It's Alpactober - Alpaca Care 101

A Beginner’s Guide to Caring for Alpacas

1. Introduction: Why Alpaca Care Matters

If you’ve ever been drawn to the gentle eyes and soft fleece of an alpaca, you’re not alone. These curious, quiet animals make wonderful additions to farms and homesteads. But caring for them isn’t just about feeding and shelter, it’s about helping them thrive.

Here’s something many first-time owners don’t realize: alpacas are deeply social creatures. They aren’t meant to live alone. A single alpaca is an unhappy alpaca, one that fails to thrive. They need the company of their own kind to feel safe and content. That’s why proper care always starts with understanding their emotional needs, not just their physical ones.

In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of alpaca care, from choosing the right environment to feeding, grooming, and keeping your herd healthy. Whether you’re planning for your first alpacas or improving care for your current ones, you’ll find simple tips to help them live their best lives.

2. Choosing the Right Environment

Alpacas don’t need fancy barns, but they do need a safe, comfortable place to live. The right setup helps keep them healthy, stress-free, and protected from danger.

Shelter That Keeps Them Comfortable

Alpacas need a simple three-sided shelter to protect them from wind, rain, and extreme sun. It doesn’t have to be heated, but it should stay dry and clean. Good airflow helps prevent illness, and it is important to use high velocity fans to keep them cool in the summer.

Fencing That Keeps Predators Out

Predator protection is key. Alpacas can’t defend themselves well, so your fencing must do the job. Use a 6-foot high, no-climb perimeter fence to keep out coyotes, dogs, and other threats. The gaps should be small enough that nothing can squeeze through.

For added protection, many farms use livestock guardian dogs (LGD's). These dogs bond with the herd and stay alert for danger. Other animals, such as llamas and donkeys, are also used to guard livestock, but they are not as effective against larger more dangerous predators as guardian dogs. Together, strong fencing and guardian dogs give your alpacas the best chance to stay safe.

Pasture Space That Lets Them Roam

Give your alpacas room to graze and move freely. A small herd does well on about one acre of pasture per 3–5 alpacas. Rotate pastures when possible to keep grass healthy and reduce parasites. Interior pasture dividing fences of 4 feet high are sufficient to rotate sections of pasture your alpacas have access to for grazing. Keep water tubs full and shaded, and make sure they always have access to shelter.

3. What to Feed Your Alpacas

Feeding alpacas is fairly simple, but it’s also one of the most important parts of their care. A healthy diet keeps their fleece soft, their energy up, and their digestion running smoothly.

The Basics: Hay and Pasture

Alpacas do best with free-choice access to grass hay and safe pasture. Their digestive systems are made for constant grazing, so hay should be available at all time, especially in winter or when pasture is limited.

Avoid rye grasses in any form. Rye can cause “staggers,” a dangerous and sometimes fatal neurological condition. Even endophyte-free rye isn’t safe for alpacas.

Grain and Pellets

Some alpacas benefit from extra nutrition in the form of grain or pellets, especially pregnant females or older animals. A great option is Kent Home Fresh Alpaca Family & Fiber Pellets—formulated specifically for alpaca needs.

Feed grain in small amounts and monitor body condition. Overfeeding grain can cause health issues like obesity or digestive upset.

Minerals and Supplements

Alpacas need daily access to loose mineral supplements, not salt blocks. Alpacas have a cleft lip that makes it very difficult to ingest minerals in block form. One of the best choices is Stillwater Formula 104, which you can find at ValleyVet.com. It’s balanced for alpacas and supports healthy fleece, reproduction, and overall wellness.

Toxic Plants to Watch For

Not all greenery is safe. Some plants and weeds can be harmful, or even deadly, to alpacas. For a helpful reference, check out this list:
👉 Toxic and Poisonous Plants for Alpacas. The list is quite long!

4. Grooming and General Hygiene

Caring for your alpaca’s fleece and keeping their environment clean isn’t just about appearance, it affects their comfort, health, and even the value of their fiber.

Annual Shearing

Alpacas are sheared once a year in the spring, before the summer heat kicks in. They don’t want to be stuck wearing a winter coat when the temperatures rise! Shearing keeps them comfortable and helps prevent overheating and heat stress which can be fatal.

