Can Llamas eat Whole Oats?

MrsCountryChick

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I've read how Llamas can't have Whole Oats due to it having a "barb" inside the Oat that can collect & cause a stomach ulcer.? I can't find any info anywhere online or otherwise to support this thought. We get Oats for both our geese & goats as a little supplement for both, & that is the only way oats are available.
 

mully

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This is correct, oats should not be fed to llamas or alpacas, as the "awns" on oats can cause them to be caught up in one of the stomachs that has saccules, and then cause ulcers. Rolled oars would be a problem. Much of the pelleted llama feed does contain oats but it is ground up and does not cause the same problems.
 

sayyadina

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I've never heard this about oats. There are several posts on the AlpacaNation forum about feeding oats that don't mention this. One of the breeders I bought my alpacas from, who's been in the business for many years, recommends feeding crimped oats to high maintenance females & males. My vet, who's very experienced with camelids and other small ruminants, also recommended oats for animals that need help with weight.

We've had our herd of 32 alpacas for 2 years, with no ulcer cases related to feed. The 2 that we've had have issues with stomach ulcers had other issues that caused the ulcers. 1 gelding got very sick last winter and stopped eating. He was on several antibiotics and the whole ordeal was very stressful on him. He's a sensitive guy to begin with, so we think a combination of the illness and stress caused the ulcers. The second case was in a cria we had to bottle feed, since mom didn't have enough milk. He was a little stressed by the whole bottle feeding thing, but if I didn't feed him he was going to starve to death. Though the milk replacer I used was recommended by another breeder, it also might have contributed to the ulcers. He also got sick and was on antibiotics.

My experience with ulcers has been that at least in my herd, they're correlated with high strung animals under stress that have been given antibiotics.
 
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