Today was “the big day” for our four weanling males. They’ve been out of the girls’ barn for a while now, but have been housed in a small barn away from the “big boys”. We don’t like to put small males in with large males. The males play a lot rougher than the females; sometimes they just do a little half-hearted wrestling and other times the fighting is a bit more serious. We don’t want a 90 lb boy to be chased and mounted by a 200 lb macho.
We’ve been running one large group of males recently but, fortunately, our boys’ barn can be divided into two separate pens. We put the smaller of the males in one side and added the four weanlings to that pen. Any fighting that happens will be between animals of more or less equal size. The four weanlings are still looking a little shell shocked. Sorry guys – this move is for keeps!
It’s not always easy to keep a herd of breeding males. We field a lot of questions about this and see a wide range of advice on how best to manage males. Over the years we’ve had a range of temperaments, but have never had any serious issues within our male herd. That said, if you are planning to keep breeding males, there are a few things that can help to make life easier for everyone.
- First, we recommend your males be kept as far from your females as possible.
- Second, plan to give the males as much room as you can; give them the space to be able to spread out and stay away from each other.
- Third – and this is a good idea in your females’ barn, too – plan your barn to have the flexibility to maintain separate groups, if necessary
- Keep an eye out for blood and check fighting teeth at the first sign. Without fighting teeth, the males have little ability to do serious damage to one another.
Our experience has been that males, even aggressive breeding males, can actually be easier to handle than females (especially pregnant females!). It’s important to learn how to handle young males so they don’t develop behavioral problems, but they certainly can – and should – be handled and trained.
If you are a new alpaca owner and developing a breeding business, you will soon find it cost prohibitive to pay for outside breedings for all your females. The next step for most breeders is to acquire one or more breeding males. This can be a good time to work with a mentor. Not only to help you focus your breeding goals and choose the right male, but to get some guidance on managing your herd of males.