Goats and Alpacas

[IdahoNancy]

My friend lost one of her 2 Alpacas. She would like to get a goat to keep it company but in her Google search she found information that this would not be a good idea. Does anyone here know of goats and Alpaca's being kept together or evidence that this may be a bad idea?

[Nanno]

I'm not sure. The only experience I know of is that Sledge and Hammer went to a home with llamas and it didn't work out. I guess the boys were harassing the llama. Some people use llamas to guard goats. It would probably come down to the individual personalities of the alpaca and the goat. I would suggest a goat without horns to reduce the chance of it becoming too aggressive with the alpaca.

[Charlie Horse]

My llama and goats didn't interact very much. Honestly nothing and nobody interacted with the llama, including horses, yak, goats, dog, or human.

[IdahoNancy]

This Alpaca is a 10 year old male who is friendly with dogs, chickens and cats. He lives in a pasture adjacent to a house with big windows. He's been alone for a few weeks and is doing alright but my friend would like to get him a goat. One problem she will have is the 30 trees in the pasture. Mineral needs are also a problem as alpaca cannot have copper and goats need it.

[Nanno]

The trees may or may not be a problem depending on how big they are. If they're saplings they're doomed. If they're mature trees, they will probably be ok. If the goat starts chewing on a few of them near his favorite hangout spot, she can wrap chicken wire around the lower trunks to protect them (I've done that to about 15 trees in our goat pens).

As for minerals, what they could do is build a creep feed area in their shelter, which is basically a bar nailed across one corner that the goat can go under but the llama can't. The goat minerals could go in there.