Management Practices

There are many types of alpaca barn layouts. Which you chose depends on your property layout, financial considerations, number of alpacas you plan on having, and personal preference. What is required is that your alpacas have a dry place to get out of the wind and bad weather. A three-sided Run In shed like those used for horses is adequate provided it allows the alpacas enough room and protection from the weather. We started out with a 12 ft. x 14 ft. shed and added as our numbers grew. more »

There are a number of things to consider when laying out your facility. If you are lucky enough to already have barns and/or fencing in place then you will need to adapt to what exists. If not, here are some options to consider and how we addressed them at Sunset Ridge Alpacas. One feature we highly recommend is a 10' wide lane separating your pastures with a gate to each pasture and two additional gates to close off the lane. With all four gates closed you can create a 10' x 10' pen. With three gates open it is relatively easy to herd the animals from the open pasture into the lane. Feeding them grain in the lane makes this even easier. Once in the lane the third gate is closed. The animals are easily herded up and the fourth gate closed to create the catch pen. This is much easier on you and much less traumatic for the animals. more »