Animal Science: Bootcamp in Alpaca Husbandry

Written courses, seminars or topics beyond the scope of existing offerings. See Schedule of Courses for specific titles. Prerequisite: Department Chair permission. May enroll more than once for maximum of fifteen hours.

Instructor permission Required. Apply through Go Abroad; Summer travel study course location: Ecuador; Application deadline is 1/27/2025; In-country arrival and departure dates: 5/22/2025-6/2/2025; Program fee $1,561 minus $450 deposit; Airfare & Tuition is additional; Out-of-Pocket expenses (approx $50) are additional; At least one of the following prereqs:ASCI 2180, 2480, 2130; Program Fee total: $1,561.00; Special Topics sections cannot have CC designations.

This course will permit students to become accomplished in the principal alpaca husbandry practices through daily work with a large alpaca herd on the Mazar Wildlife Reserve (MWR) in Ecuador, and will place alpacas, llamas and vicuñas in their historical and geographical contexts. We will have access to a herd of 200 alpacas in a beautiful setting located between 10,000- and 12,000-feet elevation. The landscape includes alpaca pastures, montane forest, and grassland páramos above tree line. The host ranch is part of a private conservation area, the Mazar Wildlife Reserve (MWR), owned and operated since 1982 by the instructor and located 100 km to the northeast of Cuenca. Various sites within the MWR, separated by walking distances of 1-5 hours, will be used for husbandry practices. Class work includes hands-on husbandry of the alpacas every day, and lecture and discussions in the morning before field work and again in the evening after dinner. Late evenings and early mornings are available for reading articles from the bound collection given to students at the beginning of their time in Ecuador. Students will be housed in rustic cabins on the MWR. Basic services (flush toilets, running water, road access and electricity) will be available. Internet access will be restricted to the beginning and end of the course, during stays in urban areas. Hikes between sites that traverse forests will be used to discuss the conservation opportunities provided by alpaca husbandry. Road trips, between Cuenca and the MWR, and between the MWR and Salinas, Chimborazo (see below), will be used to elucidate a grand variety of mixed animal-crop farming systems, many on steep mountainsides. Although most of the course will take place on the Mazar Wildlife Reserve, where the alpacas ranch is located, a short field trip to central Ecuador will focus on llama and alpaca husbandry by indigenous communities and will provide a unique opportunity to view wild vicuñas at close range on the high páramo within the government’s Chimborazo Faunal Preserve. For those interested, students will have the option to ascend to a small glacial lake at 5100 m elevation on Mount Chimborazo.

Grading will be based on a participation in and mastery of husbandry techniques (60%), participation in topical and case-study discussions (15%), and a written final exam (25%).