Weaning Alpaca – the invasion of the baby snatchers

Well, silence meant only one thing – busy busy busy. This time it was weaning. The snow of the week end merely meant resolve had to be hardened and getting the job done.

It is always a tricky situation to “get it right” when the birthing window is so varied. wean too young and the cria suffer, wean too late and the mother suffers. Never let it be forgotten that the Alpaca female carries for 11.5 months plus which covers the Winter harsh months AND will have a cria at foot for 6 months of that time too.  So she is feeding herself in winter, her cria at foot and the unborn… Triple care and attention for all.

Anyway, I have been doing this all my life and in the dim recesses of my brain, I just recall the “milk letting down” feeling as a Mother… so my sympathy is with the Mothers who can hear (sound carries a long way in snow) the pitiful cries of the newly weaned cria… one always has to be careful that the Mothers do not get mastitis when their cria are weaned.

Onto new green paddocks and adventures with life off they go and in this particular case, investigating a clients scarf…