Thursday, April 21, 2022 Can alpaca eat lawns? Well, maybe. We planted a specific kind of grass seed that we knew would be OK for them to eat (orchard grass) and we never spray any chemicals or herbicides. I’ve seen alpacas get very sick from rye grass which is in most grass seed blends. Fescue also has caused problems in pregnant females. But we were safe with orchard grass, so we used to let them trim the back yard and it was a win win, we didn’t have to mow and they got a free meal. But it also made the house dogs nuts to be locked inside and see these creatures in “their” back yard. The alpacas also nibbled on every plant I tried to grow – my petunias didn’t stand a chance! And when they made a new bean pile in the back yard, we decided the pastures is where the alpacas would stay.
So if you have pasture grass in your lawn and no other plants, sure you might be able to have some of the cutest and quietest lawn mowers save you some mowing! Happy Thursday!
Photo of the Day: Alpacas in the back yard a few years ago. Scarlett decided to visit us on the deck. I think she heard about our Happy Hour. 
Tear
KATHIE CARPENTER
I remember Scarlett being very friendly when we visited.
Linda
Scarlett loves people more than anything. ❤️ She’ll be so happy to see tours here again.
Gigi Caito
Some around here (Indianapolis) rent goats for yard cleanup. I don’t think they have same dietary restrictions since they eat just about everything. I have a squirrel who loves to munch on begonias. Pulls them up and eats them lollipop style!
Linda
I love the idea of renting goats for yard clean up. We considered it here at one time because the goats love to eat the weeds and leave the grass alone. Or so they told us. I hope your squirrel leaves some of the begonias for you to enjoy!
Lana
We planted orchard grass in our pastures, and our alpacas won’t eat it. They make poop piles out of it. We also got orchard grass hay and they wouldn’t eat that. We must have a different species of the grass seed or something, because we heard so much about alpacas and orchard grass! Not palatable out here or maybe we just have very picky alpacas! I had to laugh about yours making a bean pile so that was the end of their lawn mowing. lol
Linda
When we did this orchard grass planting I remember there were many different kinds of orchard grass to choose from and we settled on a blend of 3 that would grow best in our conditions. Maybe your alpacas just haven’t found their favorite blend yet. 😉 lol