Many of you who have come to visit my alpaca ranch may remember me telling you about my smallest male alpaca, Charlie. More specifically, you may remember me telling you about trying, unsuccessfully, to get him to breed.
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!