Are Alpacas Intelligent You Might Ask

Alpacas are intelligent animals, very communicative and trainable.  Our herd understands hand signals and knows a dozen or more verbal commands. They are all halter trained and do very well when in the show ring, on shearing day and during herd health. Other farms are known to train their alpacas for maneuvers through obstacle courses.

We have observed our alpacas to have a keen sense of sight and hearing.  They will turn to the road when they sense someone is coming and often it is several minutes before we are able to see or hear anything!  Our alpacas also use their lips to move feed dishes. If our feed dishes are stacked where they can get to them, they will lip each one, unstacking them one by one to check for feed left in dishes.  They also use their two-toed padded feet to kick over dishes to get to their favorite grain or scramble up a fresh pad of hay to find the best grass selections.  They show a bit of intuitive thought when we water bellies by moving and jumping in front of other alpacas to make sure they receive the most water.  Some will twirl in front of the hose to make sure they get well soaked on all sides. The most amazing observation was this winter is once when the outside water bucket was iced over.  Pistol picked it up with his lips and dropped it several times trying to break the ice.

If visiting our farm, you may observe alpacas use their keen sense of smell to smell the top of your head or your breath to get to know you.  We usually must explain to our visitors how alpacas do not understand personal space but do know when a visitor is friendly and knows you when you come back to visit. They have a 6^th sense that tells them when someone is in need.  For example, Susie Q has cushed (a particular style of laying down) on three occasions to allow a visitor to sit with her and pet her. They also know when someone is unfriendly or a threat.  Once a model was here for a photo shoot who professed to disliking animals:  Guess what, we could not lead one alpaca to her!

Come enjoy a private tour with us where you will discover your abilities to communicate with the alpacas and tune-up your alpaca whispering skills. By the way, most alpacas in our herd do not mind walkers, wheelchairs and strollers.