It's not until starting to breed alpaca that most people realise running all your alpaca in one big mob just isn't feasible. You suddenly discover that you need to wean your 6 months olds somehow and your sires are bullying all the younger males. More importantly you will have hembra spitting off in the same mob as some getting mated and giving birth. You end up having to bring all the hembra in and sort through them stressing out everyone just to deal with a few.
Everyone uses diferenent systems to deal with this, depending on available paddocks, stock numbers and mating schedule. The following is the method we have found works best for us.

Weaner Hembras are run as a mob up until individuals are mature enough to be mated. This will occur between 10-18mths depending on growth rate and type. Once we believe they are mature enough they are moved to the Mating Mob where they will stay until they are confirmed pregnant with an ultrasound.

From the Mating Mob confirmed pregnant hembra are moved to the Main Mob where they stay until approx 6 weeks before their due date. At this point being alpaca they can choose to give birth at any time so we move them to the Birth Mob where they will stay for birth and 19 days after. From this point they are ready to mate again and are moved to the mating mob with their cria.

Because we try to group together our matings and hopefully our births, groups tend to move between the various mobs at the same time. This reduces the amount of workload or us and the amount of stress from handling on them.

Weaner Machos are run as a mob until their first shearing when the first culling will take place. Those not chosen to remain entire machos are sent to the Wether Mob. Those retained for show, stud or sale are drafted into the Tui Machos Mob. Machos will remain in the Tui Machos Mob until they are sold or if they are reclassed later to the Wether Mob. Machos in the Progeny Testing program will remain in the Tui Machos Mob as well. Once an alpaca macho is culled to the wether mob he is left alone until a group is ready to be castrated. Fox chaser wethers are kept until a minimum of 18 mths before they are sold whereas pet wethers can be sold from 2 weeks after castration.

We only have one working macho that we are unable to run with the other machos; he is kept separate in small paddocks always in view of other alpaca. This is not a situation that we would recommend as it ties up available space and takes up extra time bringing various animals in. We have had no serious problems with running our machos together but you always need to use common sense and keep an eye on them to make sure no problems develop.