The Weekly Times, June 5, 2002

Beware: Alpacas on full alert!

After hearing his eldest son Justin sing the praises of Alpacas as guards for goats and sheep, Graeme Weaver of Calumnal white suffock stud decided to put them to the test.

He bought two pairs of Huacaya Alpaca wethers that he placed with the stud ewes ahead of lambing.

With an increase in lambing rates of as much as 200 per cent, he estimates the wethers saved him $6000 in the first year - more than enough of an inducement to buy more of the camelids.

"There's been a definite decrease in lambs lost in the stud," he said.

With fox populations appearing to have risen in the district, Graeme said he had never seen so many foxes at harvest time. "It was nothing to see two or three in a paddock," he said.

He suspects it is because no one has been shooting foxes, which were now turning to other food sources because rabbit numbers had been affected by the calicivirus.

Graeme now has eight Alpaca wethers, which he keeps in pairs with each mob. The Alpacas cut an imposing figure with their long legs, longer necks and twitchy ears.

They are quiet, fast and have sharp toenails.

Highly territorial creatures, the Alpacas will drop their dung in several places in a paddock to mark their presence.

The Alpacas defend by putting themselves between an individual lamb and a potential predator, or between the flock and the predator before chasing the dog or the fox away.

Graeme likes the Alpacas because they are cost-effective, easy to look after, and quickly pay their own way.

They are cheaper than Maremma dogs or poison baits, which carry the risk of accidentally killing domestic dogs.

"It takes them a few days to get used to the paddock and the sheep as part of their mob, but after that there's no problem," he said. "Paddocks can be 10ha or 90ha, it makes no difference. They need no special treatment. They eat the same feed as the sheep and we handle them in the yards the same as sheep."

Alpaca wethers cost up to $500, and can live for up to 20 years.

Once a year they are shorn, yielding 3kg-5kg of fleece. They are also vaccinated and their toe nails clipped.

Alpacas do not suffer from flystrike or footrot and do not require mulesing or crutching.