How to Raise Alpacas on the Homestead

Have you ever thought you might like to raise alpacas on the homestead? These useful animals are great for both fiber and meat, not to mention that their unique personalities make them a fun addition to any homestead. Today’s article covers the most common questions regarding raising alpacas, including basic care like feeding and watering. We’ve also included some information on shearing, which will be necessary to do every spring.

Alpacas are wonderful fiber animals for spinners, knitters, and weavers. Their fleece is unique, and their temperament is so much steadier than sheep! As a bonus, you can even harvest alpacas for meat. 

Before you take the leap into raising alpacas, you’ll want to know some of the basics of their maintenance to be sure you can adequately care for them.

Other Homestead Livestock to Consider

Backyard Chickens for Beginners

How to Raise Ducks for Meat & Eggs

Getting Started with Beekeeping

10 FAQs for Homestead Livestock

How to Raise Alpacas on the Homestead

We’re going to go through this information in the form of a list of questions we had when we first thought about how to raise alpacas on our homestead. We’re hopeful that by sharing our experiences, we can help you decide if alpacas might be right for you.

After chickens, ducks, goats, bees, and vermicomposting, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take on another homestead animal. However, after visiting an alpaca farm on a family vacation, my heart softened to the idea.

I loved these sweet creatures and their remarkable fiber! As a spinner, I fell in love with the soft, long staple and the luxurious colors available from alpaca fleece.

What Are Alpacas?

Alpacas are related to camels and llamas, but smaller. They are native to South America where they have been domesticated for centuries.

Alpacas have only been in the US a generation or two, but the demand for their fiber products continues to climb. The breeds are similar but their fleece is different. There are about a dozen fleece colors available including white, fawn, brown, gray, and black variations.

My particular favorite is a variation called rose gray, which is a soft ash color that looks like delicate smoke.

There are two types of alpaca: Huacaya and Suri. 

• Huacayas are more compact and their fiber is similar (though superior in my opinion) to sheep but softer and without lanolin. Huacayas are the most common in the U.S.
• Suris have longer necks and legs and their fiber hangs in dreadlocks and its texture is more like hair.
• Males are called Machos; females are called Hembra; babies are called Cria.
• The average height of most alpacas is 90-95 cm (3 ft.).
• The average weight of a male alpaca is 85kg (187 lbs.); the average weight of a female alpaca is 75 kg (165 lbs.). 

Just a heads up, alpacas can cost several hundred to several thousand dollars to purchase, depending on your area. You’ll need to purchase more than one since they are herd animals and shouldn’t live alone.

Are Alpacas Difficult to Keep – Is it Hard to Raise Alpacas?

After speaking with the alpaca farm owner we visited, I decided it was time to do some reading about these animals to learn more. What I discovered was exactly what I had observed on the farm.

Alpacas are not especially hard to keep when compared to animals like cows who are large, heavy, and not as bright. Also, alpacas are more manageable than goats in that they aren’t constantly trying to head butt each other or eat your prize roses.

Sheep and alpacas both have lovely fiber for textile arts, but again, alpacas are simply more polite than sheep. Sheep have many fine qualities but honoring fence lines isn’t one of them – they’re constantly trying to escape!

When compared to bees, alpacas have an advantage because they don’t have the potential for stinging! The worst thing an alpaca might do is spit at you, but that’s super rare.

Always Do Your Own Research

I want to stop a moment and remind anyone considering bringing livestock onto the homestead that this should never be a quick decision. Homestead animals are NOT an impulse buy!

Be prepared for each animal BEFORE you bring it onto your land. Say no to anyone offering to sell or even give you livestock before you’re ready to care for them. (FYI, there’s no such thing as a FREE animal – there’s always a cost to their care.)

Please read the following article when you’re ready for a much broader discussion on how you can prepare wonderfully well for acquiring homestead livestock: Stop! You Aren’t Ready for Homestead Animals

Alpaca Temperament

Alpacas are often compared to llamas since they’re so closely related but truly, alpacas are nothing like llamas!

• Alpacas are smart and friendly and fun to be around.
• They don’t often kick or bite (no upper teeth anyway), have no horns, and small feet.
• Alpacas are good animals for responsible children to tend on the homestead.
• They are curious and quiet, but will make soft bleating sounds when happy or sad. The mothers will “speak” to the cria, giving instructions and warnings.
• Alpacas will cry out if a perceived danger is near and they can also stomp to deter that danger.

What Do Alpacas Eat?

Alpacas have a 3-chamber stomach that allows them to chew cud, extracting all the nutrients possible from it. This is what makes them such good foragers.

