ALPACA INSURANCE

When should you get alpaca insurance? Well, that depends on what you can afford to loose.

Let's face it, death happens when raising any livestock, including alpacas. Death is tough to deal with emotionally if you love your alpacas, but it can be even tougher when your finances are tied up in your animals.

Every alpaca owner needs to decide when and if alpaca insurance is needed on their farm. Livestock insurance typically costs between 1% and 3.3% of the value of the alpaca.

When we became alpaca owners, we were advised to insure our animals until we could absorb any losses. What does that mean? We bought animal insurance for the alpacas for which we had a loan. When those alpacas were paid off, then we waited until we had increased our herd to where a loss of one could be covered by the sale of another animal and still recoup our investment.

It is advisable and probably required, depending on who you borrow money from, to at least insure your alpacas until any loans are paid off.

Keep in mind that dog attacks have been happening frequently and you could loose multiple animals at one time in one of these devastating attacks. So, some people insure the entire herd or at least 1/2 the herd. Preventing dog attacks should always be a priority with proper fencing and then hopefully, you won't have to deal with this tragedy.

When you get your insurance, be sure it does include dog attacks. Some insurers are requiring dog attack coverage to be added separately.

There have been cases of alpacas being stolen. Most insurance policies cover this but, be sure that it's in your policy.

Many alpaca owners only insure while transporting alpacas to and from shows or breedings. The stress of transporting animals long distance has the potential to cause an alpaca to become sick and die. This is the one time that insurance is probably a really good idea if you own a very expensive animal.

Insurance companies generally require a vet check prior to covering an animal.

We used Wilkins Livestock insurance here in the United States. There's, also, Prairie States livestock insurance. Check the two out and see which gives you the best rates. Armitage is a UK livestock insurer and Jardines is available in NZ. We are not promoting these particular companies. We just want to let you know that you can very likely get insurance for your alpacas no matter what country in which you reside.

Alpaca insurance will probably be necessary at the start up of your business. After that, you will have to choose what works for you and what kind of losses you can sustain financially without being ruined.

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