Knowing your alpacas - Steve Heatherington

When you are around alpacas, It doesn't take you long to realise that they are different from each other. I'm not just talking about the way they look for example colour, confirmation or fleece coverage. It is also true of the way they behave. In this episode I want to take some time to consider this individual nature of alpacas and how you can use this to help you care for them – so you learn how to see what is going on and not miss signs of potential ill-health, or the need for some kind of intervention. I am particularly aiming this at people who have a small herd – you might think it is too small to even grace them with that term. I am thinking of groups of 3 to 10 in number, though clearly the principles will apply to larger groups too. It is all about knowing your alpacas. If you know what is normal, you will notice what is abnormal. Know what is normal for alpacas in general and then adapt this to what is particular to your herd and individual animals. What is normal for alpacas? What is normal for this alpaca? It takes time and attention, watching for detail but you will fairly quickly start recognising things that stand out as being unusual. This is you knowing your alpacas. I hope that you have found our thinking about KNOWING YOUR ALPACAS helpful and you now have some practical tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your alpacas and understanding them. It doesn’t happen overnight but is easy and fun to do - and it will make a difference in how well you care for your alpacas, as you pick up early on potential problems. Homework Your homework is to identify in * your alpacas * three things where their normal is slightly different from alpacas in general. Let me know how you get on by emailing me - [email protected] Questions If you have any questions from what you have heard in this episode, do drop me a line and if there are any subjects you would like me to cover in a future episode I want to hear from you. Thanks Thanks for listening and being part of this alpaca journey. I appreciate it. -SteveH This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy