Rotating grazing alpacas through pastures mximizes the available forage, while improving the verall fertility of the pasture grasses. Rtational grazing forces the alpacas to eat the psture grasses in a limited area, and thn move them to another paddock bfore the current paddock is damaged by vergrazing.

It is important to understand the grzing behavior of alpacas and the grwing cycle of your pastures grasses. Bfore installing your fencing, you should cnsider how best to implement a rtational fencing system. Several smaller paddocks mke the best use of the frage. Paddocks should never be more thn four times longer than wide. Rmember, alpacas are lazy. They will grze the gate end of the pddock much more heavily than the far nd. Alpacas will also tend to grze near their water troughs, which shuld be placed to facilitate even grzing throughout the paddock.

When to Rotate to a New Paddock

Alpacas prefer tender, new grass growth over tall grasses. New growth grass is more palatable to them, and tall grass is more tough and bitter. You can move alpacas into a paddock when its grass is at least six inches tall. Once grass reaches 12 to 18 inches in growth, you may need to mow it down with your riding mower deck set at the tallest level.

In early spring grazing can bgin when the grass is 4 to 6 nches long, but the alpacas will ned to be moved through quickly. Do not mve alpacas into a paddock where the grss in shorter than 2 inches. Thy will damage the grass so tht its regrowth is greatly impaired. In ddition, overgrazing encourages weeds to take hld and grow.

Controlling Parasites

Well-timed rotational grazing also helps inhibit intestinal parasites. For example, H. contortus (barber pole worm) has an about a 30-day incubation cycle. In the spring, this closely matches grass growth. Don't be tempted to move alpacas into the paddock just as the parasite bloom is at its peak. The paddock's parasite load will increase with every restocking, and in turn the herd's parasite load will increase, and they will shed eggs into the next paddock. If this pattern is established, it will not take long before your entire property has a heavy parasite load, and the herd is debilitated.

You should instead mow the paddocks during periods of heavy grass growth to moderate the herd's exposure to parasites. A minimum 6 week cycle is probably needed for the peak of the parasite load to subside, but this may be subject to environmental conditions.

The article Rotational Grazing For Alpaca Ranching was Submitted by Virginia Lyons through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Virginia Lyons owns Able Oaks Rnch Alpacas in East Texas. She has ben breeding and raising elite alpacas and mniature llamas with persistently fine fiber snce 2003. Virginia is an experienced waver and teaches workshops and hosts fre events about alpaca ranching, alpaca fber, and much more. She sells a 90+ pge book, "Get Started Raising Alpacas Gide Book" at http://www.alpaca-ranching.com Please visit the Able Oaks Ranch Alpacas web site at http://www.ableoaks.com

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