To Do the IgG Test or Not?

I no longer do a routine IgG test after the birth of an alpaca cria. Here is some information about the test and why I don't do it anymore:

The IgG Test measures the Immunoglobulin G transferred from the mother to the cria thru the colostrum. It is the most abundant of the different types of antibody and is found in all body fluids and protects against bacterial and viral infections. The antibody produced by the mother and passed to the cria against a specific antigen, provides the cria with some protection should that antigen enter their body within the first three weeks (after which the transferred IgG is not longer present). From birth the cria also begins to develop their own IgG response. The cria's immune system "remembers" its response to an antigen and has a better chance of fighting it.

Why don't I do the test anymore? I used to do it and all my crias tested had outstanding, high IgG levels. Then I had one that had a reading that was on the low side of acceptable. I was given the option of doing a plasma transfer or watching the cria. Since the plasma would take a few days to get I decided to watch. The cria was vigorous and never had an issue. Then a year later I had one that had an incredibly high IgG and she crashed on day two. She was is really bad shape, near death. The vet gave her a plasma transfusion and it did nothing to help her, she continued to decline. A very experienced alpaca breeder told me the best I could do for her would be to get an IV inserted and also treat with antibiotics. She had a shunt put into her neck and I gave her IV fluids around the clock for 3 days. She responded almost immediately to this treatment.

So as a livestock breeder one has to decide which tests and treatments are really necessary and will be a worthwhile expense against the sale of that animal. Paying for a vet visit, blood withdrawal and test is expensive and to my small operation, not a worthwhile expense. If a cria is going to crash, I am going to see it and treat that cria with excellent care to get it through the challenge. Knowing the IgG only lets you know that "maybe" if the cria encounters a challenge, "maybe" the cria will be able to fight it on its own. Or in the case where the cria has a lower IgG that that cria "maybe" will have a problem. So that is not really useful information to me. Knowing what IgG was transferred from my dam to her cria would have done me/her no good. She did not have any infection at birth but was slow to get up and nurse. Once she did (24hours) she was fine on her own indicating that she was not experiencing an antigen challenge. By the time she had her next episode (around 2 months) she was of an age where she would no longer have protection from mother's transfer and should have developed her own IgG.

I have also learned from what the other, more established, livestock breeders are doing (goat, beef, sheep, etc) as they have learned over the years what is necessary and what is an expense that doesn't pay off. 

Male Alpaca Sniffing the Manure Pile

This is called the Flehmen Response. This strange pose occurs when a male alpaca smells the urine of another alpaca and often occurs at the alpaca poop piles.  The alpaca doing the smelling will throw his head back and curl his upper lip back at the same time which helps to seal his nostrils and draw the scent over a receptor on the roof of the alpacas mouth called the Jacobsen’s Organ.  As the scent is drawn over the Jacobsen’s Organ the alpaca can detect if the urine he is scenting is from a female alpaca who is receptive to breeding.

Alpaca Weight Loss - Could Be Mycoplasma Haemolamae

Weight Loss in Alpacas

One of the More Unknown Causes: Mycoplasma Haemolamae 

Following is an article that I am reprinting with permission from the farm that wrote it, Morning Moon Alpacas. My first year of owning alpacas I experienced this nightmare without the vet having any idea what was going on. At the suggestion of another alpaca farm I requested the test. I did receive a positive for the blood test but she was gone by the time I received the results. Photo of her included - skin and bones.

The Article:

Saving your alpacas' life from one of the known alpaca diseases that you may not have heard of, but should be aware of, is Mycoplasma Haemolamae (MH). It is a Silent Killer! MH has been detected since the 1990's and was called Eperythrozoonosis or EPE. Recently the name has changed in the medical community for camelids, but it's still the same disease. Alpaca health is very important to an alpaca business. Educating yourself about this disease will help protect your investment. 

Important Information:
If you have an animal that is lethargic with chronic weight loss and has light or heavy anemia you should consider Mycomplasma Haemolamae (MH) as a possible cause and start tetracycline treatment immediately. Weight loss can be +/- ¾ of a pound per day, lethargy and anemia happens very quickly. Then the alpaca can die within days without treatment. The alpaca’s response will be quick and over the 10 days of treatment they will respond with weight gain, less lethargy and less anemia until they are back to normal and gaining their weight back in just a short period of time. (See Treatment below)

If you call your vet and they draw blood for testing, ask for the blood to be tested by Oregon State University. OSU has the only lab testing for MH in the country. OSU holds the patent for the process and I have not found another lab or university who performs the testing. If blood is sent for testing it must be in a purple top test tube, handled and processed properly and delivered imediately to OSU. OSU will provide your vet with the handling and shipping procedures, found on their web site. OSU does testing on Thursday's and if your sample arrives late it does not get tested until the next testing day which is Thursday of the next week although they claim 1-3 days turn around. Results can be delayed causing death prior to recieving them. Also if the blood is handled improperly or the alpaca has had antibiotics or some types of worming medication prior to testing, the results can be affected. Treat your alpaca imediately and then wait for the results. You will find that if it is positive for MH your ahead of the dying curve. If it is negative you have not hurt your alpaca with tetracycline treatments.

Mycomplasma Haemolamae is a bacterium that attaches itself to the red blood cells of an alpaca. The immune system recognizes this as a problem and destroys the red blood cells. Your alpaca then becomes anemic. In the majority of alpacas infected with these bacteria, there are no signs of the disease. If your animal becomes immunocompromised through another one of the alpaca diseases or is stressed from a move or through other environmental changes, Mycomplasma Haemolamae can rear its ugly head. Because of the immunocompromised condition of the alpaca, other opportunistic parasites like strongyles, nematodes, coccidia, EMAC, clostridium A, B, C etc., can quickly infect the alpaca and Mycomplasma Haemolamae symptoms could be masked by the similar symptoms from these other parasites and illnesses. Many animals have died from Mycomplasma Haemolamae with an incorrect necropsy. Most vets and/or labs do not look for Mycomplasma Haemolamae during necropsy or even during standard blood panels. What usually comes back is anemia with high counts of white blood cells. This should be an alarm and treatment should start imediately to prevent death.

The disease can manifest as an acute problem. Your alpaca may suddenly be unable to stand and be extremely weak. Or it may be a chronic problem. As mentioned before, your alpaca may have chronic weight loss and lethargy. Anemia is one of the last symptoms to appear. Check for anemia by raising the eyelid of the alpaca. It should be bright pink and/or red looking (healthy) This is called the FAMCHA method found in the sheep and goat industry. Pale pink and/or white or almost white is close to death by intense anemia.

If you suspect infection with Mycomplasma Haemolamae, have your vet do a PCR (polymer chain reaction) test from OSU. This test amplifies the DNA so low levels of the bacteria can be detected on the red blood cells. In case you cannot get the PCR results back from your vet or lab in a timely manner like (1-3) days, start treatment immediately, especially if you have exhausted all other potential causes. This disease is a KILLER and once your alpaca is weak and down it is only days to hours to save their life, maybe.

This is one of the alpaca diseases thought to be spread by blood. Blood sucking insects such as biting flies, mosquitoes, lice, fleas, and ticks should be kept to a minimum on your farm. Only use a clean unused needle on each individual alpaca when giving injections. Needles are cheap. There is no reason to reuse a needle on another alpaca and risk the chance of transmitting any disease (besides, you dull the needle after the first use and it hurts more). Biting flies can be controlled by placing fly predators around poop piles and in areas of fly population. (search: (fly predators) on the net - they really work) Fly traps and Fly Stix help as well but do not elliminate the root of the problem like fly predators, they really work cutting the fly problem by 70 to 90% in a season. They last for 2-3 years or more without placing more. Having chickens free range with your alpacas can eliminate many parasites like ticks, (1 chicken can consume 500 ticks per day) fleas and other biting and sucking insects.

Treatment:
Mycomplasma Haemolamae is treated with tetracycline (LA200) (other brands of tetracycline are available but make sure they are the same strength as LA200) at your local farmer’s co-op a very common antibiotic. The dosage normally used is (.045) X (body weight) subcutaneously for 5 doses given every other day. Tetracycline is an over the counter drug and does not need to be prescribed by your vet. Check with a vet for dosages if you are unsure. Unfortunately, it appears that tetracycline does not completely rid the infected animal of these bacteria, but only lowers it to safe undetectable levels and save your alpacas life. 

Once infected, an alpaca becomes a carrier known as a "tick" in the cattle industry. They will not have problems with the disease unless they become immunocompromised. This is an opportunistic bacterium. 

The problem with having a carrier in your herd is that a fly could bite the carrier and then bite another animal passing on the bacterium. If you live near other livestock,(horses, cattle, sheep, goats etc..) this disease can be contracted from them via biting and sucking insects moving to your farm and making contact with your alpacas.

If you suspect Mycomplazma Haemolamae in an alpaca, you should probably test your whole herd and treat any animal with positive PCR results. Otherwise, you could have a reinfection of the disease. Not totally necessary if you are watching your alpacas closely for changes in normal conditions especially their weight. Young alpacas and cria seem to be affected much quicker that an adult. Probably because they weigh less and have less blood. Test and treat your suspected alpaca(s) who seem to have chronic weight issues. Then if positive consider doing others or all in the herd. Watch weight closely as it is the primary symptom that is recognizable without the interference of other opportunistic parasites.

Treated animals usually go on to live a long healthy life. Even though they have not gotten rid of the disease, they can live with it. 

It's important to weigh or evaluate alpacas when sheared or learn body scoring so you can spot a thin alpaca being a potential carrier of Mycomplasma Haemolamae. You should, also, require a PCR test from OSU before purchasing. The Mycomplasma Haemolamae carrier may look fine, but you bring them home and they infect your herd causing problems. Biting flys can be found everywhere and your alpaca can be bitten at your farm, during transport or even at an alpaca show and become a carrier back on your farm. A carrier can be healthly not showing signs for months or even years.

Here's a couple of interesting facts about camelid red blood cells: 
• They have a lifespan of 235 days vs. 100 days for human red blood cells 
• Camelids have oval red blood cells instead of round like other mammals. This gives them a larger surface area so there is better oxygen exchange which helps them survive at higher, thinner air altitudes in their native South America.

The unusual shape of an alpaca’s red blood cell makes understanding alpaca diseases a challenge to veterinarians. 

Mycomplasma Haemolamae is thought to be in 25% or more of Camelids (alpacas and llamas) in the United States. More studies are being done to try and eliminate alpaca diseases. Until something better is found for Mycoplasma Haemolamae, keep the insect population down on your farm and test and treat to keep it in check if present. 

Remember: Your Vet Does Not Save Your Alpaca’s Life. YOU DO!

