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The Seventh of the Eight Essentials, of Alpaca Survival:
Fencing
by Laurel Shouvlin
If you are interested in buying some pet alpacas, fencing will probably be your biggest expense. Fencing for alpacas serves two goals:
It keeps your alpacas in
It keeps predators out
Alpacas have different needs than most livestock. Let’s take a brief look at some of the fencing possibilities with regards to their suitability:
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Woven wire Field-Fence. Not so good. This fence has smaller holes at the bottom, and larger rectangles at the top. Alpacas can easily put their necks through the top holes. As odd as it may sound, if an alpaca becomes spooked, they could easily break their necks, especially if they attempted to exit through a different hole.
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Welded wire. May work for a year or two, but eventually the welds will deteriorate. What was once vertical supports, could easily turn into vertical spears, that could literally impale your alpaca.
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Wire Strands. Not a good choice in general as wires that provide enough room for an alpaca to extend its head and neck through, will also allow them to put their head and neck back through an adjacent space. They will then either hang themselves, or break their necks.
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Barbed wire. The barbs will rip fleece out until they are covered, leaving fiber-coated barbs. Not a good choice.
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Hi tensile (also called New Zealand) fencing. This is simply a group of horizontal wires, kept taught by vertical posts. This fencing is often electrified. Electric fencing is NEVER recommended to contain alpacas, as when they are in full fleece, they can’t feel the shock – unless they are hung up in it by their neck. A very gruesome way to die.
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Hot wire (also called electric fencing). Never recommended as a containment fence for reasons stated above. It is also very difficult for alpacas to see at night. It may be used in addition to a suitable woven, wire fence to keep dogs from digging under, or jumping over.
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Electric braid/rope. Not appropriate. The braid degrades over time. It doesn’t conduct electricity very well. This is another hanging threat.
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Electric tape. Better visibility than the wires, but still has the threat of hanging due to the lack of vertical supports.
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3 or 4-Board wood or vinyl. This fencing is traditionally used for horses, and would work for alpacas if it were supplemented with a woven-wire fence.
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Split rail or picket. Same as above.
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Chain link. Great if kept taught and tight to the ground. More costly than woven wire.
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Woven wire No-Climb. Finally!!! The perfect fencing to contain alpacas would be the 5’ woven-wire fence, with either 2”x4” rectangles , or the diamond-V pattern. Four foot would also work, but you may need to supplement the height with a single strand of electric wire to deter alpacas from jumping out, and predators from jumping in.
Whew!!! And we haven’t even talked about predator consideration with regards to fence selection!!! Basically, you need to find out what predators you need to protect from – and fence accordingly. It doesn’t matter how much $$$ you spend securing your alpacas in, because if you don’t also secure predators out, you won’t have your alpacas for long. And what do you think your main predator will be??? No matter where you live, the answer is pet dogs. Dogs jump, they also dig. Read about this topic further in the Protection section below. Lots to consider!
Author: Laurel Shouvlin of Bluebird Hills Farm, Ohio
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Helpful Links with Additional Information:
Boyd & Kelly Cumming of Kelowna Alpaca Farm offer some tips concerning Fences. And just in case you speed read through their site, I'm going to post what I think is a very valuable tip: "It is critical that all gate openings are as flush to their mounting posts as possible to again avoid any accidental hangings in between the gate, the post and the securing mechanism." You'll notice that this concern is quite common amongst older breeders -- the possibility against accidental hangings. Alpacas stick their necks through, and in to, just about anything. The problem is, that they don't always exit the same way they enter. This is one area where you really want to learn from the mistakes of others!
How high? What type? You'll find the answers to these and much more at Laurel Shouvlin of Bluebird Hills Farm's Alpaca Husbandry. And yup, this site has lots and lots and lots of different topics with great advice -- but I had to put the link somewhere, and this was Laurel's introduction topic -- so here it is!
I know, I know -- here comes another link to John Merrell's site. And by now you should know that he owns Gateway Farm Alpacas! But how could I not include a Farm Fence link that is so detailed that it includes a fence calculator (that works!)???
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