Weaning Alpaca and Llama Cria
Whose Baby Is This, Anyway?

Page 4

Though we have had moms wean as late as the beginning of the llth month with no weak newborn crias and no low IgG levels, one must be prepared to intervene if necessary. In our particular case, we felt it necessary to intervene at the eleventh hour on one occasion and discovered on another, the mom had made the decision at nearly the same instant as we had. We did not have any problem with development of a fresh new bag of milk and good colostrum. The "late weaning" moms dried up completely within days (a process they all begin slowly over a period of time long before weaning is complete - it is, in fact, a natural part of the weaning process) and a healthy bag had developed before the arrival of the new baby.

The health of your llama or alpaca is important. We have not found "self weaning" to be an issue for moms who are in good condition. Those who are "down" in weight, have an abscess or elongated teeth, lack luster in their wool and/or any other malady may not fare well, physically. Not only is it possible that their physical condition may be further compromised by their self-imposed time frame of weaning, the overall pregnancy, welfare of the unborn cria, birth and milk production may be compromised as well. It would be prudent not to breed a female who is not in good condition. Should a female become "down" after she is bred, we assist in any way we can which may include weaning her current baby, ourselves. The same considerations are present for a mom and her baby REGARDLESS of any weaning practice we may employ. It is important to pay attention to your herd members. In working to understand the seemingly never-ending range of expression and behavior, one becomes better able to know when an intervention is necessary.

Because I'm Not A Momma LLama!

We, the two and four legged's at Gentle Spirit Llamas, enjoy the natural process of weaning. It has worked extremely well and has certainly reduced the stress level surrounding weaning for all of us. This has been a controversial topic for years and we have been criticized for not showing more responsibility towards the moms and "our" babies. But that is just it - they are not "our" babies! Looking in the mirror, I noticed I am neither an alpaca nor a llama. As such, is it possible that I may not really know how to teach one to be one, or when it is the right time to wean a particular baby? We have made the commitment that we shall do our best by our llamas with the things we do best, and try to allow them the opportunity to do those things at which they are best. The result has been a much more relaxed and confident herd... not to mention, us!

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No one can build his security on the nobelness of another.

Willa Cather

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