"I am not a vet", but an experienced alpaca owner. When I say experienced I mean, having experienced the effects of this silent killer disease first hand. I have seen animals die on my farm and other farms, with most necropsies determining the death of the alpaca was from common parasites, heat stroke, failure to thrive or some other educated guess from the vet(s). This is done without the exact testing for MH. Without these tests it is the vet's best guess. Remember, other parasites become opportunistic during the process of this disease. The alpaca cannot fight anything else because it is busy fighting MH by attacking its own red blood cells, hence anemia. The alpaca dies quickly. Once you see an alpaca die from this disease with all parasite and other medical treatments doing nothing to stop it you will never let it happen again! I am not a vet, but an experienced alpaca owner. If you are not sure about the information I have given, call your vet and discuss MH with them prior to treatment, then get a second opinion and maybe a third. 

My personal opinion is that hundreds if not thousands of alpacas have died in the U.S. from MH without the knowledge of the vet or the owner. Many times the death is blamed on something else, failure to thrive, heat stroke, internal parasites etc. How many times was this just an "semi-educated guess"? I think many! When you hear of multiple death's on an alpaca farm(s) around the country it creates the alpaca disease of the year fear. Every year something new hits, SNOTS, EMAC, Barber Pole Worm and so on, and the blame is placed unknowningly on the new found disease of the year. Then the "experts" begin to give a series of seminars on the new fear. Be safe rather than sorry and treat for MH during these so called outbreaks and you may save your alpacas' life.

Giving LA200 in the dosage mentioned earlier is Risk Free and can do nothing to harm your alpaca, and it can't hurt even if the alpaca is by chance, ill from something else. Most vets do not recognize this disease and little is written about it, even in the Norm Evans field manual, it is just a mention. Most of the articles I have found do not stress the seriousness or deadliness of MH. 

Educating yourself can save your alpaca investment, money spent on vet assistance and your alpacas.

Feel free to copy this information and pass it to other alpaca owners. Knowledge is Power!

Be aware, I am not a trained vet and many may poo poo this article. I say, poo poo back! Time will tell.... To date, passing this information has saved many alpacas and I am sure many more to come!

Thank you for the information about MH found on the web at: owning-alpacas.com, OSU, and other internet sites reviewed, (the word is getting out and alpaca lives are being saved), but even as you read this there is an alpaca dead or dying from Mycomplasma Haemolamae unknown to the owner and their vet.

Alpaca owners, potential owners vets', techs' if you would like to discuss this further or if you have any questions contact me anytime.

Michael Six 
Owner/Operator
Morning Moon Alpacas, Inc.
417.235.5171

Alpaca Teeth Grinding

Alpacas are so stoic that it is often difficult to tell when they are not well or declining. One little behavior to let you know they are in PAIN is if they are grinding their teeth. Pay attention as pain can lead to them going off feed which leads to more serious problems.

Unhealthy Alpaca Cria Dies

Last year we experienced our first case of what vets call "failure to thrive" or "poor doer". Our star female gave birth to her 6th cria who was fully developed, a good birth weight but the cria couldn't get up and she was hypothermic on a warm, sunny summer day. I gave her over 24 hours of constant support and eventually got her walking and nursing. She never played like the other crias. She had another relapse at 2 months where she would collapse and stay down for a few minutes then get back up and appear fine. I gave her supportive care through that and she recovered. Then at 6 months, after a rabies vaccine, she developed a baseball sized lump on her nose. She never recovered from that. My daughter wrote a poem about the experience for a class assignment:

Out of the Snow

By the Fire

As the storm howls outside

snow falling

and piling up

and blowing about in the big angry gusts

of wind.

I lay by the stove

with a dog at my feet

and another curled at my side

and a cat,

purring on my stomach.

When I am here

I can forget about the cold outside

because I am warmed

by their bodies

and the stove.

Snowday

It has snowed all afternoon.

There is more than a foot

of heavy, white , beautiful snow.

Tomorrow, surely there will be a snow day.

A snow day would be

wonderful

then I can sled,

and read,

and sleep late,

and ski,

and just take a break

so I can finish my homework

and have some fun.

My mother is

grumbling

about going outside

to do the chores.

It is too cold.

But the animals have to be fed,

and watered,

and closed in

because they get cold too,

and they don’t have a fire

to keep them warm.

Morning

 When I wake up

there is even more snow.

It snowed all night

and now it is piled

in drifts, on the road

and on the trees.

It sparkles

in the sun.

And the road is a carpet of white

with no tracks.

That means we cannot go to school.

A snow day!

I go downstairs

and prepare myself

some breakfast.

As I eat,

my brother comes in

from outside.

There is snow

falling off his big boots

as he stomps into

the kitchen.

“Abby” he says.

”Pandora is sick again”

“Pandora is always sick”.

I say.

“This time she’s really sick”

He replies.

“She’s in the basement with the heating blanket”

“She’s hypothermic”

I hurry down

to the basement.

She’s there

just a small,

six month old

alpaca,

who has never had

much life in her.

Little hope
It is nearly

noon

and we have not

been plowed.

My brother and I go out

to do the chores.

There is so much

snow

that we have to shovel

a hole

to get the door to the goat barn open.

As we shovel

we hear the plow

and look down to see it slide off the road

into a ditch.

My brother

runs

to tell my father

and I go in to see my mom

and Pandora.

She is under the heating blanket,

shivering

with her eyes closed

every once in a while

kicking

as her body tries to warm her.

My mother’s face

is grim

“I called the vet” she says

“and when we get plowed I will take her there”

“It doesn’t look good though”

I nodded

It wasn’t the first time

we had had something die.

On a farm

it happens.

In my bathtub

By mid afternoon

another plow comes

to pull the other one out.

