Alpacas

Alpacas have lived at Wild Rose Meadows for 13 years. We had the first alpacas imported into the United States back in 1984 when it was not yet known whether they could survive in our climate. The first alpacas went to an agricultural experiment station in Delaware. After a couple of years they went to live on a Highland Cattle farm in Indiana. From there they came to Wild Rose Meadows. Those first alpacas died of old age in the late 1990s when the alpacas were 15 - 19 years old.

Alpacas are valued for their soft luxurious fleece. Each April we shear the alpacas. They sport shorter haircuts in the summer when it is hot and longer fleece in the winter. In the Andes mountains of Peru and Bolivia where alpacas are native, they wear down their teeth and feet as they graze on the stony soil. Here in the United States, they graze on soft green grassy pastures so they don't wear down their teeth and feet. We trim both their feet and teeth regularly. We also give them wormer regularly because alpacas are susceptible to a parasite of the whitetail deer which does not harm the deer, but can kill alpacas if left untreated.

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