The alpacas are such an easy animal to have on the smallholding. They demand so little from us and yet we are always aware of their presence. Nothing and no-one can enter the holding unobserved and we are very assured that if ever we start to get a fox issue here, they won’t ignore it. They are also fairly cheap to keep, eating very little hard feed - just a bit in the winter to keep their condition up – and whilst they need hay all year round, they don’t eat much. We read once that they have a better conversion rate than sheep so will utilize more from each gram of food they eat compared to, for example, the sheep.
Mind, you it is just as well they don’t cost a fortune as having made the decision not to breed from our females, they won't of course generate any income.
It's a good thing we rate their guarding duties, even if, at the moment, we don't appear to actually need them (touch wood)!!