It hooks the towrope

and drives in the other direction.

For a moment it seems

that it has been pulled from the ditch

but then, with a scurry of snow

both trucks are back,

in the ditch.

My dad goes to help

and I wonder

why does this storm

have to happen when Pandora

is dying.

The trucks cannot get out

and my mom decides to soak Pandora

in hot water

in my bathtub.

We take her upstairs

and fill the tub

with hot water.

When we place her in

her body is so limp

I would think her dead

if I had not seen her blink.

After a while

she starts kicking again.

A moment later

she stops

and we know

that she has died.

She doesn’t look different

there is just a feeling

an empty feeling.

And we know

that we just lost that fight

but in some ways

we won.

Pandora has ended a life

where she had never been healthy.

Since the night we saved her from dying,

the night she was born.

My mother takes her

to the garage

where we will put her

until this storm has stopped

and we can bury her.

As I leave

I think of my bathtub

that will now

be haunted by Pandora’s spirit.

I go to the window

and look out

at the snow and wish

we had never had

this storm.

If we could have gotten out,

maybe,

Pandora wouldn’t have died.

I want to get out.

Out of the snow.

Out of the snow

By morning

we have been plowed

and the trucks have been

removed from the ditch.

I run downstairs

happy to be free

of the snow.

My dad says

he will take us skiing.

We gather our equipment

and load up the car.

As I get into the car

I look

one last time

at Pandora

wrapped in a blanket in the corner.

Then we drive down the road.

Out of the snow.

Controlling Alpaca Parasites Naturally

A Whole Farm/Organic Approach to Parasite Management    

            Internal parasites are a part of most every livestock producer’s farm. Regardless of whether they are pasture raised or in a confinement setting, livestock will be exposed to internal parasites at some time in their life. In the Northeast, and in other humid climates, parasites can be a major problem and small ruminants, including alpacas, are more likely to have major disease problems with internal parasites than larger ruminants such as cattle.

            So why adopt an organic approach to parasite management? Chemical dewormers are losing their effectiveness, with parasites developing resistance to them at an alarming rate. There are some parts of the country where internal parasites have developed resistance to all commercially available dewormers without new ones being developed. In our area where Meningeal worm is a threat and there is widespread use of Ivermectin, parasites that were formerly managed with this drug have grown resistant to it. Resistance means that not all the worms are killed during deworming. The surviving worms pass that genetic resistance on to offspring.

            The growing concern about the resistance of internal parasites to all classes of dewormers has caused people to look for alternatives. By looking at the whole farm as an interrelated system, it becomes apparent that there are parts of the system that can be managed to decrease internal parasites and their effects. This management strategy not only postpones the day when chemical dewormers no longer work, but it also increases the overall health of the animal and future herd and it may even decrease costs.

It All Starts with Prevention and Management:

1. Healthy, properly conditioned animals – Parasites do not usually cause much harm to a healthy, well-nourished animal. Nutrition plays a major role in how well alpacas are able to overcome the effects of internal parasites. Quality feed, fresh water, minerals, managing stress and monitoring for condition are essential. Check weights/body score and mucus membranes regularly to monitor condition.

2. Stocking Density -  By maintaining a healthy stocking density you decrease the overall infectivity rate of the farm. It also allows you to have more areas (pastures, etc) that you can rest for longer, creating more ‘clean’ areas. To calculate the optimum stocking density you’ll find a good worksheet at www.sarahflackconsulting.com

3. Quarantine – When an animal comes or returns to the farm keep it with a buddy in a quarantine area for one month while monitoring their health and doing regular fecals. This can protect your herd (particularly the geriatric, cria, weak or pregnant/lactating females) from parasites overloads and other disease to which they have not previously been exposed.

4. Pasture Rotation -  There could be an entire article alone on this subject. Narrowing it down to two subjects there is rotation for the health of the grasses and soils and rotation to beat the lifecycle of parasites.

            A. Lifecycle of parasites –If we begin with an understanding of the interrealtionship between the animal, the planst it  Although some parasite eggs can live in the soils year round without a host, many of the parasites we are dealing with go through a 21 day lifecycle outside the host. The infected manure is dropped, three days later the eggs hatch into larvae searching for a host (the alpaca) and most die by 21 days if a host does not ingest them.  We can take a simplistic view of this by considering wildlife where parasite loads generally do not cause disease and death in the host because, instinctively, wildlife are on the move. The parasites, therefore, have no host if the animal is no longer where the manure (eggs/occists) were dropped. The same principle applies to livestock. If we rotate our animals every 2-3 days to new pastures and not put them back on that same pasture for a minimum of 21 days we are significantly decreasing the numbers of larvae available to be ingested. Ideally, you want to size your pastures so that they eat it down to 2” in 3 days or even better 12-24 hours as most larvae live in the bottom 1-2” of grass.

            B. Health of Grasses and Soils - Overgrazing of pastures

5. Cleanliness – we keep clean barns and pastures. We scoop manure twice daily and pile it in the current active compost pile. Scooping this often keeps the alpacas from stepping in it and dragging it all over and ingesting eggs or larvae. Actively composting your manure by creating the proper carbon/nitrogen mix will heat up the manure to 135 degrees and kill pathogens.

