DIVERSIFICATION
CAMBRIAN CAMELIDS
Exploring the environmental benefits of alpaca grazing.
W
hen it comes to livestock, Wales is generally best known for its sheep. However, the longer necks and legs of some of the woolly inhabitants at our research centre is a giveaway that times could be changing, writes Mariecia Fraser, Professor of Upland Agroecology at Aberystwyth University.
The Pwllpeiran Upland Research Centre, which is part of Aberystwyth University, is located 15 miles inland from Cardigan Bay, in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains. It is a centre for the study of all aspects of upland farmed ecosystems, and the 550 hectares of land at the site consists of a combination of improved pasture, rough grazing and heather moorland. The very first research at Pwllpeiran began in 1933 and the site has had a long and unrivalled record of involvement with change and development in the uplands.
Arrival of the alpacas
Just over two years ago we successfully secured funding from the Joy Welch Trust to start a research herd of alpacas, as part of new initiatives, as we looked to the future for upland farming. A combination of altitude, poor soil and harsher climatic conditions restricts most farms within upland areas to grassland-based sheep and beef production, and farm business surveys show that for decades these have been heavily reliant upon support payments to be economically viable. With new post-Brexit support schemes across the UK expected to focus on delivery of public goods rather than production, the addition of alternative species Mariecia Fraser and some of the younger alpacas
Photo: J Moorby
such as alpacas offers opportunities to develop innovative livestock systems that capitalize on the stock and grassland management expertise already available on upland farms while delivering wider environmental benefits. Adaptations to Andean conditions mean that camelids are also well suited to the poorer quality vegetation found in UK upland areas.
Grazing preferences
A key benefit of camelids within mixed livestock systems is that their grazing habits are distinctly different to conventional livestock. Previous research at Pwllpeiran with guanacos showed they will happily consume invasive hill grass species (including purple moorgrass/molinia) rejected by sheep, while avoiding plant species of conservation concern (e.g. heather). Consequently, they could deliver substantial environmental benefits in terms of habitat management, making them attractive to future payment schemes supporting biodiversity and carbon storage from upland areas. Our grazing research over the next few years will focus on whether the dietary preferences of alpacas are similar to those recorded for the guanacos, and the related impacts of their grazing. We will be targeting environmental damage caused by both over-grazing, as was common when subsidies rewarded farmers for every animal kept, and under-grazing, which is becoming a serious threat to biodiversity in certain areas as stocking levels on the hills decline. In many situations this lack of grazing has led to conservation groups mechanically cutting problem species such as purple moorgrass to try and reverse declines in habitats for endangered butterflies Continued on next page >>
