Some times we respond better to advice by looking over the shoulder of a person involved in a comedy of errors...

Here are some of mine

One of the most common forms of structure on a well laid out Alpaca farm is the loafing shed or barn. This can be any structure open on one long side so the the beasts can loaf around in the shade in the summer or out of the stormy rain or snow in the winter. The best base for this is what is commonly called G-Sand or technically speaking, decomposed granite. This fine sand like material is particularly desirable because unlike regular sand, come shearing time, it is very easy to dust or vacuum out of the fleece.

Beware the fact that it is heavy, very heavy. So note the following: Do not have it delivered in the rainy season. The trucks are BIG and will sink into soft soil. The trucker will then have to put it where you don't want it. - Then you will have to haul it by wheel barrow to the loafing shed If you HAVE to have it in the rainy season cover it with a tarpaulin immediately otherwise it will absorb lots of water and be heavier to wheel barrow When it is wet and dries out it will be akin to concrete in consistency if left in a wet pile. A sequel to the above was that the truck that delivered was sooo heavy and the ground sooo soft, that as it backed down the drive to deliver the goodies, it sank into the subsurface just enough to disrupt - in fact rupture the main power cable to the barn... $2,500 later I now have more than adequate power re-installed. But expenses not anticipated are always a pain...

Get thee to the dungerri (pun) Poop is a fact of life. Not to be taken lightly and a key element that must NOT be ignored in good house keeping. With Alpacas we are blessed with an animal that by nature has already come to terms with the expression that "You don't Poop where you Eat". This is a tremendous boon if taken advantage of in the correct way. Since they always choose to use a communal dung pile, all it requires of us is that we, on a regular basis, remove the dung. If one does not do this we leave ourselves open to the possibilty of flies, desease, and far worse it shows us up as victims of bad ranch management. Here are some hints: Put some droppings in a place that is convenient for you to clean up when you create a new pasture. They will find it and use it. If you are on a slope make sure it is on the down side of the gate...when it rains it will not be such an issue... If it is humanly possible do patrol twice a day, once to create piles and once to collect all the new delivery. That first patrol as close to midday as possible... easier to find when the poop is in the grass and the sun is high. When a dung area is established control the grass by frequent mowing the reduce bugs and creepy crawlies. Watch who is doing what, one of the first signs of an upset stomach or constipation is at the dung pile. When our beasts first arrived - at Christmas time - the first reaction was lock them up in the barn at night. MISTAKE... Where do they poop?... No dung pile to get at... So every day we let them out at dawn, bedraggled and smelly from having kushed in their own poop during the course of the night. Not quite as bad with the girls but the boys...well, we know that boys will be boys, especially 3 x 1 year old weanlings in a 12 x 12 stall. An hour of hosing down the floors - at least it's not too bad with concrete... This we did for six weeks until suddenly the light came on and it registered that they LIKE to be out at night!! So now, no wet poop to contend with, more poop in the communal pile yes, but so what? It is much easier to clean up!!

More on poop control - We have a comparatively small farm with 18 Alpacas and 2.5 acres fenced. In fact at 5 - 10 alpacas to the acres this is right on the limit. So we pay a great deal of attention to limiting as much as is possible the area of the dung piles and also keeping them squeaky clean. Being an experimenter by nature scooping poop seemed like a tedious chore and something that could be improved on. So out came the wet and dry shop vac and 100ft of power cable trailing across the pen - MISTAKE - it only takes one curious alpaca to step in a loop of power cable and the subsequent flurry of mad activity as a terrified alpaca convinces itself that it is trapped... to note that if one strings power cables around for any reason whatsoever the beasts MUST be in a separate pen. We were lucky, a little bit of wrestling - needless to say in a mudhole - to restrain in this case a weanling. A pregnant Mom could have had disasterous consequences.

And more... the Shop Vac worked up to a point but slowed the poop gathering process down significantly. In combination with first a leaf rake and catcher to get the big stuff and then using the Shop Vac worked fine. The results took a little longer but the dung areas can be squeaky clean which reduces the flies.