Alpaca Momma

Our female alpaca, Vegas, has been a big help to us over the years. Vegas will nurse and take care of any cria that needs help. Vegas is a beautiful female alpaca. Vegas had two crias of her own and then I removed her from our breeding program. We keep her open and she helps with any cria in need of milk. I guess you could call her an alpaca wet nurse.

When I need Vegas to feed a cria, I simply put her and the cria in a small pen for one night. By morning they have bonded and the cria is nursing off of Vegas. The cria has a new mom and Vegas has a new baby and we’re all happy.

One time after shearing we had a new mom and her cria that didn’t recognize each other. Both mom and baby were crying for each other and they were standing right next to each other… how crazy is that? I put the mom and cria in a small pen together but they still could not connect. I tried giving the cria a bottle to hold him over but he would not drink from a bottle. Vegas to the rescue! I put Vegas in with them and after a few minutes the baby was nursing off of Vegas. That evening I took Vegas out and left mom and baby in the pen together for the night. By morning they were bonded once again.

This past spring we left Vegas in the pen with the moms and babies. Before I had a chance to take Vegas out of the pen a female cria started bonding with Vegas. The cria’s mom had plenty of milk but the cria enjoyed nursing off both females so I didn’t have the heart to take Vegas away from her. At three months old the female cria’s mother died from a bowel obstruction. God had a plan… I was so happy I left Vegas in the pen with them. It only took Vegas 24 hours to make enough milk for the cria. At 3 months old Desirae weighed 42 pounds… she’s a nice big healthy girl!

Vegas is highly respected by the herd. In the picture above the young females are gathered around her at the trough and they want to be near her. I can tell they love and respect her. Vegas has helped me with several crias over the years and she is worth her weight in gold to me! 🙂