Term	Meaning
Altiplano:	The high plateau where alpacas come from in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia located around Lake Titicaca.
Camelid:	The species to which alpacas and llamas belong (along with camels, vicunas, and guanacos).
Huacaya:	One of the more common of the two types of alpaca, huacayas have dense, crimpy fleece.
Suri:	The less commonly seen of the two alpaca types. Suris have long, flowing locks of fleece.
Quechua:	A group of Indian peoples of Central Peru. Original founders of the Incan civilization. Today, the Quechuan people are the primary shepherds of alpaca in the Altiplano.
Humming:	The most common sound alpacas make. They also “screech” at each other quite often when they are squabbling amongst themselves.
Alarm sound:	The sound alpacas make when there is something in their paddock that shouldn’t be there – either prey (foxes) or any other creature that is not welcome! It sounds similar to that of a plover bird or, as some have described it, like a donkey!
Pronking:	What some may call “prancing” where all four legs leave the ground at the same time. Alpacas will do this on sunset and/or when they’re put into a new paddock. It’s a beautiful sight!
Kushing:	Sitting
Unpacking:	Giving birth
Beans:	Another word for Alpaca manure! A healthy alpaca's droppings resemble pellets, or “beans”.
Dung pile:	Where alpacas defaecate. Generally, there will be set areas where this happens – not all over the place like sheep!

 

    Breeding:
 

Term	Meaning
Maiden:	A female who has not yet been mated
Hembra	A female alpaca who has been mated
Dam:	Mother
Open:	A female ready for mating
Macho:	A male alpaca
Sire:	Father
Herd Sire:	An un-neutred male who is considered of a high enough quality to produce cria.
Cria:	A baby alpaca less than six months old
Tuis:	A weaned alpaca up to 18 months old
Mature:	Over three years old
Conformation:	The shape or contour of an alpaca, resulting from the appropriate arrangement, or balance, of all body parts

 

     Fleece:
 

Term	Meaning
Histogram:	The measurement and graphing of an alpaca's fleece characteristics, based on a small sample taken from the animal's “blanket”.
Blanket:	The fleece from an alpaca’s back, shoulder and flanks.
Micron count:	The diameter of individual fibers, indicating fleece "fineness." Lower numbers (under twenty) are desirable, but be aware that micron counts typically increase with age, and can be affected by feed.
Crimp:	The "kinks," or "waves" in a huacaya's fleece. The more crimp, the better.
Luster:	The sheen of an alpaca's fleece. (Suri’s fleece generally has more lustre).
Density:	The closeness of the individual fibers in an alpaca’s fleece - the closer, the better!
Handle:	The softness and thickness of an alpaca’s fleece. The softer and thicker, the better the “handle”!

Some other handy things to know …

*    One of ‘em’s choking! You might hear the odd alpaca “choking”. This sounds like a continuous coughing and sneezing and is not generally anything to worry about. They simply ate their food too quickly and it’s gone down the wrong way! 

*    My goodness, the baby girls are “humping” each other! Baby alpacas will always jump on each other in the “humping” or mating position. This is a large part of their play, and you’ll often see girls doing it to boys, girls doing it to girls, etc. It’s nothing to worry about, so sit back and have a giggle! 

*    Keep ropes or anything overhanging either out of the paddock, or trimmed back. We had an incident some months ago with one of our girls, Gail. I was at home this particular day and was in and out doing housework and other bits and pieces. I came out to have a cuppa and heard a repetitive humming sound. I didn’t think much of it at first, but it kept up. Lucky I decided to go into the paddock and have a look because there was Gail with a couple of strands of pepper tree wrapped tightly around her neck. I hate to think what may have happened to her if none of us had been home! So I took to the tree with secaturs and now keep it trimmed back regularly. 

*    If you put a large hay bale out and it’s been there for a while and not eaten down, remove what’s left and check for mould. If you find any, shut the alpacas out of that paddock for a few days for it to dry out. Mould is not good for alpacas and can kill them. Do the same for your sheep! 

