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ALPACAS - HUSBANDRY
Your fields should be free of any poisonous weeds and shrubs and should run a maximum of six alpacas to an acre. They should have sturdy sheep fencing or wooden post and rails – no barbed wire. A field shelter is essential and can be a horse shelter with two doorways. A clean fresh water trough is required and ice must be broken every day in frozen weather. With the high daytime temperatures in the Andes after frozen nights, water melts quickly, so alpacas have no knowledge of having to break ice and therefore will go thirsty. Always buy more troughs than you think you'll need for feed - standard, long rubber sheep troughs are good. Plenty of space for each individual, lessens the chances of squabbles and food being spat out at each other whilst squabbling and if there is space for young cria it encourages them to experiment with hard feed without being spat away. A few metal alpaca hurdles are useful for constructing catch pens or any temporary pen or cria creep. Although a temporary hurdle catch pen can be used for mating, a sturdy, high, wooden catch pen of ten to twelve feet square will keep both the female alpaca and the stud male safe at mating and 'spit-off' time.
Alpacas are modified ruminants, which chew the cud. They are very efficient grazers and browsers, but they do require dry roughage to assist digestion. Feed dry, soft, low protein hay ad-lib from wooden boxes on shelter floor – this protects the fleece from contamination. Alpacas can trap their heads in horse hay nets, unless they are the small mesh Haylage type hay net. Depending on the status of your alpaca whether pregnant, lactating, growing etc. feed the appropriate amount of a Camelid mix every day. These concentrates, which must be specifically for Camelids, are essential to give alpacas the minerals and vitamins that they require and which are absent in British grazing.
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Regular vaccinations are required against clostridial diseases and they should be regularly wormed with Dectomax. Vitamin supplementation is advisable once a month during the winter months and for the darker colours, a few times during the summer (ADE vitamin paste from Eggs Port, Hexham, Northumberland Tel. 01434 600602).
Any dark coloured alpaca with hair missing on the bridge of it's nose is an indication that the level of vitamins and minerals is not quite correct. A serious deficiency will affect the fertility of a female and if her body feels compromised by the lack of the correct balance of vitamins and minerals she could reabsorb a pregnancy, or not fall pregnant. Alpacas demand a high level of vitamins and minerals, probably because the South American Andes has the highest mineral content of almost any soil in the world, coupled with high levels of Vitamin D received from high altitude sunshine.
Toenail trimming at least three times a year with lamb foot-rot shears or as required and possible teeth trimming once a year. With alpacas living up to twenty years, good dentistry is important!
Alpacas need shearing once a year in Spring or early Summer. Suris are usually left for two years. There are dedicated, travelling alpaca shearers who will also undertake teeth and toenail maintenance.
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Alpacas are peaceable animals, which do not look for trouble and rarely test fencing however they should be checked twice a day, more often if there are young and several times a day if cria are due. Although they have a reputation for hardiness and health there is no substitute to knowing the individual characters of your herd. A useful tip is to spend time simply watching your alpacas, because knowing the normal habits and behaviour of your animals will help you to recognise when something is amiss. An alpaca (not imminently due a cria) which looks off-colour, is behaving strangely, is not with the herd, is lying in the dung hill, is making an unusual noise is ill. Alpacas have a strong herding instinct and they know that to be separated from the herd is dangerous for them. They will attempt to mask illness or pain until they can no longer hide it. Act immediately when you find an ill looking alpaca and if in any doubt at all - call your vet.
Try to regularly body-score your animals on a scale of 1 to 5 with over 3 being the optimum and between 3 and 4 for conceiving. Once a month have a careful look at each of your alpacas to assess it's condition by feeling a position about 4 inches along the spine from the base of the neck. If the spine feels sharp, then the alpaca is underweight and could need extra feed, teeth trimming or a faecal worm count undertaken. The spine should feel comfortably supported by flesh rather that submerged or what is called tabletop fat!
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HALTER TRAINING
Having noted and rejected some methods of halter training alpacas, we have used our experience with other animals, and have found the following way worked for us. We will not try halter training our adults, because, as with most animals, including dogs (and children) training should be undertaken when young.
We start catching the cria fairly often straight after they are born - while mothers are having their feed. When very young the babies tend not to run away. They are held initially for a matter of seconds and soon get used to being caught, spoken softly to and held around the neck with one arm and with another arm on/around the bottom.
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Like many other animals, alpacas can respond to voice, and it helps them if the encouraging noises we make are in a gentle voice, so that if and when we need to discourage them from doing something, not only will they understand the change in tone of our voice but they then go on to learn the word 'no'. Gradually they get used to being stroked, down their legs and having their toes touched, especially their head and ears as they have a natural 'Midge Buster' cream applied each day in the summer. We always leave a daub of cream on the top of their head, which is then transferred to mother's underbelly when cria is feeding.
When the crias head and face are actually *big enough for the tiniest cria halter, we place it over their noses, holding it in place for a few seconds, followed by actually leaving it on for some minutes. After they have experienced the halter on several times and are used to it we attach a halter rope. They prance around and buck a lot, however we allow them almost the length of the rope, but no more as they can flip over backwards and hurt themselves. When they stop dancing around, the pressure on the rope slackens. With time they calm down and can be encouraged to walk with you. Mothers are always in the enclosure while working with cria and take no interest in proceedings; training is as short and regular as possible, but can then be reduced to once or twice a week – they won't forget! This method may seem time-consuming and longwinded, but it is a gentle process where the cria are not shocked or frightened into losing their trust in humans. Many Llama owners halter train their animals as a matter of course and we feel that alpacas too, should be offered for sale halter-trained wherever possible.
