- I am out working with the teaching herd with a few of my students. I notice that we are very comfortable but that a few of the animals have increased respiratory rate and effort. This reminds me of the individual variation of these creatures. Every animal responds to stress - heat stress or any other - differently. more »
- Are llamas and alpacas at risk? Unfortunately, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, llamas and alpacas have been infected with FMD. No they do not appear to be very susceptible to it. FMD infection in alpacas in Peru was confirmed in the 1970's. FMD risk in llamas and alpacas was researched in the USA and Argentina. Routes of infection included tongue scarification, intramuscular injection, intradermal injection, intravenous injection, and cohabitation. Llamas and alpacas appear to be fairly resistant of infection by natural exposure (cohabitation) but can and do succumb to infection when any of the other exposure methods were used. Infected llamas developed mild clinical signs including fever, anorexia, lesions to the footpads, and lameness. Virus did not persist in any camelids beyond 14 days after infection. Certainly, the risk of llamas or alpacas becoming infected seems extremely low. more »
- Deafness has become a well-recognized disorder in llamas and alpacas. The overall incidence of this condition in camelids is unknown, but an association between deafness and the presence of blue eyes and a white hair coat appears to exist. A relationship between deafness and hypopigmentation exists across many species (humans, dogs, and cats) and is not unique to the llama and alpaca populations. Neither the mode of inheritance nor the gene defect(s) responsible for congenital deafness are known at this time. more »
- When in Venice, do as the Venetians do! That is, every minute you are out on the street, look as good as you possibly can! So we did. For my part, a divinely soft, hand spun, and loosely hand knitted alpaca scarf was donned, both to make me feel smug, and to make me feel snug. And I did! On about the third day , to my horror, I noticed a hole! And then progressively more; until on day five, there were about 6 holes! How could this be? Had the silverfish had lunch there? Was the spinning poorly done? Was I being too rough with my treasured scarf? more »
- All alpaca breeders need to be able to weigh their fleeces. Fleece weights are one of just a few parameters that are vital to the record of any alpaca breeding program. They are as basic and as important as the more commonly promoted results of fibre testing, such as mean fibre diameter because, however you look at it, the financial returns on sale of fleece will primarily be determined by fibre diameter and fleece weights. more »