They have excellent vision and can spot something a long way off. They will make an alert sound. Each alpaca has a different sound. Some are not very loud, others are louder. Either way you will not hear it in your house.

Spotting it early and alerting is as far as their ability to protect goes. It doesn’t work if there’s no one who can respond to their alert call and take the predator out. Alpacas can’t do that.

Alpacas are small animals, only weighing about as much as people do. A really big alpaca might reach 200 lbs.

They can’t kick hard enough to break a bone like a horse can. They have a soft pad on the bottom of their foot, like a dog, and two toes on each foot. They don’t have claws and they don’t have hooves. They have toenails. I’ve been kicked square a few times and it doesn’t even leave a mark. One alpaca sideswiped me with a kick and all I got was a mild scratch from her toenail. They can only kick backwards. They can’t kick out to the side or forward.

Their spit is nasty, green, slimy, and disgusting to smell, but it won’t deter a predator.

If you have a camera outside with your alpaca so that you can hear their alert, you can come out and protect your animals. If you’re not at home or aren’t watching the monitor when the alpaca alerts, it is just as much in danger as the rest of the animals.

It’s possible that a chicken being attacked by a hawk might be saved by an alpaca because they will try to stomp any small animal that they don’t trust, but once they’ve determined that hawks won’t hurt them, they won’t even alert, much less stomp it.

Having one alpaca is not healthy for the animal. Alpacas feel safer in a herd. You would have to keep at least three alpacas of the same gender to help minimize their level of stress.

So, don’t let anyone try to tell you that alpacas are good guardians without keeping all of these things in mind.

If you have questions about protecting your herd, feel free to reach out to me: (918) 815-1120.

The post Alpacas Are Not Guardians appeared first on Fitzgerald Acres Alpaca Ranch.

I bought Charlie when he was 9 years old and he’s 14 now. He turned out to be quite the diva. In the first few years I had him, I couldn’t get him to breed at all. I brought girls to him and tried everything suggested to get him to breed. I even played videos of alpacas breeding so he could hear a male orgling. That got him going a little bit, but if the female spit at him even once, which females often do during breeding, he was done. You could literally see his ego deflate and his confidence drain away.

The girls like a boy that behaves a certain way. It’s kind of obnoxious, actually. They jump up on the fence to try to reach the the girls. They snort and orgle at the them and smack their lips and make grunting noises. The girls love it! If the boy doesn’t act that way, they’re just not interested. Charlie just didn’t seem to have a clue how to behave and gave up too easily. I was starting to think I might have to rehome him.

Eventually I bought another young male, Yandu. When he reached breeding age it’s like he was born knowing what to do and the girls just loved him! So I made sure to put him where Charlie could watch and hear him breed.

Well, I guess that’s what Charlie needed, because the next time I brought Chantilli to him, he behaved like a stud should and she was clearly interested in him. Charlie, got her down immediately, but unfortunately, he was sitting too far back to connect. I tried to “help” but he screeched at me in true diva fashion. Because he is such a sensitive guy, I didn’t want to do anything that might discourage him, so I decided to just let him go through the motions. I was encouraged even though I knew there would be no baby.

When the next breeding season rolled around, I brought Chantilli to Charlie again. He orgled and snorted at her and acted exactly like he was supposed to. He chased her in circles around me and tried to jump on her like a true stud, but this time, she is the one who wasn’t ready and just kept spitting at him. I was so proud of him for not giving up. Sometimes their persistence makes the female change her mind and she will cush for him.

However, because Chantilli was on a halter and lead, I’m the one who got her spit, right in the face, over and over again. After several rounds of that from the angry female, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. So I led Chantilli out and brought in another female named Rosie. Rosie was ready. She stood patiently and wagged her tail back and forth, waiting for Charlie to do his thing. Charlie walked over to her and sniffed her side and then just walked away, completely uninterested. I felt so defeated. I knew then that I was going to have to rehome him.

Recently I had posted Charlie in several alpaca groups to find a new farm for him. But around the same time I was contacted by Audrey, a woman from Kansas who had some questions about breeding. I offered to let her come out and try Zander, my youngest male. He’s inexperienced, but he’s showing good signs. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Audrey brought two females out and the first one wasn’t ready but Zander was doing everything right. He just couldn’t convince her to cush for him. She actually even landed a pretty good kick on his chest and that seemed to knock the desire right out of him.

The second female was clearly ready, but Zander had lost interest. Alpacas become sexually mature at around 3 years of age and he’s still got a few months left till he turns three.

Audrey and I were both disappointed but that’s how it goes sometimes. I reluctantly offered to try Charlie. I told her I hadn’t had much luck with him in the past but it couldn’t hurt to try. So that’s what we did.

I am so very proud to announce that Charlie had a successful breeding today for the first time in all of his 14 years! Finally! He even let me move her tail out of the way for him and I could clearly see that they were connected. So hopefully, around this time next year, we’ll see Charlie’s first offspring running around next to it’s mama on Audrey’s farm!

Audrey will have her female tested for pregnancy in a few days. I will let you know what we find out!