*    If you’re halter training an alpaca and it digs its heels in and won’t walk, don’t attempt to drag it. Lean forward with the lead taut and stay that way. The little bugger will get the message that you won’t back down, and will come. 

*    If you’re leading an alpaca and it sits or lies down, get behind it (still holding on to the lead) and either gently grab its tail and flick it up or push the little darling up from its rear end. This gets it moving very quickly! 

*    If you purchase or agist alpacas that are not approachable, try the following: Go out into their paddock for short periods to start with, without doing anything with them. Start taking some pellets with you and laying them on the ground, then walk some distance away from the animals. After a week or so of this, bring them into the shed with some pellets or hay, but don’t do anything with them. After another week or so, try catching them in the pen but only stroke them. Once this is accepted, then try placing halters on them, working towards leading them. This could take up to a month, but it is invaluable in de-sensitising the animals and getting them used to human contact and handling. It also lets the alpacas know that humans aren’t always going to do something unpleasant to them when they come into their paddock! Also, once you get them to accept you and what you do need to do with them, make a point of visiting their paddock without doing anything but letting them approach you. That way, they get the message that sometimes you’re just there to say hi! 

      (This info came about as prior to our arrival here, Lorraine and John had some alpacas agist with them who had been “over-medicated” and “over-vitamin-ed”, so were petrified of humans as they thought each time one came near them, they were going to get needles! Interestingly, the result was that these formerly unapproachable alpacas became more friendly and trusting of people which greatly pleased their new owners!) 

*    Never let an alpaca jump up on you even if it is a cute little baby! This can lead to all sorts of bad adult behaviour, in both males and females, and is something that is easily corrected. Simply place your hand above their noses and say “back” or “down”. If they persist, a quick slap on the nose should get the message across. An alpaca jumping on a person shows it has no fear of or respect for humans and that they, the alpaca, are dominant. Alpacas need to be taught that humans are dominant – if you let an alpaca get away with bad behaviour it will become, simply, a badly behaved adult and difficult to work with. But remember, there is no need to be rough, just firm. 

*    If you have the incidence of alpacas bickering and it is a regular occurrence, put an older alpaca in with them. The “grandpa” or “grandma” will sort out the squabblers and establish a pecking order.  

*    If an alpaca spits directly at you, spit right back. This also lets it know that you won’t be dominated by it.  

    On this topic, I’ll recount a little story about one of our boys, Filipe, who we recently sold as a herd guard. Filipe was a beautiful black boy who had a habit of spitting when he was caught, kushing when he was first being led, and other behaviours. Before we moved up here, I was told that Filipe used to follow John around like a dog when he was young. As he got older, he was neutred and joined our herd of wethers who lived at our place. When we moved here, it took me quite a while to realise that these boys were not really “wild” or unapproachable. They just needed some time spent with them. I began doing this, and over time had little trouble with the rest of the herd. But Filipe always presented a challenge. He sometimes wouldn’t come into the pen, even if I had pellets or a biscuit of hay. If I did get him in, I’d catch him and he’d stand there for me, but as soon as I’d try to put the halter on, he’d spit – sometimes anywhere and sometimes directly at me. One day, he put up such a stink! He kushed. He spat at me, I spat back. He spat again and I spat again. I got him up and he continued spitting around the paddock. I spat again. He then let out a little roar. Rather than spit yet again, I tried a different tack. I put my arm around his neck and said quietly, “no Filipe” and proceeded to pat him and cuddle him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear. Lo and behold, this little boy started to squeak and then allowed me to even kiss him on top of the head, then walked quietly. Sadly, we sold him a couple of weeks after this, but the gentleman who bought him, and one other of our alpacas, said that they both “led very well”. 

     I guess the moral of this story is that alpacas are very much like other domestic pets in that they can form bonds with humans in their early lives (like Filipe had with John) and be reminded of those bonds even when they’re quite a bit older. In Filipe’s case, I’d left it a bit late for proper bonding, but for the two weeks leading up to his sale, he came in the pen with no trouble and I was able to halter him with no spitting, and yes, he let me cuddle him and kiss the top of his head!  

