One week on for baby Cocoa, our baby alpaca, otherwise known as a cria. He has had 7 days of trying to persuade his mum to love him, but with no success. We have given up on her too, after trying every combination of shutting her alone in a pen with baby, with companion and baby, milking her, trying to hold her still while the little one tries to suckle - you name it, we've tried it.
So it's bottle feeds, five times a day - just when I had reached the stage of leaving all the lambs to their own devices, and had put the powdered milk and bottles away! One consolation is that he drinks well from a bottle, and will take a 6 or 7oz bottle at each feed. Powdered lamb milk is tricky stuff (you can't buy powdered alpaca milk) - you have to feed enough to sustain the young animal, but not too much to upset its digestive system.
The 'aunty alpaca' pictured in last entry, and still in the background here, continues to let the little fella hang around with her - at least for now - it will be interesting to see what happens when she has her own baby later this month. As for people, well everyone thinks little Cocoa is adorable, and wants to help with feeding - so he has no shortage of surrogate aunties or nannies, but we know we have to be careful. Rearing male alpacas has to be a disciplined business, as they can become aggressive and unmanageable when older. This means contact only when feeding, and ensuring that he socialises with the rest of the herd at all other times.
Cocoa has to learn that he is an alpaca, first and foremost.
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