Saturday, January 8, 2011

Herd Health Weekend

The first weekend of each month (or the second weekend if we have other things going on the first weekend) is set aside for herd health. Herd Health is when we weigh the young ones (anyone under 2 years old), we give any necessary shots, we trim toe nails, and assess body score (weight). We also look them all over to make sure there are no underlying issues. Alpacas are well known to be stoic and not show when they have a problem, so it is essential to keep a close eye on them.

Today we completed herd health with just over half our herd, 14 of the 22 residents on our farm. This included all the animals back by our house: the dams, most of the 2010 cria, and the yearling girls. Tomorrow we will go up to the boy's barn and complete their herd health for the month.

I am happy to report that neither J or I got injured today. Typically one of us has something happen. The only injury that happened today was that Tehya was giving us a hard time while trimming her nails, and the wick (a vein) in her nail got nicked.

You can't see anything in this picture other than that she has feet. The black tip on her feet are nails, like what you would find on a dog. Also like a dog, there is a vein in the nail.



What is noticed, is that where ever she walks there is a trail of blood:



There isn't much that can be done to stop the bleeding, it will clot on it's own. I guess if it was really bad Blood Stop could be used. It actually helped that there was snow outside, I imagine it numbed her nail, and it helped block the cut.

2 comments:

Ertman-Trowbridge Family said...

Poor girl. We have the same thing with the cats sometimes. But that injury is minor. At least you and J are fine!

oak haven alpacas said...

I remember the first time I nicked it on my dog. He was my first dog, and it was the first time I cut his nails. I called the vet in a panic (the receptionist almost laughed at me but could tell my distress). The blood always makes it look like it's bad, even if it is a minor thing.

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