Our alpaca Queen is one of the grand dams of the pasture. Now eleven years old, she is able to rule over the younger alpacas by just looking at them. She can throw a look that says “you wouldn’t dare” and the younger alpacas agree, they would not dare to cross our Queen.
Queen is an alpaca who breeds easily, births easily and has beautiful, robust, vigourous cria. Her last cria Atlas recently took 1st in his class at the TxOLAN Alpaca Spectacular and is a striking herdsire in the making. The only time Queen has lost a pregnancy was after she moved here from her previous owners farm. She was seven years old at the time and had never been off her home farm, the stress of the move was just too much for her I guess and while she never outwardly showed any signs of stress she did absorb her pregnancy. Once rebred though she carried her next pregnancy to term and has never looked back since.
When Queen lost her pregnancy it drove home to me just how bonded these alpacas become with their herd mates. I had already decided that Queen would live out her days here and purchased her knowing that she would become one of our foundation herd, but the reaction from her being moved here helped me decide that once our alpaca girls reach a certain age we need to plan on them staying with us for the rest of their lives. To move them to a different herd just becomes too hard on them.
This past weekend I noticed Queen was a little uncomfortable, she laid around more than usual, rolling on one hip and pushing her legs out to the side. She did eat but not as heartily as usual and it was obvious that she was not feeling 100%. I could see her cria moving every now and then, which was a good sign, and when I offered her some soaked beet pulp shreds she readily ate them from the spoon, something she would not normally do, as she prefers to keep her distance from humans. I felt the beet pulp shreds being soft, moist and fibrous might help her digestive tract stay active and as an added precaution I gave her some MSE drench that contains probiotics and digestive enzymes. By the afternoon Queen was acting normal, eating hay and cushing in a more relaxed way.
Having owned Queen for a few years now I have my herd records to refer back to and I know that she has had this type of uncomfortable stage in each of the pregnancies she has had here. Queen is a compact alpaca and by now her unborn cria will be going through some major growth spurts. It almost seems as if in the last week her pregnancy “bump” has doubled in size. I am sure at times her cria is pressing on her digestive tract and causing some of the discomfort she is feeling.
Last year Queen decided to have her cria early, when he was born Atlas was healthy and strong and looked like a full term cria, but he was born 2 –3 weeks prior to his due date. In fact Queen caught us unawares with Atlas’s birth as we had gone out to another farm for the day to shear alpacas, but fortunately had our alpaca neighbors Bob and Regina Dart check on the herd only to find that Queen had delivered her cria.
I am hoping that Queen holds on at least another month before delivering her cria, two months would be even better. The cria is only in its ninth month of gestation and its survival chances should it be born now would be slim to none. So Hang on Queen, we know you are uncomfortable but we really need you to carry that cria for a while longer! (And you can guarantee that from now on Queen will be under very watchful eye!)
A Taste of Life at Windrush Alpacas 