The best way to find alpacas for sale is on the Alpaca Owner’s Association’s registry. If you purchase your alpacas from a local farm, you may want to have a veterinarian look the animals over prior to your purchase to ensure they are healthy and able to breed.
Breeding your female alpacas too young can lead to complications that can endanger the lives of the female and baby alpacas. Make sure your female alpaca weighs at least eighty-eight pounds before allowing her to breed.
When the male alpaca matures sufficiently to breed, its genitals will detach from the body and hang freely.
Make sure your alpacas are well fed and that their nutritional needs are met. Ensure you give a breeding female alpaca enough time to fully recover from giving birth before you breed them again. They are often healed after two weeks, but may be stressed by nursing a baby for up to six months. You may want to have both alpacas looked over by a veterinarian to ensure they are free of parasites and in good health.
The breeding pen should be fairly small. Make sure it is only two to three times larger in area than the space your male and female alpaca occupy so they can move freely but have to interact. Minimize distractions by removing everything from the breeding pen except the two alpacas.
An alpaca orgle can be fairly high pitched and is created by the reverberations of the alpaca’s vocal chords. The orgle sounds almost like a small engine running and is quite distinct from normal alpaca noises.
A single mating is usually sufficient to make ovulation occur, but will likely not impregnate the alpaca. Female alpacas may be induced to ovulate by being in close proximity to another mating pair of alpacas if you intend to breed multiple alpacas simultaneously.
If the female is receptive to mating, it will sit in a “cush” position, which looks like laying on its stomach with its legs folded beneath it. The male will continue to orgle as it woos and ultimately mounts the female.
Spitting off usually occurs when the female alpaca is stressed by its environment or does not feel healthy enough to breed. Separate the alpacas and attempt to resolve any stressors in the environment. If you do not separate them, the female may injure herself by attempting to get out of the pen.
If the female enters a cush position and allows itself to be mounted, it is likely ovulating. If the female “spits off” and avoids the male, it may either not be ovulating, or it may actually be pregnant. Repeat this process in two more weeks to see if the female is receptive to mating or avoids it.
A female will likely allow copulation every two weeks until it has conceived, after which it will not allow the male near enough to mount.
An ultrasound is the most reliable method of determining if an alpaca is pregnant. Conduct further “spit off” interactions with the breeding male every 8-12 weeks after a confirmed pregnancy to verify the pregnancy is continuing and has not been reabsorbed.
After ten months you will often be able to feel the fetus by palpating the abdominal wall of the female.
The female will separate itself from the herd and avoid interaction with others. The female’s udders, vulva and anus may all become swollen or puffy. The cervix plug is ejected from the female. This usually indicates birth will occur that day or the one immediately following it.
If the cria, or baby alpaca, leaves its mother facing upward, you should contact a vet as their may be a complication with the delivery. It is normal for the cria to hang from its mother during the birthing process for up to five minutes. Crias should emerge head and hooves first. If it begins to come out backward, contact a vet immediately.
Alpacas are herd animals, so it’s important that you allow the herd to interact with its new member. You may want to bring the cria to a vet after 24 hours to make sure it is healthy.