6. Encouraging Hardiness – our alpacas live most of their year out in the elements even though provided shelter year round. The winter barn faces south and is built into the hill providing shelter from winter wind while offering the warmth and health benefits of the sun. They have outside as well as inside hay feeders but mostly prefer to be outside. They live out on pasture in the summer months with areas of shade and a run-in shelter. They give birth in the pasture, sleep out under the stars and only take cover during a heavy rain. This encourages them to

7 Selective Breeding - Select for parasite resilient trait. By monitoring our animals we can most often detect which animals almost never shed eggs, those that do sometimes and those that always do. Obviously we would not want to perpetuate the animals that are easily infested as they will take down the health of the entire herd by shedding more eggs that our other alpacas can pick up.

Then moves to monitoring and treatment . . .

• In house fecals – we began doing these about ten months ago and believe it is one of our greatest tools to monitor alpaca health (along with body scoring/weighing and daily observation) and alpaca parasite resilience. We do a fecal on each alpaca when we do monthly herd health and we do them in between as necessary.

• Close observation of an animal in question –

• Strategic Deworming – treat the individual animal not the whole herd. This encourages the alpacas that do not have a parasite issue to continue to be resilient. Proper dosing is equally important because if you do not knock out the parasite but only knock it down then you are encouraging it to adapt to the drug, that is, develop resistance to it.

            Please note:  The information shared in this article should be approved by your veterinarian before being utilized in any way on any individual farm.

Our approach:

We are working toward an organic approach to parasite management for the benefit of our individual animals and for the greater good of the herd. In many areas of the country alpaca owners and breeders are experiencing parasite resistance to many of the drugs available and not many new ones are being developed. In New England we are looking at possibly another 3-5 years before the drugs don’t work here. Continual use and the incorrect use of chemicals as the method of parasite management results in parasites that become resistant to those very drugs. Then when we need them they no longer work. This is already seen with Ivomec due to the widespread use of it to control Meningial Worm. It no longer knocks out many of the parasites it used to.

For this reason, we take a multi-faceted approach to parasite management to limit the use of chemicals while working toward an organic approach. It may seem overwhelming but organic livestock raised for human consumption are doing it and even the non-organic livestock has withdrawal periods which cost farmers time and money.

Alpaca Foot Rot

As the name suggests, it rots away the foot of the animal, more specifically the area between the two toes of the affected alpaca. It can be extremely painful. It is contagious.


It is caused by a bacteria, found in the environment, that gets into the skin. It can affect an alpaca due to wet weather, stress, an injury to the skin of the foot or a mineral deficiency, namely zinc.


It is pretty easy to identify. In the early stages the toes appear lumpy or swollen. As it advances the foot will have a foul odor and cheesy-like discharge.


It is best and easiest to treat if caught early. The alpaca should be quarantined in a dry area while treating. This bacteria is contagious and can live off a host for 7 days.
• Clean the foot thoroughly and make sure it is foot rot. 
• My vet suggests spraying/applying Iodine over the affected area for three days. Follow this by applying Otomax for several days til the foot rot is gone. This is an anti-yeast/anti-bacterial cream.
• Other suggestions are: soak in Nolvasan, apply Zinc Sulfate 10% or Copper Sulfate 20%, and/or treat with penicillin or tetracycline. 


If the alpaca is not responding to treatment within a few days consult a veterinarian as serious tissue and nerve damage can be done.

Blood Draw on Alpacas - Do It Yourself from the Tail

There are certain things we can do as livestock owners and breeders that can save us a vet visit and bill and allow us to get things done on our own time with less stress for the alpaca. It is very handy to know how to do a blood draw on an alpaca.

Whether you need a few drops for an Alpaca Registry DNA test or 1-2 ml for a progesterone test, these simple steps can lead you on the way to being a more self-sufficient farmer.

1. Use a 20 gauge needle that is 1" long.
2. Have someone hold the alpaca on halter, facing the alpaca and in front of the shoulder to prevent lunging forward.
3. You will lift the tail with your left hand (if you are right handed), not higher than horizontal or you'll restrict circulation.
4. With your right hand, scrub the under-side of the tail well with an antibacterial wipe. Lie the wipe on the alpaca's back, clean side up to be used after the blood draw.
5. The plunger should be pulled out just a bit so that you can see the flash of blood as you hit the vein.
6. Feel around with your finger for the vein. Sometimes it helps to close your eyes or lower the tail in a more relaxed position to find the vein.
7. Even if you aren't sure you located the vein you're likely to find it once you insert the needle.
8. It is approximately 1" from the base of the tail and right under the skin. You can move up or down a bit until you are able to find it.
9. Insert needle slowly, almost parallel to the skin. Move SLOWLY so that you can stop when you see blood in your syringe. Most people go too deep and go right thru the vein and dead end at the bone.
10. When you see the blood, draw back on the syringe with your right hand. You can use your left to hold the needle in place. If the alpaca jerks and you loose it, you can find the source of blood easily and either re-insert or draw directly from the wound.
11. Once done, hold the antibacterial wipe on the wound with pressure til the bleeding stops, usually within 30 seconds.
12. Praise your alpaca.

There are many laboratories that you can send blood to for a progesterone test. The one I use is Rocky Mountain Instrumental Laboratories. For $20 I can confirm a pregnancy. They supply the vial and can email you the results within days.

Evaluating Your Hay - Quality Hay for Your Alpacas

You are what you eat. So are our camelids. Most alpaca farms rely on hay to feed their herd some or all of the year. It is important to feed them quality hay or you can end up with thin or unhealthy animals.

Hay comes in 1st, 2^nd and sometimes even 3rd and 4th cuts depending on the growing season and the weather at cutting times.

First cut hay is course with a lot of grasses and doesn’t have a lot of legumes such as alfalfa and clover. It may have quack grass, timothy, and brome. It may be weedy too. It dries quicker.

