PRELUDE:
I’m a City Slicker. At least that is
what my wife’s family calls me. For those of you not
familiar with the term, it is a description of a person who
grew up in the ”big city” atmosphere. I grew up in central
Pennsylvania in a town called Williamsport, known for little
league baseball and excellent trout fishing and deer
hunting. Definitely not the “big city”, but I lived in the
suburbs and participated in some outdoor activities. My
wife (Marcia) grew up on a dairy farm, so when Marcia and I
bought alpacas, it was business as usual for her. For me,
it was a new experience. That’s where the fun started.
For as long as I have been around her
parent’s dairy farm, I never had to deliver or participate
in the delivery of a calf. Now with our own alpaca farm, I
find myself needing the experience to deliver a cria, if
called upon. Over the course of 6 births and 2 years,
opportunities to help deliver a cria have been sparse either
due to a home Penn State football game or work. Marcia
and/or her parents were always around during those times to
attend to the birth.
To help me become more of an ‘un’ City
Slicker, I attended a Neonatal seminar sponsored by SAFONA
with Missi Cooper, DVM. The description of the class was a
“wet lab”. The term was unknown to me but it sounded like I
was in for something serious.
MORNING SESSION:
The seminar was held at the 4-H center
in Collegeville, PA, with 20+ other alpaca owners in
attendance. The morning consisted of an interactive
presentation in which Missi covered topics from pre-delivery
to delivery and post-delivery. For pre-delivery, Missi
presented the symptoms, “When is She Due to Deliver?” Missi
talked about frequent trips to the dung pile, humming, and
cushing with legs out to the side rather then underneath.
Other symptoms are not eating, keeping away from the herd,
and restlessness. During Missi’s presentation, my mind
drifted to a time when I went to work thinking one of my
females would not give birth for another 1 to 2 weeks. Two
hours later, I received a phone call informing me that a new
cria was out in the field.
Missi went on to talk about the 3
stages of Parturition. Stage 1 is the dilation of the
cervix and contracting uterus (can last up to 24 hours),
stage 2 is expulsion of the fetus (can usually last 15
minutes and sometimes up to 2 hours), and stage 3 is the
expulsion of the placenta (should complete in 2 hours).
There was much discussion on delivery. Normal delivery has
the cria’s nose and feet (with pads pointing down) out first
and is usually over in 15 minutes. On the other hand,
abnormal delivery is called dystocia, meaning a slow or
difficult labor or delivery. A common cause is shoulder
lock where the head and front legs are protruding but the
dam is unable to pass the shoulders. Other causes are
malposition or malpresentations of the cria such as one
front foot showing or the back feet showing. Many of the
solutions to the problems involved pushing the cria back in
and repositioning it to have the head and front feet
presented first. For me, the first move would be to “CALL
THE VET!!!” Then I would consider what I could do to help
in the meantime. Prior to this class, the meantime would
have been filled with panic.
Next Missi talked about what to do
after the cria is born. The signs that the cria is normal
include the following: standing within an hour after birth;
dam being attentive to the cria; cria weight being 12 to 20
pounds; and cria passing meconium within 12 hours. Even
more important though is to see the cria nursing soon after
birth. The first milk from mom is colostrum which is most
critical for the cria’s immune system. If supplemental
colostrum is needed and no alpaca or llama colostrum is
available, the next best would be sheep or goat colustrum
and then cow. A cria should have an IgG greater than 800 at
24-36 hours old and should ideally gain half a pound a
day. If you see the cria running and playing and
interacting with its environment, those are all good signs
as well. There was discussion about separating the mom and
cria from the rest of the herd to encourage the bonding of
the two and to prevent any other crias from sneaking the
first milk from the new mom. During this discussion, once
again my mind drifted this time to an occasion when my
clever cat Blizzard sneaked freshly poured milk from
Marcia’s glass while she was not looking.
The presentation wrapped up with a
discussion on delivered crias that are not normal. Some
problems could be congenital defects such as choanal
altresia (wry nose), atresia ani (abnormal anus), and cleft
palate. Others could be related to environmental factors
such as hypothermia (cold), hyperthermia (hot), or
hypoglycemia (low sugar). Still others could be related to
infectious diseases such as septicemia (bacteria infection)
or diarrhea.
LUNCH:
After the presentation, the group broke
for lunch. For me to be interested in lunch, I had to get
my mind off that last part of the presentation. But after
seeing the food that many of the attendees brought and set
up in a buffet style, it was an easy transition. Plus I was
wondering if anyone would eat my chocolate chip cookies.
Everyone was hungry and the lunch was delicious, so there
were hardly any leftovers.
AFTERNOON SESSION:
The afternoon session was a “wet lab”.
I had little idea what it would be (Should I have brought a
“wet suit?”). I was glad I ate beforehand. Missi set
up a table with two wooden contraptions, each one made to
simulate a uterus and birth canal. A real alpaca fetus was
placed in each simulator with Missi secretly positioning the
fetuses in some type of malposition. Each attendee was
provided with an arm length plastic glove / sleeve. Without
looking, each attendee reached into the ‘uterus’ to
determine the position of the fetus and the location of the
legs and head. Everyone did this multiple times with the
fetus repositioned differently each time.
On my first try, I was happy to
identify a head and leg. On another try with a different
fetus position, I thought I had identified the head. I was
tempted to put my other hand in the ‘uterus’ to help with
the diagnosis of the position. Marcia promptly reminded me
that a normal alpaca uterus is usually not large enough for
two hands and two arms. After several unsuccessful minutes
with my one hand, I had to peek and Missi showed me that I
had a rear hock. In that instance, the cria had been
positioned backwards in the uterus.
I thought the entire seminar was very
informative and educational. The “wet lab” was especially
valuable for me (a City Slicker) to understand first hand
the various potential fetal positions. It also provided me
with some hands on experience of problems that I could
encounter and correct. Instead of panicking, I now have
information and experience to help my alpacas if I am faced
with an emergency situation. Lastly, it was enjoyable to
continue meeting other alpaca owners and socializing with
the SAFONA members.
Ron Rissel
Perkiomen Creek Ranch