Most alpaca owners hire a professional shearing team that also trims toenails and removes fighting teeth during the visit. At Enchanted Forest Alpacas, we recommend Shear Relief, run by Brian Gnizak, for expert and gentle service.

Daily Clean-Up

Clean shelters mean healthy alpacas. Remove manure and urine from enclosed areas twice daily to prevent odors, flies, and infections.

In your pastures and dry lots, try to avoid standing water and mud, which can lead to hoof problems and attract parasites.

Also, you don't want manure and mud to get caked onto your alpaca's beautiful fleece. That mess is hard to clean, attracts moths while processing, and lowers the quality of their fiber.

Fleece Protection Tips

Keep a close eye on your fields. Walk your pastures often to pull out thistles and other burr-producing plants. Burrs are extremely difficult to remove from fleece and can raise processing costs if you're sending it to a fiber mill.

Alpacas also love to take “sand baths.” Provide a dry, sandy spot in their pasture for them to roll in. Don’t worry, the sand is easy to remove with a fiber tumbler and a leaf blower during fleece processing.

But here’s a tip: never use a leaf blower on a live alpaca before shearing. It won’t help. In fact, it just pushes the dust and grit deeper into their fleece, right down to the skin, making shearing harder and dulling the blades.

5. Understanding Alpaca Behavior

Alpacas are gentle, quiet animals and to care for them well, you need to understand how they think and behave. Their personalities are more like cats than dogs. They’re aloof, cautious, and don’t enjoy being petted or cuddled. But with patience, they’ll learn to trust you, and even show affection in their own way.

They’re Prey Animals, Not Predators

Alpacas are animals of prey. That means their instincts tell them to run, kick, or spit when they feel threatened. They don’t bark or growl, they quietly assess danger and react fast. That’s why you should never sneak up behind them or grab them around the neck. Always move calmly and let them come to you.

Interestingly, alpacas seem to sense who’s safe and who’s not. You might see a cat wander into their pasture and get completely ignored. But a fast-moving dog? That’s a big problem, unless it’s a livestock guardian dog trained to protect them.

At Enchanted Forest Alpacas, our Polish Tatra / Great Pyrenees LGDs do a fantastic job. They “own” the pasture, watch over the alpacas, and even help gently herd them in the right direction when needed. On the flip side, our stealthy Australian Shepherd is not allowed in with the alpacas. Her fast sneaky movements and intense gaze make her look like a predator, and that’s a real danger for sensitive animals like these. This type of dog behavior could cause them to try to run through the fence and become seriously injured.

The Herd Has a Hierarchy

Alpacas live in a group with a clear social order. There’s usually a herd queen and/or king, and you’ll spot them pretty quickly if you watch. Even though there’s a pecking order, alpacas generally get along very well. They eat together, rest together, and communicate with body language and gentle humming sounds.

Mothers form deep, beautiful bonds with their babies, called crias. It’s one of the most heartwarming sights on the farm.

Watch for Subtle Changes

One of the biggest challenges in alpaca care is spotting illness early. Because they’re prey animals, alpacas hide signs of weakness, they don’t want to appear vulnerable. That means you need to know your herd’s normal behavior and watch closely for anything unusual. A quiet alpaca that suddenly stays away from the group, lies down more than usual, or doesn’t come to eat, are small changes could be signs something is wrong.

Luckily, alpacas have strong personalities, and it’s easy to learn their habits if you spend time with them. The more you observe, the better you’ll be at spotting trouble early and keeping your herd healthy. They are just so enjoyable to be around, you will want to spend time with them!

6. Health Care Essentials

Keeping your alpacas healthy means staying on a regular schedule of checks and preventative care. Waiting until an alpaca looks sick is often too late. A solid routine helps catch small problems before they become serious, and saves lives.

Monthly Herd Health Checks

At Enchanted Forest Alpacas, herd health is done every 30 days. Each check includes:

• Weighing each alpaca

• Body scoring to check for changes in condition, with puffy full fleece you really have to get hands on to monitor accurately

• FAMACHA scoring to detect early signs of anemia, checking the mucosa under the eyelids

• Ivermectin injections to prevent meningeal worm, it must be given every 30 days year around

  
  

Meningeal worm is often fatal, and once symptoms show, it’s usually too late. That’s why prevention with ivermectin is absolutely essential. This parasite is transmitted from white tailed deer feces, to snails, which can migrate into alpaca pastures. The alpaca accidentally ingest them while grazing. LGD's help prevent meningeal worm migration into pastures by keeping deer away from the perimeter fence.

