We’re having a stretch of very hot and humid weather that’s a bit unusual for us. Thank goodness! Neither Ron nor I like this weather. And the alpacas don’t like it much, either.
We spend a lot of time trying to keep the alpacas cool in this weather. Of course, they have access to the barn and we have overhangs on most sides that provide additional shade. We set up fans in the barns to help circulate the air and provide some cooling. Water buckets are filled over and over with cool water.
All our pastures have a sprinkler or two. We use the round brass rings. These work well as the alpacas like to lay down on the sprinklers and there are no moving parts or sharp edges. We set them to spray up just a couple feet above the ground. This lets the alpacas cool off their legs and bellies. We rotate sprinklers all day, just leaving them on for 15 or so minutes at a time in each pasture. The alpacas cool themselves off and go back to grazing or to the barn.