Handling Alpacas

Practical suggestions from Joy Whitehead

- Joy Whitehead

We need to be able to handle alpacas for many different reasons: giving injections, trimming toenails, veterinary inspections, taking faecal samples, checking newborns, even getting brambles, cleavers etc out of their coats. Actually the easiest solution to the last problem on my list is to keep pastures clean so then there is nothing to get tangled in their fleece. That aside, to tackle any of these jobs, first catch your alpaca….. 

Alpacas are very curious creatures, and will almost always want to know what you are doing, so will often come very close to you. However, they know exactly how long your arms are, so reaching out in the hope of just slipping your arm around their neck can be somewhat tricky. A catch pen is the answer. At Bozedown Alpacas we sometimes collect our alpacas in the barn for various tasks - weighing, shearing, ultrasound scanning for pregnancy diagnosis, etc. We also have a series of outdoor pens that we use for matings and many other tasks such as giving worming drenches, condition scoring, etc. 

Starting out

Even with only two or three alpacas, a small catch area is advantageous. Since, even with just half an acre, we recommend dividing this into two areas for efficient grazing, with water and shelter accessible from either side, and with a catch pen which can be opened up to either side. Using the pen area for the alpacas’ daily vitamin and mineral feed means it is then easy to close the gate when you need to keep them in. Once inside, you may find ‘wands’ (long sticks) helpful to effectively lengthen your arms just while you corner one of them. Once cornered it is simple to quietly slip your arm around the alpaca’s neck, at which point, providing you allow the alpaca to remain balanced on all four legs, it should stand still. It is normally only when taken off-balance that an alpaca will struggle.