south american camelids

key diffs

• 3 chambers

• large spiral colon

• lack of waterproofing

• fibre not fleece

habitat

altiplano

• climate diffs

• terrain

• sunlight

groupings

• herds naturally

• min pair ideally 3

• singele sex groups or castrated males in with females

uses of south american camelids in south america

• clothes

• meat

• transport

• fuel - faecal pellets

• tourism

use in the uk

• breeding

• pets

• fleece

• trekking

• education/public display

• guarding sheep

• therapy

• diversification

• suri

• larger harder to hamdle

• males particularly can be difficult

• fibre- dreadlocks

• huacaya

• most common

• smaller

• less temperamental

• fibre- fine, crimped

alpaca vs llama weight

alpaca 55-90 newborn 4-6

llama 113-250 newborn 8-18

housing

• must have shelter

• 5-7 alpacas/acre

• mixed grass species

• avoid water logged pasture

• keep water troughs clean

• enough feed trough space

• feeders off ground ideally

• dust bath area

• changes in terrain

alpaca behaviour

• huming - grumbling

• screaming- very distressed

• kicking

• spitting

• spinning away

• nasal breathers

llama handling

• kicks stronger

• can be wilder

• caution

breeding

• gestation length 11-13 months

• mating prolonged

• induced ovulators

• male ogles

unpacking

• typically late morning/early afternoon

• rare to have dystocia

• typically singles

cria care

• dams cant lick young

• hence time of day they are born to dry off in the sun

• colostrum very important as with other species

• due to value of animals plasma transfusions may be considered if failure of passive

husbandry procedures

• parasite control

• vitamin d

• shearing

• reproduction

• foot trimming

• vaccinating

• BCS

shearing

• huyacya every year

• suri every other year

foot trimming

• regularly, dependent on wear

• soft pad and toenail

• trim so nails flat with the level of pad

vitamin d

• required as limited sunlight in uktoprovide enough natural vitamin d in autumn/winter months

• injectable or oral preparations

• if not supplemented- risk of rickets

vaccination

• clostridial main concern

• no licenced products

• 6-12 onths

• stress may cause abortion in pregnant females

bcs

• 1-10 or 1-5

• doesnt require scales

• ability to measure animals condition

• fleece deveiving

worming

• typically either injectable or oral

• no licenced

• regular worm egg count monitoring required- modified stolls

• caution fighting teeth if oraldosing- more common to erupt in entire males

key diseases

• worms- haemonnchus

• skin disease

• clostridial

• leptospirosis

• tb

• orf

• abortion due to stress

• vitamin d deficiency

• good at surviving on low oxygen

ear tagging/microchipping

• need both to be BAS regiserd

• right ear- males

• left ear- females