It is truly amazing how much manure alpacas can generate in a short period of time. Their fecal output is actually about one to two percent of their body weight per day--and this is the dry weight! In terms of fresh, wet weight, it is significantly more because of all the water contained in alpaca dung. Those dung piles seem to have a habit of doubling in size almost overnight!
So after the compost bins are full, the flower beds, vegetable garden and fruit trees are amply fertilized and the pasture is getting a case of nitrogen overload, three questions remain to be asked: 1.) How do you get the manure off the fields?; 2.) How do you get the manure out of the barn?; and 3.) How do you get the manure off the farm? By sharing with the local community.
There are indeed particular benefits of alpaca poop. Alpaca manure is lower in organic matter content than manures of most other barnyard livestock (like cows, horses and sheep)--but it still has plenty to improve soil texture and water-holding capacity. This lower organic content allows alpaca manure to be spread directly onto plants without fear of `burning' them. It is the decomposition of organic matter which produces the heat that can damage plant roots. Composting and then digging into the soil improves soil structure, adds some benefits to the mineral balance and grows great melons and pumpkins and garlic. If you dry the beans well in the sunlight, they make great "topping" for flower beds (but don't put them close to the stems of plants or the trunks of young trees). Dried beans look just as neat and clean as anything you can buy at the garden center, don't smell, and mulch nicely into the soil over a season. Composting is the key. In Australia, growers collect and bag it to sell; on the roadside to home gardeners - it sells like hotcakes and provides the kids with a great little earner!
Compared to the other barnyard animals, the nitrogen and potassium content of alpaca doodoo is comparatively high--an indication of good fertilizer value. (Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the major plant nutrients; they are the familiar N-P-K on fertilizer bags.) Phosphorus is relatively low--but it is low in most other livestock manure as well. Calcium and magnesium content is about average. And salt content is not too high but it is high enough that one should not apply alpaca poop directly onto seedlings or improperly mixed into the soil. Interestingly enough, feed composition, with few exceptions, doesn't have much effect on manure composition.
Overall, alpaca manure is a great organic fertilizer. Of course, organic fertilizers are usually lower in nutrient content than synthetic fertilizers--so you must apply more to get the same amount of nutrients. For example, alpaca manure would be about 1.5-0.2-1.1 versus the 20-10-5 of synthetic fertilizer. One would have to apply about 13 times as much alpaca poop to get the same amount of nitrogen.
After people have had the experience of using alpaca dung, there is no problem to get them to come back for more. This is a great method to get rid of the manure at no cost while exposing people to the captivating personality and characteristics of the alpacas.