Is there a risk of fibre cross contamination?
There is very little risk, as alpacas do not shed their fleeces. Alpacas do not come into physical contact with sheep unless forced to in yards and even then the risk is less than from dogs during yard work. However to minimise the risk alpacas should only be run with sheep during the lambing season and they can be removed a couple of days after the last lamb is born and at least 8 weeks before shearing. Most farmers do not shear their ewes with young lambs at foot to prevent mismothering. When not needed as guardians they should be kept in a group of at least two in a paddock near the homestead where they get accustomed to farm dogs and keep the foxes away from the chook yard. With occasional feeding they will feed out of your hand and be easy to handle.