2nd cut hay is very rich in nutrients and has higher protein. It is greener than the 1st cut. It smells sweeter as well. You have to rake and dry this crop of hay more than the 1st cut because it is heavier and thicker. Also it is more likely to rot or catch fire if baled wet.

3rd cut hay is really, really thick and green. It is rich and has a really sweet smell to it. It has a lot of legumes and less grass which may be harder to digest. It is more difficult to dry.

Alpacas typically eat 2nd cut hay whereas cows, horses and goats usually do well on 1st cut hay.

The best time to evaluate hay is before you buy it. Ideally you’d want to go out to the field before it is cut and see the plants and the stage they are in. Or you can go once it is cut and on the ground before bailing. But for most of us summer is our busiest season and we’re lucky enough to get the necessary things done and get the hay in the loft. In that case, you can spend some time over the winter evaluating your hay and deciding if your source is worth sticking with.

Here are some quick tips to evaluate your hay:

1. Pick up the bail. - A good bale of hay will sag when you lift it up by the twine. Now drop the bail from at least waist level. It should bounce. If it thuds, it's a dud. Now, cut the twine or wire. The hay should spring out. If the bail had been packed too tightly it has likely trapped moisture leading to mold growth.

2. Look at the color. - Now that you have a bale open, look inside and see what color it is. If the outside is bleached from the sun, that's ok. But the hay should have a bright green color inside. This is an indicator that the hay has higher proteins and vitamins. Thumbs down on yellow and brown colored hay. No nutrients translates into sick alpacas.

3. Stickiness. - When you open the bale and pull the leaves apart, do they stick together? Yuck. No good. This is an indicator of mold. Does the bale feel warmer than others? Reject this loser, too and get it out of your loft. It is composting and could ignite.

4. Take a whiff. - Sniff that hay! You know what mold smells like and you can definitely smell it in hay. Quality hay smells sweet and grassy.

5. Work those eyeballs. - Really look at the hay. If you're buying alfalfa, make sure it's leafy with soft stems. In grassy hay, look for seed heads. REJECT! Lots of seed heads are an indication that the grass was cut when it was more mature and has lost protein value and palatability.

6. ‘Listen’ to your animals. – If you see them refusing a bale, trust that they are doing it for good reason. There can always be a bad bale in a good batch of hay (from the edge of the field, packed too tightly before they adjusted the twine properly, etc). Get rid of it and give them another. If they refuse all the hay (which happened to me one fall), first make sure it is good hay and if the only reason they are refusing it is preference, douse it with a molasses/water mixture to make it more appealing until they adapt to the taste.

7. How was it fertilized. – Ask your hay farmer what they use for fertilizer on the field and how often. You don’t want clumps of manure falling out, making it unappetizing to your animals and possibly carrying parasite eggs with it. Nor do you want hay from a field that has had little or no fertilizer –that will grow nothing but empty food for your animals. Organic fertilizer in the form of composted manure is better than chemical fertilizers.

8. Test it. – Your feed company will often do this at no charge and give you a write up on how much you should supplement your animals with grain based on the nutrition of your hay and the demands on the animal (pregnancy, lactation, etc). Or you can have it tested by your local university or a private company.

9. Secure good hay for the next year. – If you are satisfied that your hay is of good quality and feeding your animals well, talk to your hay farmer and make sure you can secure hay from that same field next year. If you are not satisfied, begin seeking a new source now. Or consider buying a hayfield, seeding and fertilizing as you want it and either haying it yourself or hiring a hay farmer to do it.

Like anything, we can only do our best within the confines of everything we are doing in our lives. Thus, most of us cannot obsess about our hay. If all that time allows for are the first four of the list above, you can get by fine as long as you monitor your animals for condition and vibrancy and make adjustments accordingly. But if time does allow, finding and securing an excellent hay source is well worth it. 

Feeding an Orphaned Alpaca Cria

It is unfortunate, but does happen sometimes, when a mother either dies or cannot nurse her cria. The good news is that there are options to keep your cria alive and well.

One of the four major causes of death for crias is starvation.  For the well-being of the cria you need to get him to learn to bottle feed while monitoring him.

Bottle Feeding
• How Much - A cria should consume 15% of body weight to grow. Spread feedings out over 7 feedings a day for a newborn and working down to 4 a day for a one month old cria. You can do one at 10-11pm and then not again til 6-7am and still get in many day feedings.
• What - There are many different options of what to feed the alpaca cria. Here is what we chose to feed:
2 T probiotic yogurt (vanilla or plain)
3-4 oz half and half
5 oz raw cow milk (or goat or whole pasturized is OK)
• Bottle - a human baby bottle is fine. Cut an "x" in the nipple to make it flow better.
• Positioning - Make sure the crias head is tilted upward like it would be nursing from his mother. Otherwise the milk could go into the wrong stomach compartment, ferment and wreak havoc. You can get him going by putting him between your legs with his head in front of you and putting bottle in his mouth and gently squeezing milk into his mouth so he knows the source. Eventually we found that once he knew we were feeding him we sat and let him come to the bottle since putting him between our legs was stressful for him.
• Weaning - many bottle fed babies wean at 8 weeks. They should be fully ruminating (chewing cud) and be of good weight and body condition before doing so.