Vaccinations

Yearly vaccination with CD&T is important to protect adult alpacas from Clostridium difficile and tetanus infections.

Crias are vaccinated:

• At 2 days old

• Again at 2 weeks

• Again at weaning

• And then yearly along with the adults

This schedule gives them strong protection early in life and keeps the whole herd safe.

Dealing with Parasites

If an alpaca has a FAMACHA score of 3 or lower, Safeguard treatment for barberpole worm, a common and dangerous gastrointestinal parasite, is started. Collecting a fecal sample to check for gastrointestinal parasites is helpful. If you don't find any,

it’s time to dig deeper.

When It’s Not a Worm

If the fecal test doesn’t show parasites, another possible cause of anemia is Candidatus Mycoplasma haemolamae, a bacteria that lives in the bloodstream. In that case, a blood sample is needed to confirm it and guide treatment.

7. Breeding and Baby Alpacas (Crias)

Alpaca breeding is both fascinating and unique. If you’re planning to grow your herd, it’s important to understand how alpacas reproduce, what pregnancy looks like, and how to care for newborns the right way.

How Breeding Works

Alpacas are induced ovulators. This means a female won’t release an egg until she’s actually bred. The male’s orgling (a humming serenade during breeding) and a special compound in his semen trigger the female to ovulate. Another unique aspect of alpaca breeding is that the male penetrates into the cervix, and sometimes into the uterus. Because of this, artificial insemination isn’t a viable option, at least not yet. So if you want to breed alpacas, you’ll need to either own a breeding male or transport your females to a farm that offers stud service.

Timing Matters

Breeding season typically runs from late spring through early fall. That’s because gestation lasts about a year, and you want crias to be born during warmer weather. Newborn alpacas can’t regulate their body temperature, and being born in the cold puts them at serious risk of hypothermia.

Keeping Males and Females Separate

Males and females should be housed separately for a few important reasons:

• It gives you control over breeding and helps avoid inbreeding.

• You can plan genetic pairings for the best fiber, temperament, or conformation.

• Unplanned repeated breedings can decrease a female’s fertility by increasing the chance of infection or damage to her cervix or uterus.

Once a female is pregnant, she will reject any male’s advances by spitting or running away. Breeders use a series of "spit-off tests" to monitor pregnancy by bringing them back together:

• 7 days after breeding to confirm ovulation

• 14 days after breeding to detect early pregnancy

• 14 and 28 days later to check for pregnancy loss

  
  

If she is receptive she is not likely to be pregnant. Use this opportunity to breed them again. If the female continues to spit off the male during all these tests, pregnancy is likely. Still, it should be confirmed with a transrectal ultrasound between 60–90 days, and again at 8–9 months to be sure the pregnancy is progressing normally.

The Magic of a Newborn Cria

Crias are amazing! They stand, take their first steps, and nurse within the first hour of life. It’s one of the most heartwarming moments you’ll ever witness. But as tempting as it is to snuggle them, don’t interfere with mom and baby bonding.

That early bond is essential for:

• Establishing nursing

• Teaching the cria to socialize with the herd

  
  

If a cria bonds too closely with a human, it can lead to serious behavioral problems as it matures. Always give them space to connect naturally, and no matter how cute they are, don’t cuddle a cria.

8. Seasonal Care Tips

Alpacas are pretty hardy animals, but they still need extra care during extreme weather. Small changes to your routine can make a big difference in their comfort and safety throughout the year.

Keeping Alpacas Comfortable in Summer

Alpacas don’t sweat, so overheating is a real risk, especially in hot, humid areas. Here’s how to help them stay cool:

• Shear once a year in spring to remove their warm fleece before summer hits.

• Set up high-velocity fans inside shelters.

• Make sure they always have access to shade and cool, clean water.

• Provide a sand or dirt patch for dust bathing, which helps them regulate body temperature, keeps them clean, and removes external parasites.

  
  

Watch for signs of heat stress like open-mouth breathing, drooling, or weakness. Act fast to cool them down if needed.

