I wanted to introduce my readers to my alpacas. We have 3 alpacas on the farm at this time. They are all suri alpacas.
Gavin behind Francois
Gavin is a 5 yr old gelded alpaca. He is the head alpaca on the farm. Gavin feels the need to protect the goats, but doesn’t interfere when they have aggravated Romeo. His feistiness has earned him a reputation around here. At one time I had the vet come out to help me with trimming his feet. He would not cooperate so we had to sedate him. This was the road to madness. This 150 pd alpaca would not lay down. We gave him the first shot and waited …..nothing. We gave him another one and waited……nothing. The vet went and checked the date on her meds. She told me previous she didn’t like sedating alpacas because they took so long to wake up. We gave him another shot….nothing. We tried one last shot….and finally with Gavin kicking and fighting the whole way. With one plump friend laying spread-eagle on him and me holding head and the vet trimming tonails as fast as she could we got it done(he was still trying to throw us off). Gavin had enough meds in him to put a 1000 pd horse out. We put him back into the barnyard with the others and he acted like nothing ever happened, just went and grabbed a bite to eat. I guess he’s the exception to the sedation rule. I’ve decided he’s not a cheap date.
Romeo- not sure if he likes what I’m doing
Romeo is a beautiful rusty, Lt. brown colored alpaca. He is 5 yrs old. Romeo is the protector of the our baby and will grudgingly share food with him. He’s not as food motivated as the other 2 alpacas. He loves his grain though. He is a bit of a sneak and will slip out of the barnyard and pasture if he gets the chance. Sometimes I think he’s in cahoots with the goats. I’ve notice the goats will make him angry if they pick on the baby too much. He will start chasing them around. I think he keeps the peace many times between Gavin and Francois.
Francois the baby
Francois is the baby of the group just at almost 2yrs old. He is very food motivated often a little piggy. He is the most petable of group and doesn’t shy away as quickly as the other 2. He is a bit of a crybaby and lets the goats scare him(they will pretend to charge him and he will run away and cry). If the goats keep it up for too long Romeo will save him. We are still trying to teach him to lead on a halter. He still panics, I think with some food motivation and good weather to work with him, he will do fine.
Tags: alpaca, alpaca care, alpaca fiber, alpaca housing, animal rescue, animal rescueanimals rescue maine, animals rescue maine, fiber animals, guanaco, huacaya, huacaya alpaca, raising fiber animals, spinning fiber roving, suri, suri alpaca
