Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Rhys Williams:
>Scientists at Aberystwyth University want to see if the South American natives are suited to life on Welsh hill farms, and whether grazing them alongside other animals could help farmers tackle climate change.
>The long-necked creatures from the Andes are renowned for the quality of their wool, and scientists already know that they mix well with sheep, but crucially they’re also happy to feed on low quality grasses often snubbed by sheep.
>Previous research suggests they will eat invasive hill grasses such as Molinia (purple moor grass), which is a growing threat to diversity and carbon storage due to its tendency to cover peatland.
>Professor Mariecia Fraser from Aberystwyth University believes alpacas have been “overlooked” as potential conservation grazers.
>Feed trials for the research will begin this month to gather data on the digestive efficiency of the alpacas, as well as monitor their methane emissions, before grazing trials in the spring and summer of 2023 and 2024.
>Some farmers already keep small amounts of alpacas to protect their lambs from predators like foxes.
I’m curious to see if this is economically viable.
We’ve got some land and after the Westmoreland Country Show we started talking to people to find out their experiences with Alpacas. From everything we saw they’re just not an economically viable animal in the UK without extensive investment in value added services.
You need to be doing alpaca walks, making wool, attending petting events etc.
The typical response I got was “You know how sheep farmers make almost nothing or lose money on wool? Well imagine that if your sheep were more expensive, required more specialist vet care and were harder to breed, and that no one wants to eat them”
*”With the Welsh government looking to shift its focus away from agricultural production towards conservation management and carbon reduction, Prof. Fraser believes there could be an opportunity to include alternative livestock species into future funding schemes.”*
Would native woodland and Peatland restoration not be much more effective than overgrazing with a different combination of non-native animals?
[removed]
Clearly this will be opposed strongly by Labour under Keir we all know how he feels about Alpacas
“If you have a Molinia problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them… maybe you can hire The Alapaca Team!”
Welsh labour need to step in here as it will only intensify Keir Starmer’s murderous rage.
Not enough sheep to shag in the winter to keep warm?
8 comments
Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Rhys Williams:
>Scientists at Aberystwyth University want to see if the South American natives are suited to life on Welsh hill farms, and whether grazing them alongside other animals could help farmers tackle climate change.
>The long-necked creatures from the Andes are renowned for the quality of their wool, and scientists already know that they mix well with sheep, but crucially they’re also happy to feed on low quality grasses often snubbed by sheep.
>Previous research suggests they will eat invasive hill grasses such as Molinia (purple moor grass), which is a growing threat to diversity and carbon storage due to its tendency to cover peatland.
>Professor Mariecia Fraser from Aberystwyth University believes alpacas have been “overlooked” as potential conservation grazers.
>Feed trials for the research will begin this month to gather data on the digestive efficiency of the alpacas, as well as monitor their methane emissions, before grazing trials in the spring and summer of 2023 and 2024.
>Some farmers already keep small amounts of alpacas to protect their lambs from predators like foxes.
^1 Rhys Williams, 14 Mar. 2023, https://www.itv.com/news/2023-03-14/how-alpacas-could-help-welsh-farmers-tackle-climate-change
I’m curious to see if this is economically viable.
We’ve got some land and after the Westmoreland Country Show we started talking to people to find out their experiences with Alpacas. From everything we saw they’re just not an economically viable animal in the UK without extensive investment in value added services.
You need to be doing alpaca walks, making wool, attending petting events etc.
The typical response I got was “You know how sheep farmers make almost nothing or lose money on wool? Well imagine that if your sheep were more expensive, required more specialist vet care and were harder to breed, and that no one wants to eat them”
*”With the Welsh government looking to shift its focus away from agricultural production towards conservation management and carbon reduction, Prof. Fraser believes there could be an opportunity to include alternative livestock species into future funding schemes.”*
Would native woodland and Peatland restoration not be much more effective than overgrazing with a different combination of non-native animals?
[removed]
Clearly this will be opposed strongly by Labour under Keir we all know how he feels about Alpacas
“If you have a Molinia problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them… maybe you can hire The Alapaca Team!”
Welsh labour need to step in here as it will only intensify Keir Starmer’s murderous rage.
Not enough sheep to shag in the winter to keep warm?