This weekend we did our monthly herd health day. We weigh the younger alpacas (typically we do not weigh the older pregnant girls or the older boys, we use body score to make sure they are doing ok). The young ones we like to weigh to make sure they are growing as they should.
For this years cria was have these weights:
Lily, at 5.5 months old = 73 pounds
Pocahontas, at 4 months = 53 pounds
Cavalier, at 3.25 months = 37 pounds
They are all growing well. We've notice Lily now hangs out with the yearling girls, whereas Po and Cavalier tend to run and romp around together.
Cavalier has been the first of this years cria to eat grain. We have tried to convince Lily to eat some grain, but she will not have anything to do with it. I do not know why, but she will see a bowl of grain and will lay down and roll right by it, knocking over the bowl. She does this every time, so it was more than a coincidence. I do not know why she thinks she needs to roll and knock the bowl over. Po has shown no interest in grain either (at least she doesn't knock the bowl over). I had not yet tried to Cavalier when one day I saw him standing next to Sancha when she ate. Sancha is older and is a messy eater, so she drops quite a bit out of her mouth when she eats. Cavalier figured this out and was snatching up everything she dropped. Smart boy! We joke this is because his mom is Victoria, who is well known on our farm for being a pig. She will do anything to get to grain, and has been observed ignoring her baby in order to eat hay. Once I realized Cavalier was interested in grain, I started giving him is own bowl. The first couple times he ignored the bowl, but tonight he started eating and ate every drop. I hope the other two cria will copy his behavior and start eating grain too. Especially Lily, who is getting quite big. I worry how much of a strain her nursing may put on her mom.
2 comments:
Isn't is amazing how fast they grow! We will have to come over and see your crias again soon! Our little girls are almost 3 months old and don't seem to touch the grain yet either. On the other hand, d'Artagnan was eating grain, hay/grass and drinking out of the water bucket when he was only 2 weeks old. He is a monster...at 3 months old, he weighs 65 lbs and is already developing in the "male department" if you know what I mean. He jumps right on top during breedings and has even brought open females down. Crazy!
Oh my! 65 pounds already! His mom is good sized so that makes sense. Cavalier is out of Victoria, who isn't very big. But Lily is good sized, as are her parents.
Stop by anytime. We are generally home all weekend, and on weeknights we are usually home by 4 p.m. You've got to see Po, now that she is showing her gray, it's incredible.
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