alpacas eating goat feed?

zelloniszoo

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the warning on the bottom of the alpaca feed label actually has Caution;this feed contains supplemental copper. do not feed to sheep
 

zelloniszoo

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would the mineral block we have help any?
 

Straw Hat Kikos

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I hate to say this but you are going to need two feeds. Alpacas and goats needs are different. They are two completely different type of animal. If it were sheep and goat then you could get away with it as they are very closely related.
 

ksalvagno

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Mineral blocks don't give enough minerals to goats. They just can't lick enough of it to get what they need. A good loose goat mineral is what is needed and alpacas definitely can NOT get into that. Sweetlix Meatmaker 16:8 and Goat Mineral by Manna Pro are both good minerals for goats. There are others but those are the 2 that I have used. So you need to find a way for the goats to get the minerals but not the alpacas. It is truly amazing how much copper goats really need. I have a good goat feed and mineral and still need to copper bolus 3-4 times per year. You could copper bolus the goats on a regular basis but they still need the other minerals that are in a goat mineral. Some people give alpacas a mineral but I didn't because my alpacas refused to eat them. But I had a good alpaca feed for them.

Feeding animals isn't as simple as you might think. If these are all just pet animals, then it is a little different and you can get away with things. But you need to be extremely careful of urinary calculi with male goats. That is why it is so critical that their entire diet is a MINIMUM of 2:1 calcium to phosphorus and it is better for the calcium to be a little bit higher. Alpacas you don't have to worry about UC like you do in goats. Even female goats can get UC so they still need the 2:1 balanced diet.
 

zelloniszoo

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all pets and only female goats anad male alpacas
 

ksalvagno

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Keep an eye on them during fall season. I bet those male alpacas will end up trying to breed the female goats. Also keep in mind that at 3 years old, hormones seem to kick in for male alpacas and they can get aggressive. It may not happen with yours but I have seen it happen often enough that you need to keep an eye on things.
 

zelloniszoo

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ksalvagno said:
Keep an eye on them during fall season. I bet those male alpacas will end up trying to breed the female goats. Also keep in mind that at 3 years old, hormones seem to kick in for male alpacas and they can get aggressive. It may not happen with yours but I have seen it happen often enough that you need to keep an eye on things.
thank you for the advice and we will be keepiing an eye on the boys......we have alot of room to seperate if need be......and will be watching for any agression issues
 

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