- Conventional wisdom says cow or goat milk is a good substitute for alpaca milk. My research indicates neither of those are the most optimum milk substitute. Recently, we bottle fed a cria for two months with a unique formula that produced good results. I pursued further research to see if my choice of formula had real validity. What I learned may help others with bottle-fed crias. more »
- There is an easy recipe you can prepare and have on hand which can provide a quality, easily stored, and easily administered form of electrolytes. And best of all it will only cost pennies per dose. more »
- The actual 2000 recession was short, eight months. Compared to the last two years, this earlier recession was much less consequential for the alpaca farmer. The long term financial recovery of the 2000 recession lasted much longer than the actual recession. more »
- “Sepsis is a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria”.1 The more accurate diagnostic consequence of sepsis is what is termed Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS). Regardless of the animal SIRS afflicts, the bacteria must have an entry point into the bloodstream and the animal must be vulnerable. In the newborn cria, the entry into the bloodstream is usually the umbilical cord. Invading bacteria also need a susceptible host.2 In the newborn cria, that immune vulnerability is produced when the cria gets inadequate amounts of colostrom, or poor quality colostrom. Camelids are born with a condition called, in medical terms, agammaglobulinemia. This simply means they are born with no passive immunity acquired during gestation. During the pregnancy, the gestating cria attains no temporary source of immunity to common environmental bacteria through the placenta. The entire source of the camelid immunoglobulin (IgG), or temporary immunity, is acquired from the colostrom the cria ingests in the hours after birth.3 The newborn camelid cria’s immunity to infectious agents is completely dependent on receiving adequate and early doses of colostrom. more »
- The purpose of the meeting was to bring together genomic scientists from the National Institutes of Health, academic geneticists, clinical veterinarians, veterinary pathologists, and organizational administrators to share thoughts and opinions on camelid genetics. The workshop was truly international in scope with attendees from Australia, Canada, Peru, and the United States. Among the disciplines represented were geneticists, molecular biologists, genomic researchers, clinical veterinarians, pathologists, academicians, and fiber specialists. more »