I was talking with a friend of mine the other day who has always kept alpacas on his land, and we got chatting about my goats.
We’ve both had our respective animals for a very long time, but we had never considered if they’d make good friends.
It seemed like an interesting idea as both goats and alpacas seem like such friendly animals that they would not only get on well together, but the combination would be a great friendship for us as well.
So, I decided to look into the question.
Can goats and alpacas live together?
The simple answer is yes, goats and alpacas can definitely live together. They will get along very well with one another provided you take all the necessary points into account beforehand. You will need to make sure that there is sufficient space, both indoors and outdoors, for your goats and alpacas to share.
Both goats and alpacas have pretty simple needs and are not especially high maintenance, but if you are thinking of mixing the two together you should still definitely make sure you take everything into account.
So, let’s look into everything you’ll need to have in mind in order to create a happy shared space for your goats and alpacas.
Are alpacas good with goats?
Alpacas, like goats, are very popular large animals to keep as pets because they have such friendly dispositions.
This is true both to us people and to other grazing animals.
They are understandably wary of dogs, since these animals would (in the form of wolves and coyotes) be their predators in the wild.
Other than that, alpacas get on with virtually all grazing animals.
Indeed, when it comes to alpacas, they can even be protective of other animals.
Herd animals often exhibit this behavior as they quickly come to recognize the goats as one of their own.
Their larger stature makes them naturally protective of smaller herd animals.
Alpacas in general are usually very gentle, intelligent and quiet, and will often simply be very curious about your goats.
As I said, their natural protective tendency makes them very curious and nosy too.
They are likely to become very interested in your goats quite quickly.
Male alpacas can, on occasion, become a bit riled up by one another, and goats could get caught in the crossfire.
Keeping more than one male alpaca is possible but they should generally be kept in separate herds.
This will ensure they don’t fight or become too energetic, which could easily scare the goats.
So, a typical herd of alpacas will make great companions for your goats.
Will alpacas protect goats?
Alpacas have sometimes been called guardian animals.
As I mentioned, they do have natural protective tendencies, and can act as great protection for your goats.
By their simple size, alpacas will often scare off predators or dangerous animals from ever coming near your goats.
Furthermore, when they sense or see a predator in the area, they have a great collective will to chase it off.
Even pumas in the Peruvian wilderness have a really tough time successfully hunting alpacas.
If you did have any concerns about the safety of your goats, then alpacas will make a great protective friend for your goats.
How much space will goats and alpacas need together?
The most important question of preparation for goats and alpacas sharing a living area is space.
This comes down to both indoor and outdoor space.
Obviously, alpacas are larger animals and therefore need a lot of space.
Ideally, your goats and alpacas would share a pasture but not a barn or indoor space.
Goats will need individual spaces of about 10 to 20 square feet per individual.
Outdoors, alpacas will need about an acre for every 5 animals.
Goats should have a minimum of about 300 square feet outdoors, so there is a fairly sizeable difference in space needed.
Essentially, if you have enough space for a herd of alpacas, they should be able to comfortably share that space with goats.
As long as they have enough space for roaming and playing, then food requirements should largely take care of themselves.
The two animals don’t share much food, alpacas preferring to eat grass and sileage, while goats tend to browse around for shrubs, vines and broad-leafed plants.
So, you don’t especially need to worry about providing separate feeding areas, as long as you are also seeing your goats eating enough hay of their own.
Space is, as I said, the most important consideration when mixing two animal species.
Given enough space to roam and also retreat to be by themselves, your goats and alpacas will get on great.
If you don’t have enough room for both, then disagreements are very likely to occur.
Even the most social animals still need personal space.
Goats, especially breeds with large horns, could easily injure an alpaca if they were to get into a scrape.
To wrap up, then, your goats and alpacas can definitely live together.
Both are, by their nature, friendly, social animals without much tendency towards aggressive or violent behavior.
They need the support of their own herd to satisfy all their own social needs, and anything they get on top of that is an added bonus.
You will, nonetheless, need to think very carefully about space requirements.
Both animals need a fairly large amount of space to fully meet their needs, and alpacas much more so than goats.
Equally, indoor spaces ought to be separated where possible in order to give them space from one another where they want it.
If you take all these points into consideration, you will have lifelong friends in your goats and alpacas.