Free choice salt allows your llamas to consume the salt their body needs, something they will naturally do if the salt is available. Llamas enjoy treats but as with all animals, any treat should be fed only in moderation.
A number of llamas like to eat treat like carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, raisin, broccoli, and bananas. Llama safe fruits include apples, pears, oranges, bananas, grapes, apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, mango and more. Unfortunately, llamas are no longer found in the wild. They lived off the grass, vegetation, various plants, and shrubbery. In the wild, llamas would not have any access to processed foods like grain and would survive by eating whatever vegetation and forage they could find.
According to the University of Tennessee , llamas need of 1 — 1. Their digestive system works more slowly than other farm animals and because of that, it is imperative that the food provided is high quality and contains substantial amounts of nutrients.
Here is a chart with some basic feeding guidelines for a lb adult llama who is not lactating:. Like horses, llamas can potentially choke from eating too much grain too quickly and from not drinking enough water. You can prevent potential choking by feeding your llamas their daily grain separately from one another. This allows them to eat at their own pace instead of trying to compete with other llamas.
You can also layer their grain with hay, to force them to eat more slowly. They will have to hunt for the grain within the hay instead of eating it in mouthfuls at a time.
Always make sure that you llamas have adequate access to water while they are eating to prevent food impaction within their throat. Most llamas enjoy eating alfalfa cubes or loose alfalfa hay but it should only be fed with an abundance of caution and only in moderation. If your llama is overweight, they will not need the additional protein, but alfalfa can be beneficial to underweight or pregnant llamas.
While it is impossible to determine an exact cost of owning a llama, it will be noticeably less than the cost of feeding a cow or horse. If you have a grass pasture, the cost to feed a llama will be relatively low. Three llamas can comfortably graze on a single acre of good pasture without the need for additional feed.
If you need to provide hay and grain to supplement limited grass, especially during winter months, then the cost will go up. Pasture grass should be tested for sugar, protein, and mineral content, as the results will help guide you in the right direction.
This is about safety, as too much or too little of some components can cause health issues, requiring limited grazing or vitamin and mineral supplementation. Grasses that are grown as pasture may become weather-leached when they reach maturity, resulting in reduced digestible energy, protein, as well as soluble carbohydrates, carotene, and other minerals.
The type of grass and location or season in which it is grown may also affect nutritional quality. There are two main types of grasses: cool and warm season varieties. The cool season grasses tend to mature at slower rates, and therefore, their overall quality also tends to deteriorate less rapidly.
Grass hays are generally better than alfalfa because of the potential for excess protein and calcium intake; this can cause hypercalcemia Hypercalcemia refers to a condition where calcium levels in the blood are above normal.
There is a debate on the provision of alfalfa to llamas for this reason. Smaller amounts mixed with grass hay are often fine depending on the resident and adding alfalfa to certain residents with additional protein requirements can be beneficial.
There are many types of grass hays with different nutritional values. The crude protein levels in grass hays have a particularly wide range. More mature grass hays may not have enough protein to meet the needs of residents, requiring additional sources, possibly from alfalfa. Additionally, the area it is grown in, what season it is harvested, whether it is a first, second, or third cutting, and whether it is a cool or warm variety of grass all impact the nutritional content.
Cool grasses are grown in temperate regions and include timothy , orchard , and fescue. Overall, these have a little higher level of digestibility and crude protein.
Warm grasses are grown in tropical and subtropical environments and include bahama , bahia , and dallis grass. Alfalfa nutritional content will vary as well, with some being lower or higher in protein.
Keep a watch out if the alfalfa has a lot of rich leaves, as this can cause them to selectively eat just the leaves, potentially resulting in an undesired outcome for the resident. This is why all forage intended for resident consumption should be analyzed. Otherwise, you are just guessing and residents may not get their nutritional needs met. Interestingly, llamas and alpacas differ in their forage preferences, with llamas often choosing lower quality, coarser forage, whereas alpacas often choose softer, moister, higher quality forage when given the choice.
Llamas are selective foragers, so providing a mix of pasture and mixed hays can allow them to express this natural behavior. As previously mentioned, llamas are browsers as well as grazers. Browse includes shrubs, bushes, and trees, and really any woody plant. When they are browsing, they often select leaves, twigs, and buds. Browse can vary in nutritional content and can be difficult to analyze if it grows naturally in their outdoor living spaces.
If you have a good amount of browse available, you can follow your residents to see what they choose and then gather a sample for analysis. Care should be taken to prevent access to any plants that may be toxic to llama residents. Supplementing browse in a grass-only pasture can allow for natural selective feeding behaviors, which can help create a llama-centered feeding program and environment.
