Alpaca Care - Fencing and shelters

Fencing

We find a post and rail fencing with sheep wire at a height of approximately 4ft to be the best, (there are different heights of wire available) It is advisable to remove all barbed wire from any paddock that you intend to use for your Alpacas.

When keeping breeding females, you need to plan for a Separate paddock preferably out of site of mum, for the weanlings to be put in at around 5/6 months. In which you will need to keep your weanlings for around 12weeks.

Again if keeping your own stud male you will require a separate paddock,males should always be kept in groups of at least two. Alpacas being herd animals must have a companion.

It is useful to have a gelding as geldings can be kept with both male and female alpacas. They can be very useful if you only have a small herd, and you have perhaps for example two female cria (babies) and one male cria after weaning the male cria will need to be separated but cannot be kept alone.

Shelters

Alpacas rarely use a shelter, is a phrase we came across when starting out, as with all things our experience has taught us differently. A field shelter is essential, It can be very basic just four posts and a roof as a minimum requirement but we prefer three sides covered in. The height of the roof should be just over six foot to allow you to work with your alpaca should the weather turn.

When constructing our field shelter for our alpacas, we carefully assessed the direction of the prevailing winds, to ensure that the back of the field shelter took the full force. Its also worth considering carefully how best to position the shelter ie if placed close to a gateway to another field, by using 12ft gates or alpacas hurdles etc you can sub divide the shelter for use by Alpacas in both fields. This would be ideal as you save constructing two shelters and water is readily available to both at little cost. You can also work on alpacas on one side whilst using the other as a penn. A concrete floor was put in on top of a damp proof membrane just in case we wanted to store food at some stage, and to make use of it for shearing as we do not have a barn to use. The shelter can be as elaborate or basic as you wish to make it depending on your personal circumstances. To finish off we ran guttering around the roof and put in a down pipe to a water butt, which we then use to top up the water trough. Ideal in remote locations where water can be a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning permission may be required depending on the size of your holding, so its best to check with your local Council. However should you have a particularly difficult Council its worth bearing in mind that mobile field shelters need no permission. To be mobile they must be capable of being towed on skids or have wheels. Also if the rain water is discharged into a butt that can be moved there is no degree of permanency.

We also feel that it is a good idea to feed the alpacas in the field shelter occasionally, to get them used to it in case you need to confine them for a short while due to illness or to work on them for toenail cutting or injecting etc.

Pre-birth of cria Birth of cria Cria care Grazing and other animals