Grafting the Cria to a Nursing Mother
It is not difficult to graft a baby onto another mother but it does take patience, persistence and positive energy!
• Place baby and adopted mother in a small isolated area initially. You may be inclined to want to keep them with the herd but this will prolong getting them to bond.
• Halter mother and praise her when she settles down.
• Hold hot compresses on the mother to get her milk to let down.
• Hold baby gently under mother and squeeze milk onto his nose/mouth.
• Milk mother and put some on babies nose/mouth if nursing is unsuccessful.
• It certainly won't happen the first attempt so be patient and don't give off negative energy while doing this. For us it took almost three days of doing this every 3 hours. We bottle fed while the nursing couple was learning.
• Another tip that may or may not help: put a scent on baby from nose to tail and also on mother's nose and head so they smell alike.
If you have a mother that has a 4 month old cria you can wean that cria and use her. Or you can use a heavy milker. The risk here is that the dominant baby will get most of the milk.


Monitoring the Cria
• Gain should be 1/2 lb or more per day.
• Tail up when nursing
• Generally content - not humming or pacing.
• Passing manure regularly.

Preventing Dehydration
If your cria is showing signs of dehydration (weak, head curling back, temperature down, etc) and you cannot reach your vet, consider some of the following to keep your baby going. If your cria dehydrates, it kills the kidneys fast and then there is very little you can do to save them.
• Tube feeding - get a tube and keep it on hand. There is risk of perforating the esophagus or putting the feed into the lungs so it is imperative to consult with your veterinarian for training on how to insert the tube. Do this before you need to use it!
• Syringe Feeding - You can use a syringe to get milk in them but it is slow and tedious and often they don't get enough milk.
• Sub Q Fluids - Keep IV fluids on hand (from your vet) and you can inject fluids under the skin wherever you can. This will really perk up a listless cria.

Good luck. Patience, patience, patience.

Select for Health and Longevity in Breeding Stock

Stepping Stone Farm Alpacas achieves high quality fiber through multiple aspects of farming.

First and foremost, breeding stock should be selected by focusing on health traits. Sires and dams should have a genetic and individual history of a highly productive life, low parasite loads, minor or no heath issues, high breed-back ability, and solid conformation. Second, breeding stock is selected based on fiber traits of staple length, low micron and density. But they are not the ultimate decision makers. The longevity and health traits are much more important to the long term success of fiber producing animals and their farmers.

The pasture, hay and soil, and in some cases, grain, set a solid base for producing high-quality fiber. Supplying the alpaca with the best possible feed is the farm's goal. To maintain a healthy alpaca, free-choice minerals must always be available and preferably in separate dishes so the animal can choose what it needs specifically.

The other factor to producing high-quality, usable fiber is proper care of the fiber before harvesting. Keep hay manger and pastures free of noxious weeds that contaminate the fiber. Keep barn and yard clean of all hay or other debris that could contaminate the fiber prior to shearing. Keep animals dry prior to shearing. Hire a quality shearer to harvest the fiber properly. Store you fiber in a dry location. Skirt your fiber rigorously. Finally, choose your mill carefully.

Quality fiber pays well. A solid, well-executed plan for breeding stock selection, feed and harvesting of the fiber is worth it.

Here is what they say about the fiber at Stepping Stone Farm Alpacas:

"I am enjoying working with your fiber. It is so-o-o nice! Thanks for your business."
Nancy • NEWAIM Fiber Mill • Waldoboro, Maine

" I have been unable to find yarn as nice as yours. I will just have to wait the six months until yours is milled."
Feng • Washington, DC

Marketing Tip: Smile!

I was walking in town today with my husband and saw a woman walking along pushing a dolly. What grabbed my attention was her fantastic SMILE! It was so happy, sincere and infectious that I burst into a smile myself. I turned to my husband and asked, “Did you see that woman’s smile?" His response, "How could I not?" This propelled us into a conversation about smiles and really has me thinking about the impact genuine smiles have on me and others.

I recall when we lived in Italy for 6 months, I used to market (for groceries) at this one butcher’s shop where all the employees smiled as if you were their favorite customer. They would engage in conversation and share the best way to prepare things. I also would buy my fresh pasta and cheeses from another purveyor who would smile and burst with enthusiasm while serving each customer. No matter how deep the line of customers was she was not flustered. She’d smile, chat and even give out recipes and cooking instructions for the pasta. These people obviously enjoy their work which makes them a real pleasure to buy from.

SMILES are the little things in your marketing effort that can make a big difference in the success of your business. You probably won't see it in many marketing books, but a simple, sincere smile is one of the most important and powerful marketing tools you and your employees possess. Whether you see customers face-to-face or work with them via phone or internet, a smile shows (or projects) you care, are interested and enthusiastic. A smile strengthens the bond with your customers and increases their confidence in you. Hence, they are much more apt to buy from you and return again.

If you or your employees are not smiling enough, why not? What message is being sent? What can you do to increase the smiles in your work place? It doesn't have to be costly to increase employee satisfaction, and it will increase productivity and sales. Smiling is a no-cost, high impact, marketing essential. Smiling is the original viral marketing medium. Commit to implementing a few smile increasing initiatives today. Think about what can you do today... right now! Find something to smile about and pass it on.

How to Take a (Much Needed) Vacation from the Farm!!

Farming is 24 / 7 / 365 and often physically, emotionally and mentally demanding. Perhaps more than any profession, farmers need a break; a vacation away from the farm for two days, a month or even a year. The benefits of taking a vacation from such work are indisputable. A vacation is a must have, not a luxury. And there are countless creative ways to make it possible.

