Some of the most versatile pieces of equipment on our farm are the lightweight portable pens that we use. In the girls pasture alone we have seven different pens set up. Why so many you may ask, well their first function is to help us to separate the girls into different feeding groups. We put fast eaters in with other fast eaters, slow eaters in with other slow eaters, thin girls that need some extra rations go in another pen, dams and small crias in another, larger crias in another, dams in late pregnancy are grouped together and of course the llamas need to be fed in a pen or the alpacas would not get much food!
The portable pens are great when we have a new cria born as we can put the dam and cria in a pen for a while to allow them to bond without all of the other alpacas getting in the way. If we have an alpaca that needs some form of medical treatment it is easier to catch them by herding them first into a small pen (or enticing them in with food which usually works). When it comes time to halter train crias the pens are a great place to work. The pens allow us to do so much in a gentle, easy way.
Yesterday was a great example of how useful it is to have multiple pens set up. I had four girls to behaviour test and no one to help me with the task today. One of the girls Keeva was already in a pen having eaten her ration and so I let the other girls from that pen out leaving Keeva ready to test. The other three girls, Cinnamon, Snow and Anya were all in the weanling pasture, (they are all well weaned and of breeding age but are keeping our weanlings company) so I herded them into a portable pen set up in that pasture and set them up with a bucket of hay to keep them occupied while I got organised. I then moved Cinnamon into one of the pens in the main girls pasture that we use to feed the llamas in.
To start my tests I brought Zin over. Zin and I share a special bond, he is very responsive to me and is easy to handle even when he is excited at the prospect of breeding a female alpaca. I put Zin in with Keeva and she ran and then spit hard so I opened the gate to allow her out and put Zin back on his leadrope.
From there I walked Zin over to the pen where Cinnamon was waiting. Cinnamon ran a little bit but allowed herself to be mounted and bred.
Once I was sure everything was going well with that breeding I brought Snow over to a pen close to where Cinnamon and Zin were. I left one empty pen between the pens I was using as sometimes if male alpacas are in adjoining pens they can distract or taunt each other rather than concentrate on their breeding duties.
I then walked over to the boys pen to get Tobiano to use as my tester male. I could see Cinnamon and Zin for the majority of the time I was catching Tobiano and was able to keep an eye on them while I was away from their pen. I walked Tobiano over to Snow and put him in the pen with her. She ran and spit so I quickly caught Tobiano and removed him to a different pen to calm down a little while I took Snow back to her pasture.
Having returned Snow to her pasture I brought over Anya and put her in pen I had previously used for Snow. I then brought Tobiano back and he again got rejected! (Good news as far as we are concerned but I am not sure Tobiano shares our feelings). I removed Tobiano again and then returned Anya to her pasture.
It was then time to check on Cinnamon and Zin, who were still breeding without a problem. The whole time I was checking Snow and Anya I was in close proximity to Cinnamon and Zin and if there had been a problem that needed my immediate attention I could have put Tobiano in the empty middle pen for a brief time while I dealt with any problem.
Having made sure that all was well with Cinnamon and Zin I then took Tobiano back to his pasture. I could tell by the level of Zin’s orgle (orgle is the noise male alpacas make when they are breeding) that his breeding was about to come to an end, and sure enough by the time I came back he was standing up ready to go back to his pasture.
So today the pens were utilized well, they enabled me to get a lot done unassisted and with the minimum amount of stress to the alpacas or myself.
The great thing about the pens we use is that they truely are portable and lightweight. Each pen breaks down into four pieces and I can easily carry the pieces on my own. While some of our pens have not been moved in a while, they can be moved very easily if our set up or needs change. They really are very versitile and useful.
Of course in addition to doing my behaviour tests I was also keeping a close eye on Clarissa in case she decided to go into labor. She did roll a couple of times but then went back to eating, so it’s back to watching and waiting on her!
