Alpacas and the Environment

Alpacas Have Small Acreage Requirements

Alpacas are an ecologically sound choice of livestock, particularly for the small acreage farm. They require less pasture than other types of grazing livestock. On average, six alpacas can be maintained on only one acre of land. Alpacas eat primarily grass and hay, which they very efficiently convert to energy. Although they are ruminants like cows, it would take about ten alpacas to consume as much grass and hay as one cow does.

Alpacas walk gently on the earth. Their softly padded feet leave the pasture they walk on undamaged. Alpacas graze on grass without pulling it up by the roots. Alpacas seldom eat or cause damage to trees, preferring to eat grass and bushes.

Alpacas are clean and very disease resistant. A herd of alpacas create a communal waste area. Because of this, cleanliness is easier to maintain and the potential for the spread of parasites is minimized. Dung can be readily removed or collected for compost from one or two areas. Because of their preference for using a "potty place," alpacas will wait for up to two hours to relieve themselves when they are away from home ground. This makes them clean and welcome visitors to schools, nursing homes, and community events. Gentle and friendly, alpacas are ideal for teaching children about ecology and agriculture.

Alpacas Provide a Productive Return on Resources

Although they take little from the earth for their nutritional needs, alpacas return beautiful fiber that can be made into luxurious clothing and household furnishings such as pillows, blankets, and rugs. After processing, alpaca fleece yields about 85 to 95 percent clean fiber, as compared with the approximately 45 to 75 percent processed sheep wool yields.

Alpaca Fiber Is Warm, Light-Weight, and Comes in Naturally Beautiful Colors

Alpaca fleece produces a natural fiber that is soft and fine, yet is stronger and much warmer than wool. Because alpaca fleece has no oily lanolin, clothing made from it can be worn even by people who are allergic to wool. Alpaca fiber is partly hollow and contains microscopic air pockets. Textiles made from alpaca fiber are thus very lightweight and at the same time very warm because of the unique insulating quality of the fiber structure. Alpaca fiber comes in 22 different colors, providing a range of natural colors without the necessity of using artificial dyes.