Do I need special fencing?

No. Sheep fencing or ordinary four or five strand wire fencing (horse fencing), is fine for alpacas.

On our property, we have mostly sheep fencing. While most alpacas will respect a plain wire fence, crias are small enough to slip though and find themselves separated from their mums. Determined males will also find a way through a plain wire fence without too much effort. They can't get through the sheep fencing.

Avoid using barbed wire, as alpacas like to poke their heads through the fences to eat the greener grass on the other side. The barbs will pull the fleece off your alpaca's chest and neck, leaving large bald patches and may also cause injuries.

There have been many incidences of alpacas being caught in fencing, so make sure that there are no bits of wire sticking out and that if your alpacas do put their heads through, that they can get back out again. If your alpacas are sticking their heads through the fences, that's a good sign your paddock could be getting low on feed.

Alpacas are certainly capable of jumping a fence, but we've found they are disinclined to do so.

We have only had one alpaca jump a fence. He was a particularly nervous animal and we were cornering him at the time (we hadn't had alpacas long and didn't know this would panic him). Of course, he took fright and easily cleared the fence (it was a post and rail fence). However, once on the other side, he just wanted to get back in with the other alpacas.

You will need a small yard where you can confine your alpacas while doing routine checks, toenail trimming etc. If you make this yard freely available for your alpacas to use, they will be happy to go into it when required. A handful of lucerne hay will have them in there in no time!