RE: [AlpacaTalk] First alpacas
Hi Mandy,
I will add in some further hope. We agist.that means we live in the city
and visit our alpacas who are living on someone else's farm. Our alpacas
came from all different places and were rather wild, to say the least.
Every weekend we make a trip of about 150 miles and we work with our pacas.
Now-two years later--everyone will lead and load into a trailer, most will
come when called and eat out of our hands. We feed apple bits, we feed
pecans and almonds.but mostly we take out chairs that fold, a good book, a
straw hat and a cool drink.we sit out in the field, and we offer up our
treats and talk to our alpacas from a seated position. We move slowly, if
we have to do "husbandry" we use Marty's techniques. It has taken about 2
years of work each weekend a little bit at a time to get to this point. Our
girls were totally unapproachable at first.but it does get better. When we
have to do husbandry things.we offer little bits of nutmeat.and I say "Nut
nut nut!" in a sweet voice and let them come up to me before I start to do
anything. Some of the boys now run across the pasture to the sound of our
car's approach each weekend. They come to the fence to get their
nut.jostling each other and trying to vie for position. I make them take
turns.no piggy behavior or no nut!
I try very hard to always put them into the catchpen before starting to do
things like haltering.When I'm in the herd, I call each by name and give
her/him her own nut.we don't give them someone else's nut.that is selfish
and I don't allow it. After a while, each one knows her/his own name and
that they ALL get a turn. We visit all pastures from the little boys to the
big guys and each paddock is treated the same. That way they all know that
we can reach out and it will probably mean a treat. We do touch, but not
grab.so now we can look at fleece or take hay off of an animal without most
of them trying to jump away.they now understand that we don't "catch" them
that way and we keep that promise true by only catching from the catch pen.
You will come to know your animals as intimately. I'm sure we'll do even
better when we can actually live with our pacas. Meanwhile, they like
grapes, melon, grains, (oatmeal is a treat) and all sorts of nutmeats (no
salt!) I'm sure you could try other things, but this list is fairly safe.
Best Regards,
Allison
From: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Behalf Of mmttocher
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2007 4:40 PM
To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Subject: [AlpacaTalk] First alpacas
Hi everyone - I am new to the list. I live in the south of New
Zealand and I am just about to buy my first two alpacas for the
purpose of breeding.
I purchased "the camelid companion" and I am up to about page 35.
From the research I have done to date it seems some alpaca lines are
flighty and more difficult than others - a flighty mother can often
have cria with the same disposition.
My question "can young alpacas (<2years) that appear scared and
flighty be turned around or should I stay well away from them?".
I ask because I have my heart set on a certain girl called Clover
but she seems quite fearful of humans. She is pregnant for the
first time. I really want to buy her and I trust in my ability as a
dog trainer - I use positive training techniques. So although I am
only now learning about camelids, I am not a complete novice when it
comes to animal behaviour.
The other girl I hope to buy will be really young - a weanling.
What do you all think? Should I buy Clover and hope for the best?
Thanks
Mandy
no herd name yet but toying with "Alblacka alpacas"
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posted by Chaddo at 6:38 AM
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