What kind of land do alpacas need

What do Alpacas eat? Are Alpacas intelligent? Are Alpacas safe for young children? How much maintenance do Alpacas need? Health Issues How do you transport Alpacas? Why keep Alpacas? What are the benefits? Selecting your own Alpacas What do you need to start? What sort of land do you need? News and Sale Alpaca walking, in January more Our latest cria1 more Yarn and fleece for sale more These herd animals need to have at least one other alpaca as a companion.

This will vary from location-to-location and depends quite a bit on the quality of the pasture and the amount of hay you feed.

With fewer animals and better pasture, you may be able to simply allow your animals to live on pasture. You may feed only hay, or you may need to add some grain. Again this depends upon the number of animals you have and the quality of your pasture. You must also provide plenty of fresh, clean water at all times, so any property you use will have to have a natural water source or be within easy access of a spigot.

Alpacas also need to be sheared annually and typically need some dental attention after the age of 1 or 2 years. Halter train your alpacas, and catch them and handle them on a regular basis. This interaction will make it easier for you to take care of grooming, maintenance and veterinary needs.

Feeding under shelter daily will get your animals in the habit of coming to shelter. This familiarity can help keep them safe in case of very inclement weather. Chain-link or mesh fencing is preferred. Although it is possible to just let alpacas run loose on a large acreage, this is not the best or easiest way to keep them.

So if you can go, do! So make sure you read all of those, too! You can always add to your herd by buying more or breeding. Ready to learn more about the individual factors that will impact how many alpacas you should get? They need a herd. So make sure that they at least have another alpaca buddy to keep them company. However, integrating an alpaca into a herd of other animals is a gamble.

Not every alpaca can pull it off — and neither can every herd of goats or sheep! In fact, some breeders may not sell you a single alpaca — or even two of them. How many alpacas you get will also be affected by the sex of the alpacas. This is because alpaca gender directly affects alpaca behavior — especially breeding behavior. But what are hembras, wethers, and machos? Those are the gender and sex options of alpacas.

Is breeding alpacas one of your backyard homestead end goals? So alpacas can be bred any time of year, but breeding is required for a pregnancy. Oh, and intact males will try to breed with a female any chance they get. However, already-pregnant hembras want nothing to do with the machos. It might be worth figuring that out first. Or, start with a couple of wethers. Alpacas can be great pets, yes!

If you want a herd of them, they can be a fantastic, outdoor type of pet who just also happens to be livestock that produces amazing fiber. They can also live inside — a fact that surprised me.

To read about keeping alpacas inside, read my article on it here. In other words, an acre of unrotated pasture space can generally support alpacas.