Llamas healthy adults require percent protein, depending on their activity levels, life stage, and pregnancy status. Llamas have the notable ability to internally recycle nitrogen that is part of amino acids consumed in protein sources. This results in a lower need for protein in their diet.
However, proteins are still important as they provide both the essential and nonessential amino acids that llamas need. How much of these amino acids an individual llama needs depends largely on their age, activity level, and whether they are pregnant or lactating.
As mentioned above, hays and pasture grass contain protein, so careful attention must be paid to the protein and sugar content of hays and grass. Legume hays, such as alfalfa, are generally significantly higher in protein and could cause health issues in resident llamas if they consume too much. Your veterinarian may recommend a certain amount for certain individuals for health or growth-related reasons. Otherwise, offering a small handful as a treat now and then or mixing it with larger portions of grass hay may be an option for some residents.
Llamas and alpacas, being similar to ruminants, require dietary fat content to be carefully controlled, as fat can adversely disrupt the microbial populations in the fermentation vat. Be Careful With Copper! Do not feed trace mineral products to llama residents that are designed for other species. Llamas require much less Copper to meet their nutritional needs than many other resident species.
Too much Copper will result in Copper toxicity, which is generally a progressive disease that can result in death, so care must be taken. However, Copper deficiency is also a problem, so you still need to be sure their nutritional requirement for Copper is being met. Talk to your veterinarian about Copper toxicity and how to provide the right balance for your residents. Free-choice salt feeding is the easiest method to provide salt, especially for llamas eating pasture.
If using a salt block, be sure to provide loose salt as well and be sure that it is protected from weather. This is particularly important if you are relying solely on trace mineral salts to meet nutritional requirements.
Offering both may result in some residents only consuming white salt and not receiving the necessary minerals. Generally, llamas will do well with a Calcium : Phosphorus ratio of to The ratio must be carefully provided, as an excess or deficiency of either can result in serious health issues like bone loss or slowed growth.
Vitamin D is important for the absorption of both minerals. Also, remember how alfalfa is generally way higher in Calcium than grass hays, up to times higher?
Cereal grains are generally used for bringing in an energy source to the regular diet of the llamas. This may be included with the supplements or forage.
Supplements cannot readily replace the necessity of a complete meal. But a supplement is usually a complicated mixture of concentrates. Most of the owners want their lamas to be feed supplements along with forage.
Supplements are commercially available. These are prepared and marketed by agro brands. Not all of the supplements are meant for llamas but they can be used anyways. Most of the supplements of llamas and alpacas are marketed as pellets. They have typically smashed ingredients that are bound together.
Some experts argue that this technique may reduce the effectiveness of the fiber in the supplements. But these supplements make their way into the daily ratio of the llamas anyway. This is the most common form of supplements that most llamas need. In most of the regions, llamas are feed on forage. In this case, these llamas need vitamins and minerals as supplements. But if the llamas in the heard have to walk a considerable distance per day, their supplement must have additional energy.
The llamas that need to do labor-intensive work, do need a special diet. Anyways, these llamas need the energy to do hard work. Cereal grain in a proper amount is helpful to regain energy.
But consumption of too many grains can lead to obesity. So, a mixture of grains can be helpful. You can mix barley and oats with corn and then give them to the llamas. Yet, they can get the required energy. These llamas require an average amount of protein intake. This grain and protein intake along with regular forage consumption will ensure that they have enough energy to carry the load. It is no wonder that a pregnant llama needs more food than usual.
Lactating female llamas are also considered in this category. Cereal grains are meant to be used as an energy source. These llamas need extra vitamins and minerals too. Supplements are subject to species, age, region, and food quality. The supplement that works for a herd may not do well for another. Often the quality of the forage determines how many supplements are needed. It is wise to get in touch with a consultant to determine how much supplement a llama needs.
Almost all of us know the importance of salt as an electrolyte in the human body. The case is no different in an animal body. Animals need to fill up their daily requirement of sodium and chloride. Salt is the easiest way that the requirement can be fulfilled. Most of the animals need salt equivalent to 0.
Sometimes, animals show an abnormal craving for salt. They will chew dirt, rock, or try to drink urine. This behavior is called Pica. Llamas are no different than other animals. You can find salt products in two forms: compressed block products and loose granular.
The latter one can be given to a llama with a concentrate mix. Free block salts need to be licked. This process results in efficient management but llamas are unable to intake the required amount of salt by this mean. The nutrition from a source largely depends on the composition. Salt is no different.
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