• Alpacas will generally eat about 2% (about 2lbs) of their body weight per day. Pasture is preferred, with mixed grasses and legumes. It’s advised that they get no more than 11-13% protein because they can gain weight easily.
• Pregnant females near delivery, nursing moms, and babies can have 12-16% protein, so you can supplement them with alfalfa or other high protein treats.
• Long fiber grass should be 80% of their diet with some grain or pelleted feed thrown in for your convenience or if pasture is low.

Change their diet slowly if you need to to give their rumens time to adjust. The microbes in the gut need slow changes or stomach upset will occur.

Don’t forget to provide fresh water daily because they drink over 1 gallon per day. Also, give them a free choice mineral supplement. I also feed fresh herbs and veggies from the garden throughout the year.

Alpacas don’t like dirty water buckets and are generally fussy about a clean environment.

To Raise Alpacas Do I Need a Barn or Paddocks?

Yes, alpacas do best with a roofed shelter from hot sun and cold precipitation and winds. Open areas are great in mild weather but all creatures appreciate protections from extreme weather. (Except cows which, for some cow reason love to stand out in the freezing cold and ice even when they have a nice barn to go to. Cows!)

Alpacas generally require 40 sq. ft of space per alpaca in any shelter to be comfortable and remain healthy.

• Mothers should have their own nursery stalls for labor, delivery, and caring for newborns.
• Crias should have protection from winter winds and damp. If you have very wet, cold winter/early spring weather, you might consider jacketing them when you let them explore the pastures with their mom.

Straw is best as bedding because it doesn’t stick to their fleece as badly as sawdust or pine shavings. Typically, alpacas pick one common toilet area for their feces.

Their poop is considered “cool” and great as compost. It generally doesn’t have a heavy or unpleasant odor.

Any truly foul odor in the barn will come from urine. Use of lime or sweet PDZ, as well as thick straw bedding will help control odor. As will consistent cleaning of stall, as is necessary with goats.

Alpaca paddocks (outdoor areas) do require fencing for safety, but preferably not barbed wire that will pull at their fleece when they brush against it.

Hot Weather Considerations

1. Alpacas struggle in really hot weather, so be prepared to provide shade in the summer.
2. They love a spray with the hose in hot weather, too, especially on their underbelly – they’ll rear up for it.
3. Alpacas enjoy a stock tank filled with water, as well. A pond would be great, too! 

Look for signs of heat stress like open mouth breathing, drooling, nostril flaring, dullness and lethargy. 

Take time during the summer to check for mats in their fleece, especially if you have burdock or other burr plants nearby. Mats can snowball, getting bigger and pulling at the alpacas skin. They can also harbor maggots, larvae, and skin ailments.

I often used a wool carder to comb my alpaca fleece periodically throughout the seasons. Most of them love the feel of it and will stand still for long periods of time while I do it.

How Many Acres Do You Need to Have for Alpacas?

Unlike heavy feeders like cattle, alpacas don’t require as much pasture space as some other small farm livestock. You keep 5-10 alpacas on an acre with excellent pasture. If your pasture is depleted or not varied, plan to supplemental feed and hay and reduce the number to 5.

It’s estimated that alpacas are 30% more efficient at grazing than even sheep, although they won’t forage any and all things in your pasture. Some things they just plain don’t like, although they will sometimes eat soft, woody material.

I had one that liked to chomp on fallen branches and even tree bark.

Why Do You Need 3 Alpacas?

Alpacas are herd animals like goats and sheep and require the companionship of other alpacas for good mental health and general happiness.

They live in family groups, though you will most likely separate the males to control breeding. Females are induced ovulators, which means that mating triggers the release of eggs to be fertilized.

• Gestation is nearly a year, 11 ½ months, and usually produces one baby. The cria is usually between 15-20 pounds.
• The mom can be bred again in as little as two weeks but this isn’t advised for the health of the mother and the nurture of her current cria.
• Alpacas are sexually mature between 12-18 months for females and 18 months for males. Plan accordingly!

How Do I Raise Healthy Alpacas?

Alpacas are sturdy and healthy and can live for 15-25 years with good husbandry. However, watch for various health problems know for your area. Contact a local veterinarian or university extension services to find out about specific disease and parasite problems in your area.

Your local extension can also help you determine if you have toxic grasses in your pastures. Local wildlife can pose a problem in the form of deer who carry a meningeal worm that is harmless to them but deadly to alpacas. We love one of our dear, old mother alpacas to these worms and it was awful.

