18/02/2026
A great post from Precision Alpaca Group on the importance of vitamin D in alpacas. We will be doing the first vitamin D visits for the year in April so send a message through if you would like to be included
Rickets: myths and facts
Going around shearing this year, I’ve been struck by the number of cases of rickets I’ve been presented with in older stock. (And plenty more in young stock)
On talking to the owners, I’ve realised that despite all we now know about vitamin D in alpacas, there still is a lot of misinformation being spread around. So now seems a good time to reopen the Vitamin D discussion!
Some great links are posted at the bottom of this post, feel free to add more to the comments!
❌ Myth 1: alpacas only need vitamin D supplemented while growing or when pregnant
✅ Fact: alpacas ALL need vitamin D supplementation. As noted by the Lifestyle vet, alpaca vitamin D levels drop to 1/3 their original levels between autumn and spring
If your alpaca was shorn late summer they also have had very little time to build up a vitamin D reserve and if they haven’t been shorn at all, even old alpacas with short fleece, have had very little ability to soak up any UV radiation to generate any natural vitamin D stocks.
🦙In our herd: we supplement ALL ~600 head of stock, whether they are growing, pregnant, lactating, wethered or retired in late April/early May, late June/early July, early September at minimum with Hideject and Foliphos (see a great post from the VCR below about injectable products). Weanlings and cria are actually dosed even more regularly at lower dosages.
❌Myth 2: dark alpacas are more susceptible than light alpacas to vitamin D deficiency so if I buy lighter coloured alpacas they will be fine
✅Fact: white alpacas are just as susceptible to rickets as black ones ESPECIALLY as our industry moves towards alpacas with more fleece and fleece that grows faster. Faster growth and thicker fibre = less time for their full body to be receiving UV exposure and therefore less opportunity to generate vitamin D naturally
❌Myth 3: alpacas get their vitamin D from green grass so if I have green grass I don’t need to supplement
✅Fact: alpacas get their vitamin D from the same place we do - UV radiation. Vitamin D is primarily produced when ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from sunlight strike the skin, converting a compound called 7-dehydrocholesterol into previtamin D3, which then isomerizes into vitamin D3. This compound is subsequently metabolized by the liver and kidneys into its active form, calcitriol, which regulates calcium and phosphate absorption.
Even when actively supplementing with oral vitamin D in their feed, feed is not where the body expects to be taking up vitamin D. Green grass is definitely no substitute!
❌Myth 4: as soon as the alpaca is shorn, it is safe from rickets
✅Fact: it can take up to 6 weeks from first sun-to-skin contact for vitamin D to be fully converted to a usable form in the body - so if shorn in late January, they’re not going to get the natural benefits until early March so can still be prone to rickets between shearing and March.
For this reason, I also always inject my shearing clients’ alpacas no matter when they’re shorn to help them cope until their body is doing the work again.
So if your adult alpacas are;
🦙slowing down
🦙walking gingerly
🦙appearing hunched
🦙reluctant to stand
🦙stiff in their movements
🦙and just not “right”
It might be a good time to clock when their last round of Hideject and Phosphorus was.
Rickets is easily avoidable and easily treated if caught early enough, but the longer it is left unchecked the more permanent damage to the body.
In cria and growing alpacas you will also see;
🦙legs beginning to bend at severe angles at the knee and hocks
🦙ill thrift/slow growth
Great posts:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1APR7wKmnE/?mibextid=wwXIfr
https://www.facebook.com/share/18DWKerABF/?mibextid=wwXIfr
https://www.facebook.com/share/18EooPEFst/?mibextid=wwXIfr
https://www.facebook.com/share/184Vcgdmhw/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Pic for attention
