Alpacas are efficient grazers and cheap to keep compared with most livestock, which is one of the reasons people end up with them. That efficiency is also how they get into trouble, because they will do perfectly well on very little and then quietly become overweight on good pasture.
This is general information from our own experience running a herd at Mulgoa. It is not veterinary advice, and anything to do with a sick animal is a conversation with your vet.
The basics
Pasture and hay make up almost all of it. Alpacas are pseudo ruminants with a three compartment stomach and they extract more from rough feed than a sheep does. On decent grass through spring they need very little else.
They are browsers as much as grazers and will pick at a wide range of plants, which is worth knowing because it means they will also find the things they should not eat.
Through the year in eastern Australia
Spring. Usually too much rather than too little. Watch condition rather than assuming more grass is better.
Summer. Pasture dries off and quality drops. Good hay becomes the main feed. Water matters more than anything else here, and shade is not optional.
Autumn. Often the best pasture of the year after rain.
Winter. Quality falls again. Hay through the cold months, and this is when pregnant and lactating females need the most attention.
Hay
Grass hay is the staple. Lucerne is richer and useful for animals that need condition, pregnant females and growing crias, but it is too rich as a everyday feed for a paddock of wethers and will make them fat.
Store it dry. Mouldy hay is a genuine risk and not worth saving.
Hard feed and minerals
Most healthy adult alpacas on reasonable pasture do not need grain. A purpose made alpaca or camelid pellet is the sensible supplement when they do, because it is balanced for them.
Do not feed sheep pellets containing added copper. This is the single most important sentence in this article. Alpacas are far more sensitive to copper than sheep, and copper toxicity is serious and can be fatal. Read the label every time.
Selenium and vitamin D are worth discussing with a vet who knows camelids, particularly for dark coloured animals through a low light winter, since vitamin D deficiency in growing crias is a known problem.
Water
Clean and constant. In a western Sydney summer this is the thing that will kill an animal fastest if you get it wrong. Check troughs in a heatwave rather than assuming.
What to keep them away from
Alpacas will browse a lot of things and some of them are poisonous. Common problems in Australian paddocks and gardens include oleander, azalea and rhododendron, foxglove, yew, laurel, and various nightshades. Fireweed and Paterson's curse are worth knowing in a pasture context.
If you have moved onto a block and do not know what is growing in the corners, walk the fence line before you put animals on it. That hour is worth it.
Body condition, not weight
You cannot judge an alpaca by looking at it, because the fleece hides everything. Condition scoring is done by hand, feeling along the backbone and over the ribs. A fully fleeced animal can be dangerously thin and look fine.
Get someone experienced to show you once. It takes five minutes to learn and it is the most useful husbandry skill there is.
How much land
Stocking rates vary enormously with rainfall, soil and pasture. As a very rough guide people often run a handful of alpacas per hectare on decent improved pasture in this part of the country, and far fewer on poor ground. Ask a local, not the internet, because the answer for Mulgoa is not the answer for the Riverina.
We are at Mulgoa
Black Regal Alpacas breeds mainly black alpacas in western Sydney. If you are thinking about your first few animals, we would rather have a conversation than sell you something you are not set up for.
See also: what it costs to own alpacas, starting an alpaca farm and alpacas as guard animals.