Sunday, June 17, 2007

'Paca Porno

I'm going to talk about alpaca breeding because I think the whole alpaca thing is so interesting. First of all, you must realize that alpacas are induced ovulators which means they won't ovulate until conditions are right. The conditions are, or so I understand, that the male must penetrate her and while he is doing that, he orgles. The orgle is a loud, gurgling sound that the guy makes the whole time he is with his woman. The mating itself may go on for half an hour or so and the whole time, he is doing his orgling thing. It may take a long time because he is a dribbler, not a spurter. :-)

The reason I'm mentioning this today is because we have been trying to get a breeding on Celeste and Ariana, so every morning this week one of them have gone over to visit Alde, our visiting stud. We aren't having much luck. If the female is ready, she will cush (like little Orion is doing in the picture above). If not ready or pregnant, she supposedly will spit at him, maybe kick, and run off. Neither of the girls are doing this, but they just won't go down for him.

We are definitely amateur breeders and are getting frustrated. I guess there is about a two week period when their receptivity raises and falls. I think we need to be patient for another week or so.

Update on the two girls who are off to be bred - haven't heard from Lady Belita in Jackson, but Sonata, at Belding, probably is bred and will be ultrasounded soon. We're hoping - that's with Tribute, the handsome gray guy with incredibly fine fiber.

The picture above is of Orion and mom, Ariana, just an hour after birth. Alpacas don't lick or clean their cria up like many animals but let them dry off naturally. This makes me think of another fun fact to know and shout. They normally have their cria in the morning or before 1 or 2. The theory on this is that in the mountains (Andes) of South America, it gets very cold at night and to survive the newborn needs that sun of daytime to dry off and warm up.

Later in the day. Hmmm, this probably WAS "too much information" . Sorry, I guess I just got carried away but, like I said, I find the whole process incredibly interesting and sometimes assume that the whole world wants to know what I know........and then the teaching genes just kick in.

10 comments:

Peggy said...

Great info that I never knew or even thought to ask. At first I wondered if this wasn't TMI (too much information). But it was really great. And that baby is adroable.

Peggy said...

Oh gosh!!!! I was only kidding. I thoroughly enjoyed the info.

Laughingrat said...

Hey, I for one did not know that. ;) It was kinda interesting.

Baby alpacas look so soft!

Marianne said...

Well with breeding oats ourselfs I am not so easily shocked :-)
Male goats are spurters though !
Goats usually don't deliver at night too, the last time I saw it when they were born (they mostly have twins).

Marianne said...

Hmmm, breeding oats, better check my spelling before posting !
Should be GOATS.

Amy Sue said...

Boy I never knew I would be so interested in the things you and the other ladies talk about...Max thinks we are all really strange!!!:)

Zu said...

That wasn't too much info! I found it very interesting. The part where they make that funny noise was kinda.... funny. he-he! :-)

Sheknits said...

Oh, now I get it, that is noise my husband is making when we are.....oh, oops TMI.
Loved that post...I can't believe your life...it's surreal to me.

kim said...

I loved reading about alpaca breeding. Wonderful blog!

Jane Carlstrom said...

Very interesting also well written, I love reading your articles. Very different also from our polled hereford cattle, where the bull is simply in with the cow herd and we seldom see the conception event. Though we are often present at the birth.
Hugs,
Jane

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