[AlpacaTalk] Re: Beet Pulp/Molasses
Thanks for sharing what you do June. I am so glad I asked this
questions and so glad for all the responses. It is great to hear what
everyone is doing and to learn. Obviously there is no one "right" way
to feed our guys. I have learned so much here and am fine tuning what I
have been doing.
I too had 2 very scary choke incidents many years ago. Thank goodness I
did not lose either of them. That must have been just awful for you. I
am impressed that you can tube your guys. I have't had the guts to
tackle that. I love that you are vaccine free. I too run a natural
farm and homestead. We skipped vaccines this year....simply due to
being too busy and time getting away from me. But it has occurred to me
many times that I do not vaccinate my kids and I am often questioning
myself asto why I am vaccinating my livestock. The alpacas are cheap
enough, but doggone they charge a LOT for those horse
vaccines....
without a vet precription.
What do you do that helps you feel comfortable with not vaccinating? I
understand natural deworming, but don't know anything about vaccine
alternatives. For my kids I know I am comfortable with not vaccinating
because we homeschool and they don't go to day care or anywhere where
they are exposed to large groups of children. When we go to a class of
some sort I immediately use hand sanitizer on us all as we are leaving
the group! So maybe having a closed herd is all the protection you feel
is needed? But what about things that are carried in by wild life? I
would love to go vaccine free "on purpose" :-).
At the time of my choke incidents I was feeding a llama pellet which was
the only thing available around here. And even for that I was having to
drive to the next town over....about 40 min one way....to Southern
States to get that, which I still have to do. Every feed store I would
go to around here I would ask what do the llama owners around here feed?
Sweet Feed was always the answer :-(. At least I knew better than
that. But llama pellets were long. After my 2nd choke incident I
started running the feed thru the blender before feeding. Very labor
and time intensive. But I wasn't going to go thru *that* again. It was
horrifying. I remember in Dr Evans manual he states that he thinks the
risk of choke is overstated and that he has never seen a loss from that.
After witnessing it twice I was NOT going to take a chance.
Finally, after much asking, I got the Southern States coop to look into
getting alpaca feed. Dr Evans had told me that SS had purchased the
formula from him and they were making, but the one here didn't seem to
know anything about it. It took about a year, but finally we got on a
regular ordering schedule and I have used it ever since....about 3-4 yrs
now. The pellets are much much smaller and I have had no problems.
They order it in especially for me as I am the only one around here
requesting it. The only problem I have encountered is they will not eat
their minerals. When I was grinding their feed up I was mixing the
minerals in and they were eating it all up; but with the pellets they
let the minerals fall to the bottom of the tray and don't touch. Now
mixing them in with the beet pulp they are once again, after all this
time, getting their minerals. I am thrilled.
Thanks for sharing!
Warmly, Janice, jealous of your operation and all your various herds!
My dream :-)
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posted by Chaddo at 7:31 AM
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