This website is for everyone interested in alpacas and their care, and has detailed information about breeding, shearing, fleece, health and welfare, cria, alpacas for sale and more. If you want to find out more about our farm tours, click here. If you are new to alpacas, Alpaca Facts, Frequently Asked Questions, and Why Buy Alpacas will introduce you to the basics, and show why alpacas are the smart option for lifestyle farmers! Otherwise, browse and enjoy!
The Alpaca Place provides:
- New Zealand Alpacas for Sale: We are well-established, highly reputable alpaca breeders. You’ll find the alpaca thats right for you, right here! We love helping people achieve their dreams – we offer interest free finance to suit your budget (conditions apply).
- Export Quality alpacas: Look at the advantages of purchasing your alpacas from New Zealand, and the benefits of buying from The Alpaca Place
- Interactive Farm Tours: For individuals, families and groups
- Outstanding Customer Commitment: You’ll enjoy unrivalled customer support and much, much more. You’ll spot the difference!
- Free booklet: Interested in alpacas? Ensure you make an informed decision by reading the booklet “Discover Alpacas” before you buy. Available free in New Zealand only
- Fibre sales: You’ll love the feel and look of your handspun alpaca yarn
- Newsletter: Published every 2-3 months and chock full of information on alpacas! Our value packed newsletter is by distribution list only – it is not a website resource.
- Workshops and seminars: Valued at $150 + GST per person, available FREE to our customers!You’ll benefit from the opportunity to have hands on learning about your chosen livestock
- Stud Services: You’ll be impressed with our line-up of stunning stud males. Use them to improve the quality of your cria. New service: drive-by matings are also available for a reduced fee. Ask for our Stud Services booklet – IT’S FREE!
- Our website is a valuable resource. You can use it to research almost every aspect of alpaca management – it is regularly accessed by alpaca enthusiasts all over the world.
Our Location: The Alpaca Place lies in the beautiful Rangitumau Valley, Masterton, New Zealand – for more information on where to find us, click here. We are really easy to find, but if you plan to visit, we suggest you save our phone number – 06 372 5565 into your cell phone, so you can call us if you need to.
Pre-purchase Research: Thinking of investing in alpacas for breeding or as pets, and want to know more? We welcome visits to our farm so we can discuss your questions with you, and show you the many benefits of alpaca ownership and of connecting with us. We believe anyone who wants to own alpacas should have the opportunity to do so – so we offer interest free finance (conditions apply) to make the desirable affordable, and bring your dreams to life!
What you should be doing now: We provide a seasonal update to help alpaca farmers around New Zealand and arm them with the knowledge on what they should be doing throughout the current season – this covers everything from Facial Eczema, Heat Stress, Farm Maintenance, Breeding, Winter cria, Shearing and plenty more!
Spring Cria
Spring weather can be very unreliable, so you need to have a contingency plan in place if your cria is born in lovelyspring weather, and then the weather packs in. A cria cover is essential to ensure your brand new baby doesn’t get chilled overnight or in wet weather, and being able to put mum and baby under cover is always a positive. Keep offering Mum hay until she turns it down in favour of the spring grass.
Farm Management/Pasture Care:
General Maintenance – late spring/early summer is the time to apply nitrogen to your pasture to your pasture to boost grass growth and improve feed quality. Talk to a fertiliser agent or company to discuss your requirements with you. Or consider using blood and bone as a general fertiliser. We use organic seaweed or fish fertiliser as a general pick-me-up for our pasture – check out your local farm supplies outlets and see what they have available.
Check all troughs and pipes are functioning correctly and there are no leaks- your alpacas will require more water in the approaching summer, and you need to ensure they are in good working order.
Now is the time to deal with weeds such as thistles (Californian, Scotch and Nodding), and also with buttercup and docks. (Thistle heads and docks will contaminate your fleece, and buttercup is poisonous, particularly when dried ie in hay). Scotch thistles and docks can be grubbed
out, but you will need to spray Californian and Nodding Thistle. If you have a minor problem, spot spraying with glyphosphate will deal to all these weeds. If you have an extensive problem with weeds and thistles you will need to broadcastspray with a spray that will kill only the weeds, not your pasture. Most of these sprays require that you hold an Approved Handler Certificate, otherwise you will need to employ a contractor to treat your paddocks for you.
If you don’t want to use sprays (either because you want to farm organically, or because you don’t hold an Approved Handler Certificate and your property is too small to use the services of a contractor, you may need to regrass your property with a pasture mix that will compete with your problem weeds. This is a slow method of dealing with weeds, and may take several years before you see the effect, but there are lots of benefits to organic pasture. See our Pasture Plants section for a suggested mix of grasses.
If you plan to make hay, decide now which paddocks you will shut up for the necessary 6-8 weeks growth. Book a haymaking contractor early – they are in hot demand, and it may take some time to find one who will make hay on small blocks.
If you are not going to make hay, and your stock can’t keep up with spring growth, consider having your paddocks topped –mowed off to about 20cm – once seed heads start to appear. This will help prevent fleece contamination by the seed heads, and also keep your pasture
fresh and tasty. Be aware though, that topping can increase the facial eczema threat in Autumn, so make you have good protection strategies in place.
Shearing:
In the southern hemisphere, November/December is the ideal time for shearing, before grass starts seeding or summer heat kicks in. Alpacas suffer more from heat than many people realise– see Heat Stress. Organise your shearer now!
Spring feeding:
Spring grass is often lush, but without much goodness or roughage. Continue to offer your alpacas hay until they no longer eat it. Rich spring grass can also lead to diarrhoea, and having access to hay can help prevent this.Keep offering your alpacas hay until they start to refuse it. The rich spring growth is complemented by a small amount of hay which helps balance their digestive system. Meadow hay is the preferred choice, most alpacas need nothing else. Keep an eye on your alpacas weight as this is a time when they easily put on excessive weight.
Spring is a danger period for ryegrass staggers – the rapid growth of grass draws the endophyte up the grass blade to the point where alpacas eat it. If you see signs of Spring is a good time for resowing pasture- remember that rye grass in any form is not the feed of choice for alpacas. We
discuss suitable pasture for alpacas on our pasture page ryegrass staggers, give your alpacas a seaweed tonic, and remove from pasture immediately. The best prevention for ryegrass staggers is to regrass your pasture!
