Our small field has ten moaning minnies in it now as ten cria were weaned today. The lightest is 28 kilos, most of the rest are well over 35 kilos at five months and one is forty kilos.The little ones had the joy of an ADE jab and a wormer before their enforced separation. Still at least they will have a fighting chance at the feed troughs without the adults shoving them out of the way. Their mothers deserve a rest and have rejoined the main female field which has just moved to new grass. There is a temporary fence up in there separating the field from the neighbours soon to be garden, it is rather a lot of rubble at the moment but one day will be an elegant ha ha.. The hideous weather on Saturday tore down some of the fence and we were out there soaking wet putting up new lengths with our hands turning to icicles. Bloody hard tying knots with frozen fingers.
Leo –
We had an alpacapatient – female with a cria of 4 months at her feet this weekend. She has a weight of 31 kilos???! Well, she was lying down (real downer). Full of worms! Marieke suggested a bloodtransfusion but I thought it would kill her of the stress. She had a HCT (PCV) of 14! Treated her for stomachulcera and coccidia and worms and gave her steroids for making new red blood cells. She was still eating… this morning she died.
There is a really big market in The Netherlands for cheap alpacas with very bad fleeces at the moment. There are some “alpacadealers” who specialize in selling this sort of animals. They – of course are the best and know the most! Ha, ha… It really is a wellness-problem. Marieke and I decided to send letters with advice (deworming, sheering, etc) to alpacabreeder/-keepers who are interested in a good healt ot their “herd”.
Mendip Lily is doing ok now. She is getting more weight now (bought a new scal up til 300 kilos). She is eating very wel and looking much better. Treated her for stomachulcera (probably was the cause). Her cria is not growing very fast. But the others were 33 and about 38 kilos at 4 and a half month.
I have to go (patient – 2 dogs are waiting). Next weekend we are in England. Many greetings,
Leo (and of course Marieke).