• This worm is the reason we had to write this post: How to Care for an Orphaned Alpaca

Keep a close eye on alpacas because they aren’t really obvious when it comes to poor health. Look for clumpy stool, runny eyes or noses, listlessness, loss of appetite, and laying down a lot. These are all warning signs that something might be wrong.

Do a fecal analysis and call the vet for advice.

Other Health Considerations

Since they poop in the generally same area all the time, alpacas are easy to clean up after. A communal dung pile is kept somewhere they don’t graze. The alpacas choose the place. This helps control parasites because the chickens can scratch through it easily and eat out the pests. 

Use barn fans in the summer to create constant air flow which cools the alpacas and prevents mold and fly build up.

Routinely check for mites beginning with their legs. Mites can cause dry skin and itching so treat the alpacas immediately and do the whole herd, just in case. 

You can make your own spray, like this recipe from Fewell Homestead for mite control with essential oils and garlic.

Keep them on a quality herbal wormer, or you favorite conventional one.

It’s also helpful to create livestock sheets that track data like:

• weight, height, color, body score
• worming schedule
• mucous membrane color check eyelid and gums
• incisors check
• fiber evaluation

Why Must You Sheer When You Raise Alpacas?

Alpacas are shorn once a year in the spring. This is the biggest maintenance task required for alpaca care – they are otherwise very simple animals.

Shearing and tooth/hoof trimming is necessary for alpaca health. In the wild, they would have natural methods for controlling these needs, but once domesticated the alpacas rely on us to keep them trimmed up and shorn. (There aren’t any known herds of wild alpacas left – they’ve been domesticated for that long!)

An unshorn alpaca will end up with matted fiber that can host maggots and other health issues. They will also overheat.

Their teeth may need trimming at shearing time, too.

What is Alpaca Fiber Like?

Alpaca fiber is lustrous and silky. It’s not prickly as wool can be and has no lanolin, so its hypoallergenic. This also means that it doesn’t repel water, but it is flame-resistant. It’s light because of its hollow follicle which makes it insulating.

The finest fleece is called the blanket and it’s the part that goes around the torso. The legs will produce a much less fine fiber because of exposure to dirt and weather.

However, this fleece can be reserved for stuffing homemade dolls, as insulation, or rug weaving.

If you jacket your alpacas like sheep, the fiber will stay cleaner. However, be advised that alpacas can get overheated in hot summer areas.

• Alpaca fleece has a long staple and is a joy to spin. With its strong fiber, it can also be used for weaving with great success.
• Lighter fleeces take dye well, although their natural colors make raw alpaca fleece a delight to work with, especially the rose gray variation.
• It’s sooooo soft. There are no course outer (or guard) hairs, so the whole fleece is divine. Similar to an angora rabbit or cashmere goat.

Will My Alpacas Spit at Me?

Alpacas can spit but don’t often do so at humans unless they don’t trust a stranger or if a mom has a cria. We had one female alpaca that would spit at the teenage boy who came to feed our livestock when we were out of town. 

The females will spit at a fertile male if she is NOT interested in mating, so maybe my alpaca thought this boy was cute but not THAT cute!

Alpacas will spit at other alpacas when they occasionally have arguments over food or territory (usually a male showing dominance). 

What Are Some Pros of Raising Alpacas?

Here’s a list of things I think are neat about alpacas:

1. Alpacas are gentle on pasture (mostly because they have no upper teeth) and don’t eat a lot compared to other livestock.
2. These hardy animals typically birth without intervention and make good mothers.
3. Alpaca manure is cool and doesn’t require composting before using it in the garden.
4. They’re loving, personable, and interesting small farm and homestead livestock.
5. Because alpacas completely digest their food, there aren’t many weed seeds left in their dung so it’s great for compost. 
6. Their meat is high in protein and low in fat.
7. Alpacas can serve as guard animals with smaller predators but llamas are generally more aggressive and better adept at protection.
8. As a homestead side hustle, alpacas can be kept for fiber and meat, as well as to mow pasture areas. The fleece can be sold as is or processed into value added products like yarn and socks.
9. You can also make money selling and breeding alpacas or board them for others. To increase their value, you might plan to show them at fairs.
10. Alpacas typically get along fine with other livestock like goats, cows, llamas, horses, etc.

What Are Some Disadvantages of Raising Alpacas?

There are some points that might be considered as drawbacks to raising alpacas. These include the fact that:

• They’re large animals, at least larger than a chicken.
• Alpacas require shelter from extreme heat and cold.
• They are expensive to purchase.
• Alpacas need shearing once a year.

Such a short list of potential drawbacks!

I hope we’ve helped answer some of your questions about how to raise alpacas on the homestead. Let us know if we’ve missed a question you have in the comments below!

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