Want to halter train your alpacas but not sure where to begin? Here's our guide on how to do it...
Alpaca Handling Basics
If you wish to walk your herd, we suggest selecting male alpacas who have a friendly temperament, are already halter trained, or are young enough to be trained (around 5 - 12 months of age). If you are intending to breed your alpacas, selecting females that are used to being handled and are halter trained will likely be of great help to you, as they will be easier to manage when working with them.
Patience is key when handling and halter training your herd. Even if you have purchased well-behaved alpacas, they need time to trust you as their new owner in their new surroundings. Be patient and focus on growing a positive bond with your alpacas – this will make moving and handling them so much easier for everyone involved. So, take time to just sit and hang out with your alpacas. Let them come up and sniff you and, if they allow you to, rub their neck or shoulder. Do not touch the top of their heads as most alpacas do not like this! It’s important to keep in mind that some alpacas may never be confident or ‘cuddly’, and that’s perfectly okay.
How to Safely Catch an Alpaca
Here's our tips on how to catch your alpacas:
Make sure the space where they will be penned into is set up and ready to go and block any gaps to avoid escapees!
Always catch your alpacas as a group - trying to catch a single alpaca will result in panic and chaos and most likely them running in the opposite direction to you and it being even harder to catch them second time around, now they are suspicious of your intentions!Â
If your alpacas follow a routine and come to the pen or working area at a particular time for feed, plan to follow this routine and enclose them so you catch them during this time to make the process easier.
If #3 is not possible, you can quietly herd your alpacas from behind using a lightweight rope or tape to fill gaps, which can be tied to poles and fence posts to cover larger gaps and use fence lines and hedges to your advantage to funnel the alpacas into the penned area.
Always remain calm and gentle.

How to Safely Restrain an Alpaca
If regularly carried out from a young age in a calm and gentle manner, your alpaca will become more tolerant of you holding them for brief periods, making it much less stressful for all involved when you have to carry out husbandry tasks.
Once your alpacas have been penned, remove any obstacles that could cause injury - a strong alpaca could throw you or themselves into something, such as a protruding hayrack.
Quietly & slowly approach your alpacas from the side, before gently placing your hand on their rump - this usually causes them to stand still for a moment, but be aware that they can kick.Â
Slide your hand up to the base of their neck whilst stepping closer, before bringing your other hand around the neck and carefully holding the back of their head.
Ensure you have good footing and, depending on what husbandry you are carrying out, maintain one hand on either the shoulders, at the base of the neck to prevent rearing or on the rump to prevent them swinging their rear round.
Get a second person to carry out the necessary procedure.
There is another method known as the ‘bracelet hold’, which involves playing one hand at the back of their ears and sliding the index finger and thumb on your other hand along the grooves either side of their mouth. This is particularly useful when examining the head, face, or teeth.
Fitting an Alpaca Halter
Use specific alpaca halters to ensure they fit correctly as alpacas are semi-obligate nasal breathers (they must be able to breathe through their nose) and and an incorrectly fitting halter can affect their ability to do this and cause them to panic. Halters and leadropes can be purchased from Homestead Farm Supplies.
Here is a typical sizing guide:
Small is suitable for cria aged 6 - 12 months
Medium will fit most adults
Large fits large males or females
Don’t forget that you may need 2 different sizes of halter for the same alpaca before and after shearing, as their fleece thickness can make a huge difference!

Importance of the correct fit
Below are skulls of an alpaca and a llama which demonstrate the short nose bone and why it is important to make sure the halter fits correctly and snuggly, up close to the eyes and should not be able to slip down the nose. If an alpaca ‘plays up’ when wearing a headcollar - check the fit, as it likely is not correct and causing them to panic. You should be able to fit 2 fingers between the jaw bone and halter to allow the alpaca to eat, drink and yawn with it on, Alpacas in thick fleece will likely need the buckle tightening after a few minutes and similarly in hot weather as the headcollar expands with the heat.
How to Halter Train an Alpaca
Halter training an alpaca is most effective when started from 5 – 6 months of age, whilst they are being weaned and it is best to train 2 or 3 alpacas together (you will need a second person to help you) as alpacas are very social animals and get stressed when separated from their group. Be patient and build the training up gradually. Always respect an alpaca’s space and tolerances. Some alpacas enjoy being on a halter, whereas others simply aren’t cut out for it. If you plan on walking your alpacas, castrated males are often the best candidates due to their calm and docile nature (as well as being cheaper to purchase than females).
12 steps to halter train your alpaca:
Safely Pen your alpacas into an enclosed area.
Put the headcollar over your left arm for easy access in a moment.
Follow a safe catching procedure (standing on the alpaca’s left).
Slip the headcollar down your arm so you have the buckle/snap fastening in your left hand and the long strap in your right hand.
Gently put the nose hole over their muzzle.Â
Bring the strap round the back of the neck, close to the base of the ears, and fasten.Â
Make sure the headcollar fits properly and is not squashing the nose.
Leave the head collar on and leave them to eat (still enclosed in the shelter/barn) - a good opportunity for you to poo pick their field!Â
Safely catch your alpaca again and remove the headcollar, but just pause for a moment after removing it and only release the alpaca when they are calm (to avoid teaching them to yank their head out and bolt away from you as soon as it’s off).
Once you have practiced the above steps multiple times, progress to clipping the leadrope on and standing with them at the trough while they eat.
Once you have practiced the previous step a few times, start gently applying pressure to the leadrope and release as soon as they take a step. Give them a rest for a moment and then repeat.Â
Once your alpaca is taking a few steps inside, take a friend or two and start walking in a bigger space. Follow the same route each time so they know what to expect, but just add a little distance each time.Â
DO NOT leave halters on, always remove them when returning them to grazing.Â

Learn how to look after alpacas
This 110 page E-Guide is packed full of information for new and prospective alpaca keepers, covering Alpaca 101, Essential Requirements, Diet & Pasture Management, Costs to Purchase & Keep Alpacas, Routine Husbandry and Common Disease & Parasites in Alpacas. The E-Guide is downloadable upon purchase so you can dive straight in! For the full contents list and to get your copy, just click the image below!