Re: [AlpacaTalk] RE: Training questions and Hello

 

I really hope you are right, Tina. Truffle never nursed. He was born while we were gone and we don't know what, if anything was traumatic regarding his birth, if he got separated from his dam or what, but she never accepted him. Tried to force her to allow him to nurse and she would kick, spit, bite, and cush. After feeding him goat colostrum and still being rejected by the dam, we resigned ourselves to a bottle baby Cria.  It hadn't been that long since we had weaned our dairy goat kids and we had the equipment and plenty of milk.  He is a sweet boy and I hope he stays sweet. In any case, he is ours. His is a beautiful brown baby and we named him Chocolate Truffle.
Interestingly, we had visitors to the farm a week ago and.we took them to see the females and crias. They all came running to us and one of our friendlier (read nosier) girls ran right up to sniff. Lucille has a Cria of her own but is a very protective and watchful "Auntie" to them all.
Our company was shocked at how friendly and curious they were. Said she had a friend with some and they weren't at all friendly. I guess I have just become accustomed to alpacas only face! 
Also....another tidbit.  We lost a 17 year old dam who was still nursing her three month old male cria. It was an accidental breeding and we were not expecting her to ever be bred again. I learned NOT to leave young males in with the females so long. Anyway, Lucille is allowing this orphaned Cria to nurse, along with her own! Both crias are white and at first she balked but he persisted and now they both nurse, sometimes at the same time. I am amazed at this dam!
Laura

On Nov 1, 2013 5:29 PM, "AlpacaTalk" <alpacatalk@gmail.com> wrote:

 

I remember reading about your experiences with that male. I don't personally think that handling as a cria, even giving kisses, causes a male to become berzerk. I have a male who is now over 3, and was a bottle baby. He lost his mama at 11 days, and was very sad for a long time. We did give him hugs ad kisses. He still gives kisses, and he can be a little bit stubborn as far as moving out of the way when I come through with the muck bucket or the hay cart. But we never let him chest butt, and always made sure he learned proper manners around humans.

I have had plenty of juvie males who would come running up from behind and do a chest butt. Females, too, for that matter. But, we always nipped it in the bud and stopped that behavior.

Your male was aggressive and violent. That doesn't happen from receiving loving attention as a cria.

Heather Zeleny
White Lotus Alpacas
Creswell, Oregon

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