Karin, born to Joyce two years ago, May 2011. She is the mother of the new cria, born today.
Lucy Llama had her first baby, a little girl with a spotted brown and white, with a touch of black soft coat. Lucy is a correct llama with nice conformation and good banana ears. She is halter trained, though I have not put a halter on her.When I have to move her, I simply twisted a twine like a halter around her nose and head and led her with that. I knew she was pregnant for sure after Karin delivered her little one a month ago, but was unsure of Lucy's date. It is hard to tell with llamas. Joyce llama lost her baby because she had it in winter and it froze before it could stand. I was sad, but what could I do? Llamas are supposedly seasonal breeders, that is breeding so the llamas are born in early summer, so obviously something was not quite right for her to have the baby in January.
Anyhow, the little one was strong and up and able to look to nurse, but Lucy's milk had not come in. From what I can gather, the cria's sucking stimulates the onset of the milk and the first 24 hours there may not be milk at all. This is contrary to most other species that must drink within an hour or two of birth. I am thinking that the llama baby is getting a little each time. The llama mother's udder is inside her body, so it is difficult to tell if she has milk. Lucy has four teats that are tiny. Compared to the teats of a goat, they are about a quarter of the size. One would think that with the size of the cria, the teats would be larger than on a goat, but that is not the case.
The cria attempted to nurse quite a few times and I did observe her sucking, so perhaps she was getting something. If she is robust and doing well then no intervention will be necessary. Crias tend to be very hardy and self sufficient and are extremely hard to bottle feed, so it would be wonderful if it all worked out in her favour, and mine.
Welcome to the world little one!
Anyhow, the little one was strong and up and able to look to nurse, but Lucy's milk had not come in. From what I can gather, the cria's sucking stimulates the onset of the milk and the first 24 hours there may not be milk at all. This is contrary to most other species that must drink within an hour or two of birth. I am thinking that the llama baby is getting a little each time. The llama mother's udder is inside her body, so it is difficult to tell if she has milk. Lucy has four teats that are tiny. Compared to the teats of a goat, they are about a quarter of the size. One would think that with the size of the cria, the teats would be larger than on a goat, but that is not the case.
The cria attempted to nurse quite a few times and I did observe her sucking, so perhaps she was getting something. If she is robust and doing well then no intervention will be necessary. Crias tend to be very hardy and self sufficient and are extremely hard to bottle feed, so it would be wonderful if it all worked out in her favour, and mine.
Welcome to the world little one!
The new baby girl, born to Karin today.
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