      NB:  Even if you buy an alpaca as a guard for a large herd of sheep, remember that you’ll still need to be able to work with it at shearing time and when it needs teeth and toe-nails trimmed. If you’re able, make a point of catching the alpaca every few weeks, halter it, lead it and rub it all over. This will keep the alpaca familiar with human handling, without affecting it as a “working” animal, thus making life easier for you when you need to work with it.  

*    Oh-oh, it’s barley-grass season again! This is a time most farming people don’t look forward to, particularly owners of Peruvian alpacas! That lovely thick fleece around their eyes seems to draw grass seeds like a magnet and what you often get is an animal walking around with one eye puffed shut or at the least, sticky white muck oozing out of it. It’s not limited to Peruvians though – keep your eye on all of them! 

      Even though the effects of grass seeds are somewhat reduced once alpacas have been shorn, it can never be completely avoided. As a safeguard, we keep boxes of “Wet Ones” handy (I keep mine in the fridge during Summer), which helps clean the eye and as they contain an antiseptic, they help keep infection at bay. 

This reminds me of one of our little fellows, Gomer, who had a Peruvian bloodline and thus sported a lovely, fluffy face which was so fluffy, you couldn’t see his eyes most of the time. I nicknamed him “the cranky old man” as that’s exactly what he looked like! He had so much trouble with the dastardly grass seeds that Lorraine and I took to him with a pair of scissors and gave him a very fashionable hair cut! This helped to a degree, but shearing really was a God-sent event as the incidence in the herd was almost nil afterwards.     

*    So how does someone new to this whole alpaca, or even farming-thing, deal with an embedded grass seed?  

      The first time I dealt with this (I am an ex-City girl, so had only actually heard of it, let alone dealt with it!), I called my 11 year old daughter to give me a hand. Lucky for us it was one of our calm-tempered girls, whose poor little eye was puffed almost shut, so I shudder to think how long she’d had the thing in there. We caught her in our little catch pen and while Brooke held her still for me, I fiddled around with her eye. After parting the eyelids and manipulating them around, I could eventually see the tip of the seed. Once it moved down enough, I was able to grab its end and pull it out. Sometimes though, you’ll open an eye and can’t see a blasted thing, so always ensure you move the eyelids around, look in both corners of the eye and under the bottom and top lids, before you decide there’s nothing to worry about. (And most of the time that little insignificant speck you see is the tip of the mongrel). Once the seed is removed, we give their eye a wipe over with a Wet-One which also soothes it. Sometimes the poor ‘pacca will be so relieved it’ll hum gratefully, place its head on your chest and gaze up at you as if it loves you more than anything in the whole world!  

      Other times though (thankfully rarely), you might find that an eye will be so red and sore that it needs more than wipes, or even be too painful for the alpaca to let you touch it. If in doubt, consult your vet.  

*    What about grass seeds in ears? This is slightly different as you can’t always see the seed in those lovely long ears. Their presence is usually obvious by that very cute “one ear up, one ear down” thing, which I at first thought was exactly that - very cute!  

      What I’ve done is to warm some olive oil up, put it in a dropper, proceed to the paddock and round up the afflicted one (easily hopefully). Then just simply drop about a dozen drops in the ear, hold the ear upright for the oil to drain down, then let the poor creature go. With some luck, you’ll notice maybe the next day that they’re holding their ear upright, which usually tells you the seed has dislodged and slipped out. Other than that, if you are concerned for any reason, consult your vet. 

AS REASSURANCE, ALPACAS ARE VERY HARDY ANIMALS WHO CAN WITHSTAND QUITE A LOT, THUS VISITS TO THE VET ARE NOT A REGULAR OCCURRENCE. HOWEVER, IF YOU FEEL ILL-EQUIPPED TO HELP A TROUBLED ALPACA, IT IS BEST TO PHONE YOUR VET, OR EVEN ANOTHER EXPERIENCED ALPACA OWNER.