Llama and Alpaca Macronutrient Requirements

Just like the protein buffs at the gym, llama and alpaca macronutrient requirements need be met to support body condition, pregnancy, lactation, growth, and fleece production.

• Protein helps build muscle and supports fleece production.
• Energy fuels animal activity and production performance.
• Fiber keeps the digestive system healthy and functioning and is a component of energy.

So how can you ensure your animals are getting the protein, fiber and energy they need?

It starts with understanding their nutritional requirements, evaluating your forage, and providing non-forage supplemental feeds only when necessary. Forage should make up the bulk of the llama and alpaca diet with other feeds such as formulated pellets or kibble being fed to meet nutritional gaps in the forage.

Understanding llama and alpaca macronutrient requirements

The first step is to determine your animal’s daily nutrient needs. Table 1 outlines the protein and energy requirements for llamas and alpacas based on physiological stage. These values assume animals are in a dry lot.

Grazing requires more energy because the animal is exerting energy when walking across the field or pasture to consume forages. Energy in a pseudo-ruminant diet is represented by total digestible nutrients (TDN). Energy comes from digestible carbohydrates, fiber broken down by gut microbes, and fat.

However, it is key to keep in mind that llamas and alpacas have a limited gut capacity relative to beef cattle and sheep. So, their dry matter intake (DMI) remains constant even when they are grazing and therefore need more energy and protein. These animals do have the ability to graze preferentially, so they will typically select a high protein, high energy diet when the option is available to them when grazing.

Table 1. Nutrient Requirements of Llamas and Alpacas¹

Physiological State	Dry Matter Intake (lbs/d)	Crude Protein (% Dry Basis)	Total Digestible Nutrients (% Dry Basis)
Maintenance	1.8 – 3.8	9.2	54
Gestation	2.2 – 6.0	9.0 – 13.0	54 – 73
Lactation	2.3 – 5.5	11.0	57
Growing	1.4 – 5.4	8.5 – 13.0	53 – 80

¹Adapted from NRC (2007) Nutrient requirements of Small Ruminants

You can look up your protein and energy requirements on a table such as the one referenced. To make this process easier, I have also deployed an app to help producers easily look up these requirements. 

Weight goals

Additionally, if your llamas or alpacas are overweight, then they will need to be at an energy deficit to lose weight. This is achieved by reducing TDN intake slightly while still meeting protein and mineral needs. Weight loss goals to improve body condition should be achieved gradually over several weeks or even months.

If they need to gain weight, then extra protein and energy may be required to put on body mass, not just fat. Using body condition scoring and monitoring weight over time can help you fine-tune the feeding strategy. Consulting with your veterinarian or a seasoned livestock nutritionist can help ensure you are feeding to meet your animal’s body condition goals.

Understanding your forage report

Once you know your animal’s needs, the next step is comparing them to your hay. Forage reports can be overwhelming, but focusing on a few key values makes interpretation easier:

1.     Moisture

Optimal moisture for most hay is between 14-18%. Higher moisture levels between 18-22% have moderate combustion risk when stacked and are also more likely to foster an environment for mold and mycotoxins. Moisture greater than 22% is high combustion risk.

Most hays are below 14%, which poses no risk for spontaneous combustion or mold. However, it is typically more brittle and can sometimes have reduced quality due to leaf loss in the raking and baling process. So, for llamas and alpacas, we would like to see moisture between 14-18% but less than 14 is also acceptable.

2.     Crude Protein

When we look at the parameters on our forage report we want to compare everything on a dry basis. For this example, let’s say I looked up my llama’s nutritional requirements and they needed 9.2% crude protein. I would look at my report and if it is at or slightly above 9.2% crude protein on a dry basis, then this hay would be a good match for my animals. If it were less than my 9.2% value, then I would conclude that protein supplementation with non-forage high protein feeds will be needed. Often this would be pelleted formulated feeds.

