Why I Regret Getting Alpacas

are you okay I've had alpacas for eight years and I have seen it all uh what's happening here today's the day that I give them their monthly shots but it's also the day that I'm questioning whether or not it's even best to keep them on our farm so the biggest thing is I don't want to chase him I just want to slowly just make it very clear that there's no other option they spit at potential threats they generally don't spit at humans but if you are caught in a crossfire or if you own an alpaca named Ringo you could uh be in Danger real quick we just gently move him into the corner and try to just you know when he feels like there's nowhere else for him to go he's not going to try to go there and now we see one of their defense mechanisms Ringo's the littlest is a lot but he's got the most fight this is just another precaution we can take we want to be really careful though as we're putting these on they breathe from right here and we don't want to restrict their nasal passage by making their halter too tight alpacas talk to one another by humming you'll hear lots of that um also notice the way that I'm tying this knot earlier I mentioned that we want to be really careful not to restrict their breathing so in an emergency situation like he falls over or something like that and he's he's pulling on that I can just take this and pull this and release him in one specific pull and oh so he's gonna Cush there you go buddy okay one down so Paul is my favorite hey buddy I know I know I will definitely say that when I first got into alpacas eight or nine years ago it was definitely because they're very cute there's the promise of them being great flock guardians but I have since many years and many alpacas later and especially since we've moved to a new climate really really questioned my my choices in getting alpacas because they are constantly trying to invent new ways to die our biggest issue especially around here is parasites and trying to keep up with you know parasite production we have to administer shots at least once a month sometimes more we have to keep up on natural dewormers we have to you know watch out for their feet Health they're prone to respiratory issues because their nasal passages if something gets stuck in there can create an infection really easily they have to be sheared and if you don't know how to do that yourself which I certainly didn't when I first got started you have to find a Shearer and if you don't have a ton of alpacas getting a Shear that will even come for that few animals is a bit of a challenge in and of itself and then furthermore it's going to be super super expensive sorry buddy you're okay I'm gonna go Bud even though the packages are becoming more and more popular now finding a vet that is familiar with them and knows you know more than you do about alpacas is really difficult we actually recently had a situation where I took Paul to the emergency vet who was supposedly the you know area expert on alpacas the person had never touched an alpaca before so literally I put my animal under a ton of stress and pressure to put him in the back of our car and drive him all the way down there as he was in distress and we got to the vet and basically I ended up administering all of the meds that we needed to get from the vet myself which I could have very easily done at home if I was able to actually have access to those meds because they couldn't even get the IV in and so there's just a lot of things like that that are definitely worth considering because truly these animals they are amazing but it's also been really really hard to have to bury a large animal that I cared a lot about that just simply couldn't be helped by the local veterinary offerings so our Beatles George Ringo and Paul became the threedles when John died last year due to the fact that I couldn't find a vet that knew enough about alpacas to actually save his life you know as as cute and fluffy as alpacas are it's a big hold a dig if you get in over your head and I'm thankful I've learned a lot since then but that was a pretty hard lesson to learn the hard way there's generally one lead male and he is equipped with a castration tooth he will then use that castration tooth to try to tackle all the other males in the herd and make it so that their genetics don't get passed on only his two alpacas have a communal dung pile which is especially important to their survival because if they were just to poo and pee all over the place and then eat in the same spot parasites feed on their poo and pee and so because these particular animals are so susceptible to parasites and other diseases Evolution caused them to develop this very interesting habit of basically being potty trained me Georgie here we go Bud would I ever get alpacas again probably not would I recommend that you get alpacas if you are looking for a fluffy cuddle muffin that is just going to be the best flock guardian and companion for you and the rest of your animals definitely please don't get alpacas but if you are ready to find a good vet make sure you've got someone to share them once a year and feel comfortable staying up with all of the health things specifically parasites heat extreme weather dentist stuff I mean look at those little teeths then yeah get some alpacas they are strange little land clouds that are from another planet and truly are so fun and funny to have around the farm but they're also more stress inducing than any of the other animals on the farm combined two facts about alpacas their lips move independently of one another so they're little finger lips they grab onto little things with these little lippies and also they don't have teeth on the top they only have teeth on the bottom so this little pad is what they chew their food against which ultimately is why we do worry about Georgie's teeth I've been keeping a good eye on them I actually did get a tooth saw in case we have to take drastic measures but they're actually not getting any longer but shoot if I couldn't find an alpaca Shearer and had to learn how to do that myself couldn't find a vet that could administer an IV to an alpaca what do you think the chances are that I would be able to find an alpaca dentist George is also the one that I worry the most about because he showed pretty severe symptoms of meningeal worm which is a parasite that affects their neurological system and basically makes them go lame from their back legs forward some alpacas will recover from that neurological damage some won't he's done a pretty good job at getting over it but I can always tell that he's stressed in some form or another because he starts to get really wobbly and that's actually generally how some of these longer-term illnesses really show themselves is the animal seems healthy and fine until Suddenly It's not they conceal it really really well okay little man please be a very gentle boy here Ringo you keep your spit to yourself you little jerk there you go little man good boy and just think about the fact that this is probably not the best but it's also something that does need to happen on a very regular basis we want to kill all of the female parasites at the height of their reproductive time which Insanity of all insanities is during the full moon so we take all these little random tools that we have in our tool kit and try to use them to keep these little jerks alive so knowing how difficult it is to keep these guys alive and how stressful it is to keep them a lot of people are probably going to wonder why I do in fact keep them and the first and most obvious thing I think for me is that because I took them in changing Farms is extremely stressful for Animals I want the day that they come to my farm be the last time they have to be in a trailer unless you know there's something awful that happens I also really like them I mean they're so ridiculous they're so entertaining but they do add value to the farm they have fantastic fiber it's hypoallergenic waterproof it Wicks away moisture before I learned how to spin I used to have all of their fiber sent to a mill where it would be turned into little insoles to keep the Feats of people in nursing homes warm during the winter a lot of hikers like to use alpaca socks because it's cooling part of the reason that alpacas are set fascinating creatures is their fiber is actually what helps them regulate their body temperature so in the spring we have to be really really careful about when we go about shearing them because if it gets too cold at night without their fiber they don't have any way to regulate their body temperature but then again if they get too hot out in the sun and we don't have any way to cool them then you know they could die of heat stroke so there's another little thing to juggle hey Polly come on Buddies Jeffrey get out of here you stinky little stink pot Jeffrey see that little beard that's where he catches all of his hormone-rich peepee his very own goat version of ax body spray learning about parasites and chemical resistance and natural deworming and especially how all of that related to the lunar cycle was absolutely fascinating to me I've collected everything that I've learned about alpacas their care and keeping them safe on my Squarespace website Anne of alltrades.com on my website you'll find all kinds of other articles about homesteading DIY projects and so much more Squarespace has been a fantastic resource for someone who's not super tech savvy like me to be able to easily drag and drop everything that I want to share with the world into a beautiful artist design template that then shares it with the world it's not just a Blog though Squarespace also helps me to host an online store where you can buy all of the online courses that I have you can find project plans merchandise and a whole bunch more if you're thinking about starting a website of your own check out Squarespace and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com animal trades for a 10 discount if you didn't notice this earlier in the video there are a lot of Critters running around here 101 to be exact and if you want to see what morning chores while working full time with a crew like this looks like check out this video I will see you there cheers June [Music]

Channel: Anne of All Trades

Views: 254,763

Keywords: anne of all trades, alpacas, homesteading, animal care, farm, farm animals, alpaca care, alpaca farm, alpaca

Id: NCoAoYiIAeo

Length: 11min 27sec (687 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 24 2023