To reduce parasite exposure in summer:

• Be especially vigilant about cleaning up manure in pastures during wet, hot weather, which helps control gastrointestinal worms.

• To prevent exposure to meningeal worm, don’t let alpacas out into pastures until they are completely dry from dew or rain. The snails that transmit meningeal worms need moisture. When the grass is completely wet the snails will climb up the blades of grass, making it more likely the alpacas will ingest them.

  
  

Helping Them Through Winter

Alpacas can tolerate cold temperatures well, as long as they stay dry and out of the wind. If you use a three-sided shelter, you can improve winter protection by adding:

• Round bales or large square bales stacked at an angle along the open side

• A windbreak wall angled from one side, this could be made from a wood frame with steel siding attached, kind of like a barn door that is not completely closed.

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These help block the cold wind and add a little warmth to the space.

Make sure their hay is always dry and available, and keep their water from freezing. You can use heated drinking fountains like the “JUG” waterer, heated buckets or stock tank deicers, or check multiple times daily and break up any ice that forms on top of their water.

9. Making the Most of Alpaca Fiber

One of the best parts of raising alpacas is harvesting their soft, luxurious fleece. Whether you're processing it yourself or sending it to a mill, proper care and the right tools make all the difference in quality and enjoyment.

Start with Smart Skirting and Cleaning

After shearing, it all starts with a skirting table, idealy constructed from wire mesh with 1/4-inch openings, which you can easily make yourself. This lets dirt, dust, and small debris fall through while you pick out larger contaminants like hay or burrs.

From there, move your fleece to a fiber tumbler, paired with a leaf blower. This dynamic duo loosens and removes more dirt with minimal handling. For even better results, add a FAB Box Picker to fully open the fibers. Plans to build your own fiber tumbler and FAB Box Picker are available from 👉 The Llama Sanctuary on Etsy.

When it's time to wash, nothing beats Unicorn Power Scour. It's hands-down the best for removing grease and grime without stripping the fiber's natural softness. Use a 👉 Strucket or similar soak-and-drain system to make washing and rinsing easier and more efficient.

Once clean, dry your fleece in a 👉 zippered 4-tier mesh hanging sweater rack. It keeps the fiber contained and safe from wind, pets, and stray leaves.

Processing Tools for Every Stage

At Enchanted Forest Alpacas, fleece is processed in-house with care. Here are some go-to tools:

• Clemes & Clemes Elite Crankless Doublewide Drum Carder for smooth, even batts

• Daedalus Magpie e-spinner a powerful, all-purpose, production spinning wheel

• Valkyrie superfine combs and hackle, great for fine alpaca fiber prep when you want combed top

• Erlbacher Circular Sock Machine, that makes quick work of knitting socks and is perfect for turning yarn into wearable warmth

Loom lovers rejoice: we also use the Louet Jane, Norwood Cranbrook countermarch, and Norwood original cherry jack looms for weaving. The Norwood looms have a Michigan history and are the perfect addition to my Michigan farm.

Whether you spin, knit, weave, or sell your fiber, having quality tools makes every step more enjoyable.

How to Store Your Fleece Safely

Alpaca fleece is precious, moths think so too. To keep your fiber stash safe:

• Use 👉 clothes moth traps for early detection and prevention

• Double-bag fleece in plastic, and tie each bag tightly

• Hang cedar rings infused with drops cedar oil in your fiber storage area as natural repellents.

• Store fleece in well-lit spaces, since moths avoid bright environments

  
  

10. Conclusion + Next Steps

Caring for alpacas is a rewarding journey filled with quiet joy, strong connections, and the magic of fiber. Whether you're just getting started or growing your herd, the key is simple: understand your animals, commit to regular care, and keep learning along the way.

From their social bonds to their incredible fleece, alpacas bring something special to every farm. And when you give them what they need, safe shelter, good food, regular health checks, and lots of gentle respect, they give back in ways that are truly magical.

If you're ready to dive deeper into the world of alpacas, I invite you to:

• Explore more resources at the Alpaca Owners Association at www.alpacainfo.com

• Visit my website at www.EnchantedForestAlpacas.com to learn more about my herd and fiber art

• Or reach out directly with questions at info@enchantedforestalpacas.com

I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned and help others discover the joy of alpacas.

Diane Bluhm