Neck Wrap

The long camelid neck makes balancing the head a challenge. The neck wrap is particularly effective with issues around the head; haltering, oral worming to name just two—but the good news doesn’t end there—if you have a llama or an alpaca that kushes, kicks, or is difficult to treat medically try the neck wrap

Last year while traveling in Australia, Marty McGee worked with a head shy llama that she thought would benefit from a body wrap, but the body wrap didn’t work for a number of reasons. Necessity being the mother of invention, Marty wrapped the neck instead with the body wrap. It worked like a charm. The llama settled down and accepted haltering much more easily. He also led better and stayed more focused. Since then, she has wrapped necks all over the place and the results are almost always dramatic. The really good news: the neck wrap is easy and safe for beginners to use.

To put the neck wrap on the animal, roll the ends of the neck wrap towards the centre, begin wrapping from the base of the neck and end at just below the ears. Snap the fastex buckle at the top of the neck. There will be more space between the wraps on a larger animal but it doesn’t compromise the effectiveness of the wrap. The wrap should be snug, but not tight. When you remove the neck wrap make sure to keep both ends in your hands as you unwind the wrap. Dropping the ends could cause the animal concern if the wrap dangles around the front legs.

I have used the body wrap for wrapping the neck but the new neck wrap is much easier because it hooks without Velcro. In testing the body wrap for this new purpose we found that the noise of the Velcro up by the ears was problematic in almost every animal. This wrap is made of a thicker, stiffer, elastic material that is a bit narrower than the body wrap, all of these qualities increase its effectiveness when used on the neck. The new neck wrap is easy, quiet and safe.