  I was thinking of goats or sheep, but alpaca look nicer and less of a problem to maintain. Any advice? Patrick     Report

24/05/2007, 3:42 Nicos Joined on 21/01/2007 61 and Cheshire Posts 386 Re: Alpaca Apparently they will happily chase off foxes and protect any chickens,lambs and other livestock etc from them.    Report

24/05/2007, 18:52 M Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 140 Re: Alpaca At between £3,000 and £6,000 each, you must have deep pockets! (My neighbours breed them). Unless you are thinking of llamas? They are cheaper, I think. Still just expensive and pointless pets, though! At least with goats you can drink the milk, make cheese, and enjoy curried goat! M    Report

24/05/2007, 19:41 Nicos Joined on 21/01/2007 61 and Cheshire Posts 386 Re: Alpaca I think you might find that they do an awful lot less damage than a goat though!!! ( Apparently if you leave their field gate open , they just stay put too!!) Soft pads for feet don't damage the grazing, they protect other stock from foxes,they eat very little and require very little attention, sale of their wool covers their keep..... The only way to make a profit is to breed - (especially females!) They do keep the grass down in fields, and when I look at the cost of employing someone to cut my grass for -say- the next 15 years, it would actually cost less to purchase 4 or 5 alpacas...it's not quite as crazy as you first think!! ( your neighbours will want protection for their livestock at lambing too- lots of Brownie points me thinks!!!) And then there is the tourist factor......    Report

24/05/2007, 20:15 M Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 140 Re: Alpaca Yes - except that there is virtually no market for the odd 2-3 fleeces per year. Commercial spinners aren't interested unless they can buy in guaranteed volume - which they do in Peru! You might find the odd hand-spinner who might give you £30 for a fleece - that won't even pay the vet's bills for the year! And you have to pay someone to shear them! Just expensive, trendy and useless pets for rich landowners, IMHO Still, it's not for me to tell people how to spend their money... Now, if anyone would like to pay me a fee to introduce them to my neighbours... shall we say £100? M    Report

25/05/2007, 13:57 tracteurtom Joined on 09/01/2007 19 Correze Posts 350 Re: Alpaca Spot on M Keeping Alpacas reminds me of the keeping Ostriches craze that hit the UK in the mid 90s.  Its just a big con, a form of pyramid selling, because the only people making money with these zoo animals are those selling supposidly prime breeding stock to the towny smallholders.  These animals are of no practical use (unless someone can enlighten me) on the smallholding over anything sheep, goats, poultry can do.  They are fashion statements,  rich peoples toys, oh look, they must have a lot of money because they keep alpacas (and no doubt there is a BMW X5 on the drive also).  But its your money and if you want to set up a zoo, then go ahead.  IMHO sheep are far more sensible,  they will do all the grass eating you want and you dont have to overwinter them,  just put them in the freezer and enjoy.  Now that makes sense if you are trying to avoid spending  money on someone to cut your grass, does it not ?    Report

25/05/2007, 14:23 M Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 140 Re: Alpaca Mind you, with the necks they have, just think of the Irish stew you could make! Now that would be a really rich dish! m    Report

25/05/2007, 14:44 WJT Joined on 22/09/2004 Posts 1,468 Re: Alpaca I think people are being very unfair here. I don't know of too many horses, dogs or cats that are only kept for making money or for utilitarian purposes. I think Alpacas are beautiful. I  would love to own some of these gorgeous and gentle animals but I'm sure I never will. What a pleasure it must be to have some beautiful Alpacas on your land as wonderful pets and also have the added benefit that they eat grass, sounds pretty good to me.  Having said that, I could imagine how our neighbour farmer would feel about having these animals. But at the same time, I think he feels the same about anyone that would bother to walk their dog and not keep it in a small pen everyday. Good luck Patmobile and Nicos, would love to see photos when you get them.    Report

25/05/2007, 16:00 Nicos Joined on 21/01/2007 61 and Cheshire Posts 386 Re: Alpaca Thanks WJT- We did look into getting a few when we retire in France, but that won't be for a few more years yet! Also the land we had our eye on is not for sale!!! Probably another pipe dream!!    Report

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