Ecuador: Bootcamp in Alpaca Husbandry

ASCI 298

ASCI 298 is hands-on and full-time alpaca.

We will be this close, and closer, to the alpacas much of the time!

After a day with the alpacas, you get to dream them at night.

These critters can be seriously cute.

Topics include: Domestication and diffusion of the alpaca and llama Normal behavior and physiological constants Restraint SC, IM, IV injections Care of dams and crías Selection and management of sires Principal infectious diseases: diagnosis, treatment, control Principal parasitic diseases: diagnosis, treatment, control Dystocias Nutrition Castration Fiber quality and conformation; shearing Genetic defects Camelids as conservation tool in the tropical Andes Predators (puma, fox, domestic dog) Infrastructure Alpaca textile production

Our venues: 1. Cuenca, our arrival and departure city.

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Venue 2. Mazar Wildlife Reserve,

Cañar, Ecuador

Pilisurcu and Libertad pastures, Mazar Wildlife Reserve

Here, pastures at Pilisurcu on the Mazar Wildlife Reserve, below the student bunkhouse. Above, native montane forest.

Neighbors of the Mazar Wildlife Reserve still plow with bulls.

Field trip to venue 3. Chimborazo National Park and its population of wild vicuñas, plus local communities where alpacas and llamas are raised.

UVM students from Bootcamp II (January, 2015) at 16,500’, with Chimborazo mountain behind them.

A vicuña in the desert páramo of Chimborazo Mt.

There are two breeds of alpacas: Suri, pictured here, and Huacaya.

Another Suri head.

A handsome Huacaya. But to be selected as a sire we need to know more about this individual’s conformation and fiber.

Huacaya males looking regal. Their fiber density is apparent a mile away..

Different heads, but both true to the alpaca type.

Normal behavior

Curiosity denotes a healthy alpaca.

Playfulness and herdiness, too, denote health: A crop of white and light fawn Huacaya alpacas.

Domestication and diffusion of the alpaca

Alpacas were domesticated in modern-day Peru, and diffused north and south.

The wild ancestor of the alpaca is the vicuña, whose heritage is visible in this fawn alpaca.

Care of dams and crías

We will walk native wild habitats surrounding the alpaca pastures, such as this páramo.

Camelids as conservation tool in the tropical Andes

Alpacas can be tools for conservation, but this depends on their management. Here a herd grazes a degraded natural pasture in Peru.

Alpacas can be a tool for watershed conservation. A herd acquired by Cuenca’s water company is delivered to a landowner in the headwater grasslands.

Conformation is best judged in the shorn alpaca.

Fiber quality and conformation; + shearing

Of this group, how do we choose which one will become a sire?

A Huacaya sire: Alert, good conformation, dense fiber.

Fuente: Pacheco, Altamirano y Guerra, 1986

The course will look closely at alpaca conformation.

Fiber quality: Density, fineness, crimp (amplitude and frequency)

When shearing by hand, we put two shearers with each alpaca in order to finish quickly.

One hand holds the fiber in place while the other cuts.

We place each alpaca’s fiber in a separate bag, for weighing and evaluation of quality.

Our fiber analyses are done by the Yocum- McColl Testing Lab in Colorado. Rigorous fiber testing is a fundamental tool in selecting sires, and in evaluating your herd.

Alpacas differ in average fineness, but also the uniformity of the coat.

A multi-colored alpaca herd, upper páramo grasslands of the Mazar Wildlife Reserve

The common liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) at two, four and eight weeks’ development. The course will examine fascioliasis and other parasitic diseases, and methods of control.

Principal parasitic diseases: diagnosis, treatment, control

Sarcocystiosis causes anemia and death in alpacas, the intermediate host of Sarcocystis lamacanis. Canids are the definitive host.

Seventeen to one…whatever it takes.

The purple mark of gentian violet marks these young alpacas as ready for weaning.

Weaning

More weanlings. Only now, 18 months after impregnation, can we fully evaluate our sire.

Alpacas come in more than 20 colors. Here are three.

This young alpaca just visited the salting station. In leached tropical soils, mineralized salt is essential.

Nutrition

The herd instinct makes moving alpacas pretty easy.

On the Mazar Wildlife Reserve, we shear mostly with hand shears, but use an electric one also.

Aftermath of an attack by the mountain lion (puma).

Predators (puma, fox, domestic dog)

Native forest borders pastures on the Mazar Wildlife Reserve. This facilitates predation of alpacas by the puma.

The Andean fox, capable of snatching young alpacas.

Pumas are most active at night. Here, a camera trap image from a forest site, just minutes away from the alpaca pastures.

We use 2 m high chain link fencing to protect against puma attacks.

Alpacas in the late afternoon return to the safety of their night corral.

Here, a puma returned to eat the alpacas he had killed the previous night.

Alpacas generate income from their 1. fiber (and textile products), 2. breeding stock, 3. meat, and 4. fertilizer. We bag and sell alpaca fertilizer to the public in Cuenca. Here is the label on the bag.

Alpaca products

Alpaca meat is nutritious, very low in fat, and tasty. As a red meat it encounters resistance, however, either because it is new to the diet of Ecuadorian urbanites, or because it is associated with being an ‘Indian’ meat. An individual exposed to Sarcocystic aucheniae will have white cysts in the striated muscles (except the heart); although not infectious for humans, the meat becomes unmarketable. This alpaca was healthy and shows no evidence of exposure.

Alpaca husbandry is the ground floor of a fiber business.

Alpaca textile production

This Peruvian textile company, Mitchell, identifies 32 (!!) natural alpaca colors.

Industrially-spun llama yarn.

Alpaca scarves--all colors are natural.

Alpaca fiber can be sold raw, but usually there is advantage in making yarn and then an article of clothing. Pictured, your instructor’s two boys modeling sweaters made by his wife (and a DVM), Patricia Espadero.

Alpaca fiber being spun on the Andean drop spindle.

The Andean backstrap loom; Manuel Jesús Minchala weaves a horse blanket.

Wildlife Friendly (www.wildlifefriendly.org)

Canopy Bridge (www.canopybridge.com)

Green labels with which the Mazar Wildlife Reserve is affiliated.

She’s not so sure about this machine your pointing at her, but curious anyway.

We will study llamas as well as alpacas, especially during our field trip to Chimborazo. Here, llamas grazing the high páramos (native grasslands) on the Mazar Wildlife Reserve.

Llama heads and ears are longer than those of alpacas.

Delivery of a starter alpaca herd to a community bordering Cajas National Park

Husbandry has three components: 1. The environment (pasture + much more) 2. The alpaca (breed, age, sex, color, quality, nutrition, health) 2. The alpaquero (husbandry know-how, vision, dedication, discipline)

We will analyze how to optimize this domestic ecosystem.

Next step: Talk to Alpaca Bootcamp alumni and ask them questions. When you´re ready, sign up for ASCI 298. I hope to see you in Ecuador this Winter Session, 2015-16.

Stuart White stuart.white@uvm.edu Septiembre, 2015