New to all of this. Improving my posture for Alpacas.

5 posts

Member for

4 years 3 months
Last seen: 09/12/2021 - 20:07
Joined: 12/08/2019 - 10:27

New to all of this. Improving my posture for Alpacas.

Hi all.

We have a paddock which has Alpacas in it. Recently we have thought about trying to improve the pasture. We have the alpacas mainly to keep the grass down and that they're nice to look at! We're not commercial in any way.

Anyhow, we're new to owning land and seemingly grass is not grass and there's a lot to learn. Before we bought the property the paddock had a solitary horse grazing it for over 5/ 10 years.

Where do we start in improving the pasture? There's a few thistles popping up, especially where they used to have a burning area, so no grass. Possibly not a good time of year to start this due to the current drought, but I thought it best to set the ball rolling for the future.

Is it best to plough it and reseed from scratch? Fertilise what we have? Best to get a tractor in one way or another I'd assume.

We have a bit of paspalum grass which I believe isn't the best.

First thoughts are to buy an Alpaca mix seed, aerate, fertilize and seed the paddock. Water and see what grows? But I guess I need to kill off the unwanted sections to start with?

Regards,

Puzzled.

Last seen: 03/28/2024 - 10:29
Joined: 02/28/2011 - 14:19

Hi,

Welcome to the small farm forum and thanks for the question.

Before you do anything you should collect soil samples and have the soil tested. You can do it yourself or have a local agronomist collect the soil samples for you. 

We have an excellent alpaca pastures article written by our resident alpaca expert which you can find below
https://www.farmstyle.com.au/news/pastures-alpacas-southern-australia

Regards,

Charlie

 

Last seen: 09/12/2021 - 20:07
Joined: 12/08/2019 - 10:27

Thankyou, I'll have a read of that. I think that I have a friend who could test the soil for us.

Last seen: 03/28/2024 - 10:29
Joined: 02/28/2011 - 14:19

Also, I have posted your question to our Facebook discussion group. There are a number of responses and questions for you.

You might like to join the group here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FarmStyle/

Thanks,

Charlie

Last seen: 09/12/2021 - 20:07
Joined: 12/08/2019 - 10:27

Have joined thanks.

Will hopefully have our field tested inJan when our soil testing friend is home from travels. Have ordered a tow behind spreader for seed and feed when required.

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