Indisputable Benefits of Taking a Vacation
• Live Longer! Everyone needs to recharge their battery; thereby keeping stress levels lower and keeping you healthier physically and emotionally.
• Improve your Mental Health and Creativity! Taking time to relax makes you less prone to experience burnout, making you more creative in your life and work.
• Strengthen your Relationships! Uninterrupted time away with loved ones nourishes relationships. Stronger relationships provide the foundation for increased life enjoyment in the good times and provides the strength you need to get through the stressful hard times.
• Find Creative Inspiration! Taking yourself out of your routine and surroundings spurs you to look at things and think in a different way, often resulting in great creative inspiration.
• Become more Productive! The mental and physical benefits of vacationing lead to increased quality of life, and that can lead to increased quality of work on the job.


Creative Ways to Have the Farm Looked After
• Employees – if you have employees, make it a part of their contract that “x” number of days/weeks per year you will be away and they will be expected to cover for you. Train them far in advance to do tasks that you normally do.
• Hire a Professional Farm Sitter – there are professionals who advertise this service. They can either come by the farm a certain number of times a day or live in your farmhouse to watch over the farm. Prices vary greatly based on the scope of the work and the individual doing it. For the professional you might expect to pay from $36 per day for two farm visits to a smaller farm up to $100 for a larger farm. To find a farm sitter: ask another farm of a name, look in your local newspaper, put a wanted listing on the farm page of Criagslist or in your state's agricultural magazine.
• Train a Competent Person to Be Your Farm Sitter - there are many trustworthy, competent people with no experience that can easily be trained. What you need is someone with a strong work ethic, a strong sense of responsibility, who is resourceful and motivated. Price could range from no charge (internship, barter) to $20 per day (neighbor teen) and up. Who could you train? A very enterprising, trustworthy high school student; a pre-vet student from a nearby college; a vet tech from a nearby small animal vet office; an employee of a friend or family member who is motivated and trustworthy; a person who grew up on a farm; a person who recently lost their job; a person who needs a temporary place to live; a young person who lives with parents and would welcome the get away; a retired farmer; a friend or relative; get creative – the list of potential people is endless.
• Farm Sitter Exchange – these types of cooperative groups have been used forever and successful for many different situations: babysitting, dinner exchanges, house swaps, etc. You exchange no funds. When you use a farm sitter you get negative points in your account. You work off your negative points by sitting for someone else’s farm but not necessarily the people who cared for your farm. It is a ledger of points and you are free to use anyone in the network you trust. Where to find one? Join an established Farm Sitter Network; start your own regional network or; create your own exchange with a few nearby farms.
• Neighbor/Friend Barter – maybe there is something you can offer a trustworthy neighbor in exchange for farm sitting. If you sell goods you could provide them with goods (eggs, milk, fiber, etc) at no charge in exchange for a week’s worth of farm sitting.
• Boarding – for a more long term vacation you may want to consider boarding your animals at a qualified farm. You could then rent your home to generate income.

How to Fund the Vacation
• Savings – Regardless of income, everyone has the ability to forego something in their daily life in order to set aside a fraction of their income. It is a time-tested solution.
• House Exchange – You can vacation all over the world doing a direct house exchange. You live in their house, drive their car and they yours. You hire a farm sitter to come by a few times a day to do chores and look after the animals. Google “house exchanges”.
• Agri-tourism / Rent your Farmhouse - A farm vacation is New England is a sought after experience. With the rent you generate it can pay for your vacation plus a farm sitter. (Advertise on VRBO, Criagslist or through a local agency)
• Inexpensive Vacation – the point is to get away. Go visit relatives, go camping, or go farm sit for someone else to get a new perspective.
• Combine Ideas – use the farm sitter exchange and rent your house too for a no cost vacation.

Other Considerations
• Peace of Mind - Essential to the success of your vacation is that you have peace of mind that your assets are secure and well cared for. For each individual farm this will mean finding the right person/people at a price (or barter situation). Know and articulate your expectations. Have a contract with the farm sitter to make things black and white.
• Insurance – You may wish to consider insuring valuable animals to further protect your assets while away.
• Provide Detailed Information – Always leave detailed instructions on how to care for the farm. Make sure vet and other contacts are easily accessible. For longer vacations you may even want to send a note to your vet(s) that you authorize vet care and specifics about the extent of care.

What Others Say About Getting Away
“Our family goes on a camping trip for 1 week every summer. Either our college age son, if he's home, or neighbors take care of our farm. We connected with them by being friendly neighbors. We did pay them a little but we help each other out a lot, so what we paid them would not be typical. We had written instructions, simplified our routine and also double-checked for safety issues. We also leave a list of people to contact for each potential type of problem and are available by cell phone. We value our annual vacation because of the uninterrupted time with the family and we come home with a renewed appreciation for our farm and animals.” • Nancy Kish of Agape Hill Farm

“The Northern Vermont Farm Sitter Network works very well in my area and has enabled the people involved to have a competent and experienced sitter take care of things while they're gone, without feeling like you have to pay someone or feel bad about convincing them to take care of an overwhelming about of animals. Most of my friends have a cat or a dog, not llamas, goats and chickens.” • Lee Findholt of Wicked Good Farm

Karen Nicholson, of Stepping Stone Farm Alpacas in Stowe, VT, has a herd of colorful alpacas, two French Alpine dairy goats, 6 Indian Runner ducks, several laying hens, two dogs and two cats. Over the years, her family has been able to get away for a few weekends and a week each year with farm care from professional farm sitters, farm sitters they have recruited and trained or relatives. They are now living away from their farm for six months while farm sitters live in their house rent free in exchange for caring for the farm. Any comments or questions can be directed to: Karen@stowealpacas.com