SIMPLE ANIMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR YOUR ALPACAS AND LLAMAS
BY PAUL GARLAND, WARATAH FLATS ALPACA & LLAMA STUD
In any farming practice, to maintain good animal husbandry standards
and ensure a good health programme, livestock need to be able to be caught
and handled at any time and with the minimum of fuss. Therefore, time
and money spent on setting up some simple, yet effective, animal management
systems is a valuable investment.
We are fortunate that both alpacas and llamas are, in general, very intelligent
animals and respond well to good training. However, some simple management
systems will greatly enhance the efficiency and comfort of your animals.
But remember that whilst your alpacas and llamas will respond to good
training and systems, they will also learn bad habits too, so the basic
farm layout needs to be right first. It's a good idea to write down the
main things your animals will need to be handled for as well as the frequency
and the type of conditions you could face. This will make it easier to
plan your farm layout and obtain the most benefit from it.
SIMPLE FARM LAYOUT
Most of us inherit someone else's fences, yards, etc, generally built
for other purposes and we just make them work the best way we can. However,
sooner or later we will want to do some redeveloping and this is a good
time to get things right.
- In setting out a farm/property, think first of how the animals are
going to be moved around, and how will they move from one end of the
property to the other. Try to achieve a good flow and make it easy for
your animals to find their way back and forth.
- A central lane or raceway is a great asset, in fact, you might even
have two or three raceways - they are never wasted and can always be
used for short term holding pens or overnight grazing.
- Make sure there is a good clear pathway. Try to avoid making animals
move through bottle necks, such as narrow gaps between buildings or
around blind corners - they like to see where they are going. They don't
like dead ends either and will often get to the other end before you
and then run back past you.
- The placement of gates is very important. Make sure they are at the
right ends of the paddock - in the corner is usually the best. If they
can be arranged to swing out to close off the raceway, then so much
the better.
- If you can arrange to try and have a mixture of small and large paddocks,
it is often easier to move animals into smaller paddocks than directly
into a narrow race.
- Finally, consider having a special birthing paddock close to the
house so that it is easier to keep an eye on that expectant mum and
hopefully those newborn cria.
YARDING OPTIONS
A good set of yards are the corner stone for all management systems. Remember
for alpacas and llamas yards are simply a place to confine your animals
- they normally only need the minimum of restraint and often, for things
like matings, etc, we only need the simplest of holding facilities. Here
are a few suggestions, some of which will cost you very little :-
- What ever you do, try to avoid using temporary yards made out of
pieces of old wire or netting, tied together with bits of string. These
types of makeshift yards are very dangerous, particularly when animals
are running around, mating or spitting off. If there is a frequent need
for temporary yards - use some farm gates that are well secured to solid
posts. If you have frequent need for temporary yards, then it might
be worth considering buying a portable catch pen, there are several
different types available,
- The simplest form of a yard, is an extra gate across the raceway,
( see figure 1a & 1b) this makes an easy and effective catch pen,
when you don't want to bring the whole group up to the main shed.
- A slightly more complex but effective system is where four paddocks
come together in a raceway. (see figure 2) Gates can be offset to give
a bigger holding area. It's very useful if you want to split a group
up into different paddocks and also makes a very good mating or spitting
off area.
- A small yard or catch pen in the corner of a larger paddock (if it's
a natural flow area) can also be very useful. (see figure 3) You'll
be amazed what can be done for only a few dollars. A good place to build
these is often between two paddocks, where animals move through on a
regular basis.
- Those hay barns or implement sheds are often very easily converted
into an effective handling area with a simple fence or gates along the
front or ends. (see figure 4) Also they have the advantage of providing
a ready made wet weather option.
- Specialised yards in a central location is the ultimate for a complete
animal handling system and should be the aim of all alpaca and llama
owners. After all we do spend a lot of money on our animals. We have
just built a new set of yards incorporated into the end of our shearing
and fibre centre. (see figure 5) We often handle larger groups of up
to 30+ alpacas at a time but even if you have only half a dozen animals,
you will feel the benefit of a more flexible system. It's really great
being able to separate individuals for specialised treatment but to
still have the whole group in contact with each other.
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Fig.3
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Fig.4
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FENCING OPTIONS
Standard sheep type fencing is quite adequate for alpacas and llamas.
If you are using sheep netting (normally 900 mm high) you may like to
put a single plain wire (no barbed wire please) on the top to bring it
up to 1,000 mm, which is usually more that high enough.
If you are replacing boundary fence it may be worthwhile considering
the installation of higher deer fencing when redeveloping. The security
of your valuable stock is the main concern and it also gives you protection
from possible dog attacks (not common but they have occurred).
Electric fencing is not recommended (turn the power off) and if you do
have to use an existing electric fence line, make sure to remove all of
the plastic tape and only use the wire.
In medium pressure areas, post and rail fencing works very well and the
animals look great against such a backdrop. Post and rail is also the
best option for your main yard areas, 1000 mm high is OK for the alpacas
but for llamas we go to 1300 mm high for that extra security.
For high pressure areas, such as catch pens, crushes, etc, it is recommended
that you use solid ply or timber walls. This will avoid feet and legs
getting caught up and often make it easier to restrain your animals.
ANIMAL MANAGEMENT
To obtain the best from any management system you must give your alpacas
and llamas the benefit of knowing what is expected of them. Let them have
the run of the place occasionally, they like to find their own way around.
Make sure they are moved in and out of yards just for practice, at a time
when nothing happens to them. Let them build up confidence.
It's good to get into the habit of moving animals from one area to another
on a regular basis, say once a week. It is often at times like this that
you see different things about your animals that you don't see while they
are in the paddock.
Feed them in the yards if it's convenient. Use food (especially pellets)
as a management tool. We can bring 30+ alpacas into our yard system at
the drop of a hat (or is that a rattle of the tin), several times a day
if we want to and they love it.
No one system works well for all situations, so it is often a matter
of working out a system that suits your setup. If we can be of any help,
give us a call, we are happy to pass on the knowledge gained over many
years.
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