Husbandry Services

Agistment

Bored with not having your own alpacas?

Why not try AGISTMENT ? If you buy animals from us and you don't yet have suitable land on which to keep them, they can stay on our farm and we will look after them within our herd. You will be encouraged to visit the animals and help with their husbandry. This is a good way to become competent at the routine tasks (toe nail trimming, vaccinations etc.) We will look after their day to day needs but will expect you to make all the big decisions relating to your own alpacas. After shearing, the fleece from your animal is yours to use or sell.

Any cria born to your females belong to you and will be registered in your name.

It is a good way of building up confidence with caring for your alpacas and even allows for you to purchase a single "starter" animal, which would be stressed if kept in isolation.

You will pay a small weekly charge and in addition you will be responsible for optional insurance premiums, mating fees, vets charges and any medication. We will provide all supplemental feed, vaccinations and routine worming medication.

Shearing

We shear all over the UK and are calm efficient and friendly. Looking after the alpacas is our main concern and making sure they have as good an experience as possible means the whole shearing day goes far more smoothly. Shearing includes a full check of your alpacas and includes getting the teeth and toenails checked and dealt with as necessary.

We sort out our shearing dates around about March of each year and if you would like to be on our shearing lists then please get in touch. Once you have a date we will turn up to shear on that date unless we need to rearrange because of weather.

If you have any questions or for more details and prices please contact us.

Microscopy

We regularly screen individual members of our herd to monitor for gut parasite load. Whilst not providing a commercial scale screening service for other owners, I am happy to show you how it is done and talk you through what you are seeing down the microscope. You will then be able to decide whether samples should be sent off to the VDRLA for confirmation. If you would like to visit us with a “poo sample” please contact us to arrange a visit.

We also use the microscope to screen for skin mites.

Worm egg under the microscope

Ultrasound scanning

• using the latest digital technology, to confirm pregnancy from about 6 weeks
• £5 per animal plus mileage
• Contact us to arrange a visit

Early alpaca embryo seen on ultrasound scan

Dental care
It seemed harsh to watch the shearer use an adapted building site tool to trim back teeth. We collaborated with our local (human) dentist and our alpaca specialist vet to source rather more delicate and precise tools.

We have perfected the technique of cutting back front incisor teeth to produce a perfect bite with a smooth rounded finish, which can’t damage the dental pad. this method also means we can deal with fighting teeth in adult males and even in one cria born with premature eruption of the fighting teeth that had caused an ulceration of the palate.

Usually we deal with teeth at shearing time so if you want more information please contact us.