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I'm ready to
build my herd! How do I begin?
Develop a breeding plan
Alpaca females are
induced ovulators making them receptive to a male all year long. This allows you
to decide the best time for birthing by evaluating your farm’s particular
circumstances. Keep in mind that you will need some time away from your
farm and/or possible time away for business purposes. At Turkey Creek Alpacas,
we block out March through early June, and September through early November for
our birthing. This allows us time away from the farm, and our crias are born
while temperatures are not at extremes.
At Turkey Creek
Alpacas, we use pen breeding as our main strategy. This method ensures that
neither male nor female are being misused or abused by their mate. It also gives
us an approximate date of the impending birth. We record the breeding date(s)
and length of each breeding. With this information at hand, we can now start to
formulate a breeding pattern for each female for future use. Once bred, we wait 1 to 2 weeks before exposing the female to the male again.
(Many females will take with just 1 breeding.) If a 2nd
breeding occurs, we then hold them off until 5 weeks out from the first
breeding. At that point, if the female cushes right away, we will let that
breeding take place. However, if she continues to cush for breedings, she is
examined by our vet. Over-breeding can cause reproductive problems as well as
introduce dirt and bacteria.
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Herd sires are not all alike
Know your stud as well
as you do your females. If your stud is too aggressive, you may not want to use
him with maidens or for spit testing. At the same time, if your stud quickly backs
away from a grimacing female, you may want to use a more aggressive stud
with maidens and/or for spit testing! As your stud matures and has performed several
breedings, often he will learn to “read” your female. If she’s open, he'll will
start to orgle (a rather indescribable sound!) right away. If she’s already
pregnant or not yet mature, the stud will often ignore her. |
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Notice how she shows her receptivity by
lifting her tail (wrapped in pink).
Maidens
can be flighty
At Turkey Creek
Alpacas, our rule-of-thumb for breeding maidens is 18 to 20 months and/or 100 lbs.
We never breed before 18 months. When we feel a maiden is ready, we test
her with one of our less aggressive studs. If she cushes right away, she’s
ready! If she’s unsure and doesn’t appear to know what to do, we remove the stud
and try her again in a day or 2. If after several attempts she still doesn’t
appear to be interested, she’s probably not mature enough and is held off
until late that season or the next breeding season. Most females are ready by 2
years of age, but occasionally it takes up to 3 years, or longer. Rushing
them is not to your advantage!
Note, if
the maiden is ready and cushing, you may consider having your vet
break her hymen prior to the breeding. We have found that once the
hymen is broken, she will often take with the first breeding. You
can lose valuable breeding time if a persistent hymen is keeping
the stud from fertilizing your maiden.
Is she pregnant?
A very accurate
pregnancy test is the trans-abdominal ultrasound, a non-invasive procedure that
measures the amniotic fluid in the uterus. At Turkey Creek Alpacas, we perform
on-site ultrasounds approximately 45-60 days from the first breeding date. We continue to
expose our females to a stud on a regular basis during breeding season. This is a quick
and easy test to measure whether a female has possibly slipped a pregnancy. The highest
incidence of slipped pregnancy is within the first 3 months.
Other pregnancy
detection tests include:
- Nose & toes –
the
very best indication that she’s pregnant!
- X-rays –accurate
- Transrectal
ultrasound –accurate
- Behavior – if you
know each female’s breeding pattern, this can give you a good indication if
she’s pregnant or open
- Progesterone – not
very accurate, however, if this is your only option and you keep strict
records of each animal’s progesterone levels during and in between
pregnancies, this can be very helpful
OK, she's pregnant, now when is she due?
You don’t need a
calculator to figure out when she’s due! Alpaca gestation is generally 335 days
from the breeding date. Typically females take on the first breeding. So, if you
have bred her on August 1st, she is due next year about July 1st
– just a month short of a year. If more than one breeding is done, figure the
first and last date and mark that timeframe on your calendar. It’s that
simple!
A cria is born!
 Congratulations –
you’ve made it through the birthing process! Here we go again … the best
time to rebreed your dam is 21 to 30 days after her birth. Prior to re-breeding,
there are several things to take into account.
- - Was the birth normal
or hard?
- - Was she torn during
the birth?
- - Does she have a
vaginal infection?
- - Is the dam in good
body condition and otherwise healthy?
- - If she’s an older
dam, could she use a little vacation?
- - If bred now, what
time of year will the next birth take place?
This is a good point
for me to get up on my soap box. Folks, you are not doing your alpacas any
favors by feeding high-fat treats and/or high protein hay (unless the animal
is thin)! Once you have fattened them up, you have made it more difficult to
become pregnant, more difficult to ultrasound, more difficult to hold a
pregnancy, and more difficult at birthing time, assuming she makes it to that
point.
Fat animals produce fat fiber!
It takes only
moments a week to know if your animals are getting thin or fat. Well trained,
trusting animals will allow you to body score during feedings or while walking
past them in the pasture. Show them your love by keeping them in great
shape!!
Weaning strategies
Weaning can be done at
various times during development. At a few months old crias should be allowed
the use of a creep feed. This is an area where only they can access. Here they have free access to grain and hay without having to fight for
it. It allows them to gain ample weight and gives them a taste of independence.
Before weaning, take into account the
cria’s age, weight gain and development, social interaction with other crias,
their confidence and independence, as well as the dam’s condition. A general
rule of thumb is 6 months or 60+ lbs. but each cria should be evaluated
individually. Some dams will take weaning into their own “hands” but we have
found that, in most instances, they will let that cria continue to nurse well
into their first year. Sometimes they will even allow last year’s cria to nurse
as well as the newest cria. While this may look cute, you are not doing the dam
any favors!
There are several
methods for weaning – we use either “cold turkey” or “day weaning”. Cold turkey
simply involves permanently removing the cria from the dam. Day weaning takes a
little bit longer but works well in cases where the cria is needier. In the
morning, remove the cria to a pasture with other animals of similar age. In the
evening, put the cria back in with the dam. This gives them a taste of being on
their own and perhaps making some new friends, while giving it the comfort of
“home” during the evening. Make sure to continue to monitor the weanling’s
progress and weight gain. Provide enough food bowls so they don’t have to fight
for a meal. Continue to feed them free choice grain and hay during their weaning
stage.
Weaning is a great time
to work with and train your cria. If done properly, they will learn quickly and
develop into a trusting, well-adjusted animal. They are looking for comfort and
you can provide some by making their lessons enjoyable. See training tab for
more info!
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