Avoid over-handling cria in their first year of life with inappropriate cuddling and petting as this can do more harm than good.
*Halter fit should be snug around head and in particular the nosepiece should be adjusted to fit high up on the bridge of the nose, under the eyes. Avoid at all cost the nosepiece slipping down the bridge of the nose to interfere with the nostrils and the alpaca's breathing.
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WEANING
Weaning cria from mothers is a necessary evil. Mothers must start to concentrate on the growing baby inside them and the demands they are making, without the added drain of milk production for the current cria. Many older mothers are excellent milk producers and can lose condition with extended nursing.
Most cria are weaned at six months. When making the decision to wean, only you will be aware of your cria's history, whether it was premature, how good a start it had in life, how it has furnished in it's six months, it's weight and the health of the mother. Cria can be weaned earlier than six months, for instance if you find that your cria's weight gain has stagnated or only achieving tiny weight gains on weekly weighings, then as long as the baby is over 26 kilos (over 30kgs is the ideal) and in good health, it should be weaned straight away. Some cria take off after weaning in this situation with good and regular weight gains once away from their mother's dwindling milk supply.
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Weaning is a more difficult adjustment for babies than the mothers and cria will be less stressed by being in familiar surroundings or a field they know. If weaning a number of cria together, they can manage without adult company, but insight of other alpacas – not their Mums, or an auntie/s could keep them company. Ensure plenty of trough space, so cria are not edged out of important hard food. Highly specialised cria food is advised and available – Camelibra Cria from Gro-Well Feeds Ltd., Tel: 01225 708482. Keep the routine for the cria the same as they are used to with no new introductions, like training or injections for a while. Mothers should be moved onto pasture, with no sight of their cria and given less hard food for a few days to help milk dry up. Remember to check the udder for heat and/or hardness/swelling, in the unlikely event of mastitis.
The time weanlings spend apart from their mothers depends on factors such as the character of the weanling and the age and character of the mother. Experienced mothers know they are preparing for the next baby and will not entertain their offspring looking for milk again after the herd are back together. A maiden mother may not be so firm and a weanling sucking again may stimulate her back into milk. Also 'Open' dams may be reluctant to spit-away returning weanlings. Separation for between ten to twelve weeks is around the norm, but be vigilant and notice what is going on with the herd after re-introduction. Many alpaca farms keep their herd permanently separated off into peer groups, we feel it is more natural for a female herd of all ages to be together, where young females learn the ropes from their mother, sisters and aunties. Troublesome boys of course have to be apart from females from around nine months onwards.
IF YOU HAVE ANY COLOUR OF CRIA THAT IS NOT THRIVING, IS NOT PLAYING, IS WALKING STIFFLY, IS SLIGHTLY HUNCHED ON THE RUMP WITH CROOK OF NECK DOWN, IS NOT YET EATING ANY HARD FOOD, BUT OTHERWISE LOOKING WELL, ALWAYS THINK OF SUB-CLINICAL RICKETS.
Rickets is quite prevalent in young alpacas, because of the hugely lower levels of sunshine in Britain, especially in the winter months. If your cria are not eating a balanced well formulated vitamin and mineral supplement like Camelibra Cria and you suspect rickets, talk to your vet.
If done considerately, weaning alpacas should be easy and trouble free, leaving you to enjoy your weanlings' first steps to independence.
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POISONOUS PLANTS
The root systems of trees and shrubs go much deeper than grass roots and their leaves contain many minerals that are no longer obtainable on surface herbage. An alpaca in its natural state is a browsing animal that finds nutrients not only in pasture, but also in the leaves, twigs and bark of these trees and shrubs. Camelids are browsers because their mineral needs are high and this can then cause problems when they graze on dangerous plants. Many poisonous plants are not palatable and would only be eaten in desperation - an alpaca that has access to good quality mineralised pasture (soil analyse and/or use Grasstrac every year), coupled with good quality ad-lib hay and quality mineralised Camelid feed is much less likely to suffer plant poisoning, providing of course they do not have access to high-risk herbage like Rhododendron (see below).
Below is a list of commonly found poisonous plants:
Ivy, particularly berries
Privet, particularly flowers and berries
Ragwort, cumulative effect
Bracken, cumulative effect
Buttercup, most toxic at time of flowering with 'burn' effect on mouth/lips
Foxglove
Horsetail
Pine, other than a small wind-blown branch, cupresses, Lleylandi
Rhododendron and Azalea, deadly
Yew, deadly
Laurel
Laburnum, deadly
Oak leaves and acorns in high quantities - especially the leaves in cria less than 4 months old
Horse Chestnut – all parts, bark, flowers, leaves and conkers
Hemlock, deadly
Maples – all Acer family
Elderberry – cyanogenic plant
Hydrangea
Cherry
Box
Oil Seed Rape Brassica family - suspect
Deadly Nightshade/potato and tomato stalks
Also many of our ornamental garden plants, for example:
Hypericum (St John Wort),
Arum lilies - Lily of the Valley
Aconite
Lilac,
Heliotrope,
Larkspur
Variegated Thistle
Delphinium
Lupin
Iris
Flowering bulbs, e.g. daffodils, snowdrops
Lantana
(Rhubarb)
If there is even a remote chance that an alpaca field gate could be left open and alpacas escape (they love to explore) into an area of cultivated garden with poisonous plants, prepare for any poisoning by keeping to hand activated charcoal which acts as an absorbent in the digestive tract to blunt the impact of many poisons. Phone the Vet and cut a sample of the suspected plant.
© This article is opinion only and offered in good faith. No responsibility is accepted for loss.
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