Fully 25% of alpacas that become pregnant do not go full term. They either reabsorb the embryo or abort. The majority of these losses occur in the first few weeks of pregnancy as you might expect. I am not certain how this compares to 0ther breeds.

However, as an alpaca breeder its vital to stay on top of the situation..so to speak...by spit testing your females throughout their pregnancy and doing at least three ultrasound scans along the way.

This afternoon we put one of our junior herd-sires onto spit testing duty with the females. It can be a tough job chasing around females with good intentions only to get a face full of semi chewed grass spat in your face.

So the afternoon wasn't so good for Conman but we were pleased that everyone was spitting off.

Adrian Stewart