The post Charlie Finally Did It! appeared first on Fitzgerald Acres Alpaca Ranch.

Their size difference can be deceiving because some llamas are on the small side and some alpacas are on the large side. Alpacas typically weigh 100 – 200 lbs while llamas weigh 300 – 500 lbs and are significantly taller.

The easiest way to tell is by comparing the ears and the placement of the tail.

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On the way back to my truck afterwards, we got stopped several times by folks wanting a picture with Yandu, including a group of very suave young men all dressed up for prom. One of them asked Devon to take the pic for them and handed her a phone.

Later, Devon was on Facebook and one of her friends posted a pic of her son looking all “James Bond” in a dark suit and bowtie. She immediately recognized him as one of the young men that asked for a pic with Yandu. So she asked her friend about it.

The post Such a Small World appeared first on Fitzgerald Acres Alpaca Ranch.

One particularly beautiful, warm Spring day, I looked out over my alpaca farm, admiring the new Spring grass dotted with delicate wildflowers. It had been a brutally cold winter and I was ready to see it go. I stood in the sun and raised my arms above my head, stretching the stiffness out of my spine. That’s when I saw it. A lone vulture circling low over the girls’ pasture. A tendril of dread rapidly developed in the pit of my stomach. I thought for sure one of my alpacas was really gone this time (most of them were older alpacas at the time).

I quickly ran to where I could see the area that the huge bird was scoping out and, sure enough, Fudge was there, lying in the middle of the pasture on her side, not moving. I watched her for a tense moment, hoping to see the tail or ear flick, but it didn’t happen. So, I ran toward the gate, hollering her name the whole way, but she never budged.

I entered the pasture, continuing to call out her name until I was right up on her. She still didn’t move. Tears filled my eyes as I stood there looking at her floofy black fleece. I knew I would have to touch her to be sure. I didn’t want to. I said her name one last time. Suddenly, to my immense relief, she just popped up. She stared at me for a moment with a what-is-wrong-with-you-woman look. I wiped at my eyes while scolding her for scaring the life out of me, but it didn’t phase her one bit. She just turned away and walked lazily back to the shelter for some hay.

As I watched her go, I caught sight of the dejected vulture as it flew off to look for a less lively meal elsewhere.

If you would like to meet Fudge, come and visit us at our alpaca farm in Collinsville, OK for one of our tours. You can find dates for our tours and events on our Events Calendar. To book a private event, just give us a call: (918) 815-1120 or send an email to: info@fitzgeraldalpacas.com.

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The post Alpaca Alert Calls appeared first on Fitzgerald Acres Alpaca Ranch.

If you’ve been here at our alpaca farm in Collinsville, Oklahoma for a farm tour, you’ve heard me talk about the three kinds of teeth alpaca’s have and how they use them. This picture shows two of them, incisors and fighting teeth. —->

Incisors

Alpaca’s have incisors at the front of their mouths, but only on the bottom. On top they have a hard dental ridge that the incisors fit against. This allows them to graze by “clipping” the grass rather than ripping it out of the ground.

If the incisors grow past the dental ridge, they have to be trimmed back to fit again. You can see the incisors and dental ridge on the left side of the first image.

Fighting Teeth

The second kind of alpaca teeth are what really surprise people. They are called fighting teeth, and for very good reason! Fighting teeth are very sharp and curve backwards. Alpacas have three on each side of their mouths, two on top and one on bottom.

Both males and females have fighting teeth, but it is typically only the males who use them and only when fighting with other males. Luckily for us, alpacas don’t use their fighting teeth on humans!

Males can do significant damage to each other with these sharp teeth. They will bite each other’s ears, feet and lower legs. They can even emasculate each other, which is their primary goal. After all, what better way to get rid of the competition than to render them sterile!

For these reasons young males’ fighting teeth have to be trimmed down as soon as they erupt. That happens around age 3. After the first trimming they just have to be checked periodically. If they start to regrow they only need to be trimmed down again.

Molars

The third set of alpaca teeth are molars which are used to grind the feed, hay and grasses they eat. They sit way back in their mouth and are very hard to get a good look at. So, when an alpaca needs it’s molars worked on it has to be sedated. That way the vet can get to them without having to fight the animal.

Too bad you can’t just tell an alpaca to open it’s mouth wide and say ahhhhh! They hate the dentist more than we do! Well… except maybe this guy. —->

To hear more about these curious camelids, schedule your tour today!

Want to make arrangements for your own special event? Just email us at info@fitzgeraldalpacas.com or give us a call at: (918) 815-1120.

The post Alpaca Teeth are Gnarly! appeared first on Fitzgerald Acres Alpaca Ranch.

First, while we were working with one of the alpacas who was also getting tested, Wrigley jumped, flat-footed, over a 5′ cattle panel to get out of the holding pen and away from us! We managed to get the frightened animal back into the holding pen fairly quickly, but good grief, a 5’ panel! All of my fences are 5’ tall! It was clear to me then, that she was only choosing to stay with me. If I ever made her mad enough, she could easily jump the fence and run away from home like a petulant 8-year-old!

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