Last year our females were getting later and later in the year with their births and so thinking I was being responsible I held them open over the winter so we could get them pregnant this spring and have some nice spring babies next spring (2008).

Of course by the time we got them to the stud farm and the studs were available and the females were bred weeks had become months and just this week we are completing the 2007 breeding programme......talk about frustrating.....



When you discover that alpaca females carry their cria (babies) for 11 1/2 months its very tempting to think you will get them pregnant every year and all will be well..... the reality is that a typical female alpaca will have a cria about every 18 months and anyone who says otherwise is being well.....lets just say optimistic.

So my advice if you live in a temperate climate don't plan to hold females open just keep breeding and go with the flow. To do anything else is to imagine you have more control over this process than you really do. Now if you live in an area with extremes of temperature there will be certain windows when you do not want to be breeding and you need to decide when those are.

Happy farming.....

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