Fencing for alpacas

[sadie423]

We have 6 alpacas coming to our farm next weekend and I have a couple questions about fencing for them. We have 2 fenced areas- a small yard- just over 100 ft by 40 ft- that is fenced with woven wire/goat fencing. And then we have about an acre pasture fenced with 5 strands of electric wire. I have read mixed feeling about the electric.....I would much prefer them in this yard- with our does/kids, as there is more forage and more room. Our 2 wethers and our buck are in the other small yard at the moment. I have read that the electric doesn't zap them because of their fleece and that they might get tangled in it. But I have also seen a lot of alpaca farms (websites) stating that a 5-wire electric is what they use....since it keeps a lot of predators out.

Can anyone give me some opinions on this subject? If it would endanger them to be in the larger area we won't, but I think they would be happier there....

TIA
Sarah

 

[purplequeenvt]

Unless you have extremely stupid alpacas, a 5-strand electric fence will work fine. We kept our llamas in a 5-strand fence that was saggy and wouldn't hold a very strong charge.

 

[AdoptAPitBull]

I brought all of my 7 camelids home to electric fence, even though none had been in it before. The only issue we had was that once the largest alpaca was running away from another alpaca and ran straight into the fence. I think he just didn't see it. We have 2 sections of fence, and he ran into the section with the thinner 18ga wire. Thankfully, it did not break! The new area with the 14ga wire only has 4 strands and they don't seem to care. They see that it is there, and don't test it. A few times they've been whacked by it from nibbling on the weeds, which is good. They now know that not only is it a fence, but this fence bites! I find that the llamas are even better with it than the alpacas, though we've never had an escape or even an attempt for either.

What people need to understand about camelids is that they do not test the fence. They respect it. Chances are they will never feel the "bite" through their fiber unless they touch it with their nose, but that doesn't matter. They see it as a barrier and they don't try to test it.

Just make sure that there's nothing outside the fence that you have to worry about...coyotes, dogs, etc. That's the only real concern with hot wire; it won't keep bad things out! By the time a dog or coyote feels the "bite", chances are he's already in the fence. You can put up some woven wire outside the hot wire if you wish.

The only reason I'd suggest them not being in with the goat kids is that they may accidentally step on a kid. I have my llama guardian in with the kids and he's phenomenal. A kid was searching under his tail for his udder yesterday. He didn't care. She looked so disappointed when she came out of there lol. Alpacas are a bit more flighty and can get scared easily by a running little critter.

Good luck!

 

[ksalvagno]

Most of the time alpacas don't challenge a fence but once in a while they do. If any of those alpacas you are getting are intact, the intact males may challenge the fence. I had always kept my alpacas in with woven wire but it really was more to keep predators out than alpacas in. You could try them in the electric and see how it works out.