Animal Health Australia has put out a manual on farm biosecurity for grazing livestock at http://www.farmbiosecurity.com.au/industry/livestock/alpaca/
The manual provides a set of voluntary, cost-effective guidelines to help reduce the risk of disease entering a property, spreading through the livestock population, and/or being passed to surrounding livestock operations. It outlines recommended measures under five management areas: Livestock; People, equipment and vehicles; Feed and water; Pests and weeds; Management.
Consider new animals entering the property
Animals can carry diseases and pests without necessarily showing any signs, so it is important to manage the introduction of new animals carefully to avoid infecting the rest of your stock. Treating individual animals is cheaper and easier than managing a new disease in all stock on your property. Manage new and returning stock in a similar fashion.
- Always request an Alpaca Herd Health Status Declaration and any other records of the stock’s health status.
- Keep a record of where the livestock have come from.
- Buy stock from a trusted source and inspect them before you purchase.
- Be aware of the cleaning and hygiene practices of the transport provider/s.
- Inspect stock on arrival to make sure they are healthy and in the same condition as when you purchased them; seek advice from a vet if necessary.
- Isolate new stock for a period of 10 days to allow any signs of disease to emerge, and to allow time for weed seeds to be excreted by the animals. Monitor and manage these areas for new pests and diseases.
- When taking animals to shows and sales, remember that your stock can be exposed to disease by mixing with other animals or coming into contact with contaminated pens, vehicles, people and equipment.
