Alpacas and mini cows?

[adoreabulls]

Hi everyone, We will soon be getting 3-4 alpacas. We have approx 1 1/2 acres of fence pasture. My husband really wants a zebu. Anyone have a cow with alpacas? I'm wondering how they will get along and by any chance will the alpacas keep the cow from being lonely.... thoughts?

 

[Catahoula]

Have you gotten your cow yet? Just curious. I don't know if the alpaca would keep your cow from being lonely...but you never know. I would probably make sure your fencing system is strong enough to hold a cow or two... I keep my alpaca with goats and the paca does well. I don't know if it would work every case but I guess I am lucky. Good luck!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Welcome to the forum.
I don't know much about alpacas or zebu cows but I do know one thing.
If you have 3-4 alpacas and a mini cow on 1.5 acres, it is not going to be a pasture. It is going to be a dry lot.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. We've been very successful at breeding goats on a dry lot. But, you are going to have to feed them well, because that amount of space for a pasture will not support them.

 

[goatboy1973]

I agree with OFA. This will be a dry lot situation meaning that the vegetation of the 1.5 acres will be gone within a month, and you will have to hay and grain them year round. I absolutely love the mini-zebus though and want a grey bull and cow to go with my goats and llamas.

 

[peterpuck]

I'm not sure if you got your animals yet. We have 16 'pacas and a small herd of beef cows.
I'm not familiar with the zebus breed but you can mix the pacas with most cows easily. We usually put the orphan calves with our alpacas because of the needed attention. You will need fences that will hold the cow but if you are raising the pacas for the fiber, do not use barbed wire.
You can easily pasture 3 or 4 alpacas on an acre of pasture and probably still have to mow once or twice a year as an alpaca eats much less than a cow. On the other hand, the cow could easily eat an acre of pasture pretty quickly, depending on the quality of the forage in the pasture. The nutritional requirements are different so you will probably need to supplement the cow and keep the alpacas from eating it.
What I would do is, divide the pasture at least in half and maybe thirds. You can rotate the pastures and use them to separate your animals if needed. I'd offer free choice 2nd or 3rd cut grass hay to all but if the cow gets lazy and just eats the hay, you'll need to control it more. I'd rotate the cow through the pastures and if you get to the point where you are endangering your pasture, get rid of the cow. The pastures are what we take care of first. If the load gets too high on them, we lighten it in some way.

Hope it helps. You will love the alpacas.