How to House Male & Female Alpacas
Alpacas are intelligent and curious herding animals related to the camel. They are gentle animals that rarely butt or bite and are easy to care for. Housing male and female alpacas takes some planning, however. You'll need to separate the males from the females after males wean and reach sexual maturity. Instead of constructing an entire separate facility for your breeding males, you can simply divide your alpaca pasture into several paddocks.
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Instructions
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Construct a perimeter fence that is at least four feet high and ideally made of woven wire and 2 x 4s. The perimeter fence is more for keeping predators out than keeping your alpacas in. Install electric or barbed wire along the base of the fence as well as two feet above the ground to discourage predators from digging under or climbing up the fence.
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Fence in a separate paddock inside your perimeter fence for only the breeding males. Paddock fences do not have to be as "fortress-like" as the perimeter fence, because the alpacas won't challenge fences.
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Build a second fenced paddock for the breeding females. Then, construct a third fenced paddock for the young alpacas that have not yet weaned or haven't reached sexual maturity and their mothers.
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Build two to three additional fenced paddocks for pasture rotation. Designate one of the extra paddocks for breeding.
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Construct a basic shelter in each paddock to provide a place for the animals to eat and a dry place to sleep. Instead of building closed barns, you can construct simple open shelters with dirt or gravel floors.
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Tips & Warnings
Although alpacas are herd animals, they can become stressed during feeding time when they feel crowded. Try to provide a separate feeding station for each alpaca.
If you have a small alpaca herd, you can place the breeding females with the juveniles and their mothers in the same paddock. Just ensure that you have a shelter or paddock that you can use for new alpaca mothers to be alone with their newborns for several hours after birth, away from the rest of the herd.
Ensure that you have no more than five to eight alpacas per acre of pasture land. You should also have at least two alpacas in each paddock, because alpacas are herding animals that become stressed and can stop eating and even die when kept alone.