3.     Energy Expressed as Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN)

Energy is another value that we will need to compare to our animals’ specific nutritional needs. For this example, let’s say my llamas need 52.9% TDN. Again, if the report value on a dry basis is equal to or slightly above this value then requirements are met or exceeded and if the value is below this value supplementation will be needed.

4.     Amylase-treated Neutral Detergent Fiber (aNDF)

Llamas need fiber for gut health. However, too much fiber can reduce DMI which limits the total amount of nutrients these animals consume per day. While the forage report may appear to meet requirements on a percentage basis, llamas and alpacas may not receive the nutrients they need in terms of lbs/d because of reduced DMI due to too much fiber. We always need to remember we compare percentages for ease of understanding, but animals require specific amounts of nutrients daily.

Amylase-treated Neutral Detergent Fiber represents the indigestible and slowly digestible portion of a feed. The detergent fiber system washes away all other portions of the forage leaving behind only the fibrous long chain carbohydrate portion of the feed associated with DMI and rumination time. An enzyme, alpha-amylase, is used during lab analysis to solubilize starch, ensuring it doesn’t interfere with the fiber measurement and falsely inflate the value.

The ideal range for aNDF is between 30 – 60% to ensure a healthy gut without reducing dry matter intake. When aNDF is more than 60% it takes the animal longer to digest the material, spending more time ruminating and less time-consuming feed, therefore, reducing intake and in some cases resulting in weight loss and other nutritional disorders.

Along with aNDF we also may want to examine neutral detergent fiber digestibility at 48 hours (NDFD48) and lignin. An average value for NDFD48 is 45 for alfalfa. NDFD48 above 45 is considered more digestible than average. Lignin in the most indigestible portion of the forage. Lignin being especially high (>8.5 % dry basis) may contribute to reduced digestibility of the fiber and conversely lignin being low (<4% dry basis) can increase digestibility of the fiber.

Increased digestibility of the fiber can contribute to increased intake as well as providing more energy in the form of TDN to the animal.

5.     Ash

Ash is the total elemental content of hay. It is measured by burning the hay at extremely high temperatures in a lab, usually around 600°C. Organic matter such as the fibers, protein and fat is removed leaving only inorganic residue. This is the plant elemental compounds and the dirt or sand that is in the sample.

Most plants have 4-6% endogenous ash content. Most hay samples will be between 8-12% ash on a dry basis. Hay with ash levels above 15% are contaminated with soil. I have seen hay samples with more than 26% ash content!

When evaluating hay quality, it is best to avoid samples with more than 12% ash, especially for llamas and alpacas. As pseudo-ruminants with small, compartmentalized stomachs, they are more vulnerable to problems from soil-contaminated forages. Chronic consumption of high-ash hay can reduce dry matter intake and may even lead to serious digestive issues like gut impaction.

Supplementation

If the forage analysis shows the need for protein or energy supplementation, then the addition of cereal grains, co-products or formulated pellets may be necessary to ensure your llama or alpaca meets their nutritional requirements. Always work with your veterinarian to determine which supplemental feeds and how much will be best suited to your hay and your animals.  It is best practice to always provide a free choice mineral supplement as well.

Keys to Meeting Macronutrient Requirements

1. Understand the animals’ needs. Nutritional requirements vary with physiological stages such as growth, maintenance, pregnancy, and lactation. Knowing these needs provides essential context for the rest of the diet.
2. Test your forage. Forage typically makes up most of the diet. A forage report helps assess protein, energy, fiber, and other key characteristics to inform feeding decisions.
3. Supplement when necessary. Use non-forage feeds like pellets or cereal grains, or co-products such as beet pulp, soy hulls or distillers grains to fill gaps between forage quality and the animal’s nutritional requirements.

In conclusion, protein and energy requirements for llamas and alpacas are variable and depends on their weight and physiological status. Ensuring those requirements are met is key to ensuring healthy productive animals. It is easy to evaluate forage to determine when supplementation is needed.

Originally published in the Rocky Mountain Llama and Alpaca Association Journal