13½
months - and still no cria!
Disrespectful Llama
Late-Day Babies
Toenails
After
witnessing a normal birth with the cria up and feeding in
half an hour, mother and baby were left alone to bond. However,
returning later to check the placenta had been expelled,
we were confronted by a dam with a partly retained placenta
... the rest flapping and dangling around her legs ... spinning
in circles. Not surprisingly, she was distressed.
As
we approached she expelled the remaining placenta ... but
the experience had frightened her considerably, and she
totally rejected her baby. Her behaviour was such we thought
she may injure it if they were left together.
After
two days with no improvement, we called Kay Patterson, a
US breeder with 25 years experience in llama-breeding. She
advised to force the mother to feed her cria.
Easier
said than done, we thought as the cria was in danger of
being kicked in the head. Still, we placed the dam in the
llama chute with both belly bands around her. The wary cria
didn't want to go under this violent machine … but a little
persuasion and some restraint to mum's kicking-leg … and
the cria finally began to drink.
We
repeated the procedure two hourly and that night, as with
the two previous nights, we locked them in adjoining pens
so the cria was safe, yet nearby.
Next
morning mum was less agitated, so without belly bands, we
successfully fed the cria. Afterwards, she was less aggressive
so we left them together and observed. With less human intervention
each time she allowed her cria to drink, although we still
supervised all feeds for the next 6 days.
Exactly
one week after forcing the dam to feed her cria, they were
back in the paddock with the other llamas, our errant mum
as protective of her baby as any other mother.
Admittedly,
it had been a hectic week … but it sure beat 4 months of
bottle feeding.
13½
months - and still no cria!
Disrespectful Llama
Late-Day Babies
Toenails
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