Anyone else have a high maintenance girl?

[sayyadina]

She may have a low grade uterine infection. Could be worthwhile to have her uterus flushed, and then try breeding her again.

Also, what's her body condition? If she's thin, that could be why she can't maintain a pregnancy. In addition to her grain, she gets chopped alfalfa, crimped oats & beet pulp.

This is what we do: (all given twice a day) For Alpacas
For girls that need a little extra, but are not pregnant or lactating
1 cup grain
1 cup alfalfa

For girls in late pregnancy and through lactation
1 cup grain
1 cup alfalfa
1/2 cup crimped oats
1/2 cup beet pulp

Once they're done nursing, they get cut down to either the grain/alfalfa or just grain.

Nutritional deficiencies can also cause difficulties in maintaining pregnancies. There's quite a bit of information about this in Norm Evans' "Alpaca Field Manual". Might be worth having some blood work done on her.

Is this a llama or alpaca?

 

[crittergal]

It is an alpaca. I thought maybe she had an infection, because she sometimes has discharge on her tail and back legs, but the vet said she looks fine. If this breeding doesn't take, I might see about flushing her just to be sure.

She is naturally kind of trim, but she is not too thin. You can't see her ribs or anything; I would probably score her with a 4 or so. I would like to give her extra chow, but my two girls don't always come in to eat right away, so it is hard to feed them separate. The other one is a bit overconditioned, but is pregnant, so I still feed them atleast a cup a day of grain, with free choice minerals. I also give them flax meal. They have free choice grass/alfalfa hay as well.

For the bloodwork - what would they check for? Progesterone or Estrodial? The nieghbor had one that wouldn't get pregnant at all and I think that is what they checked her for.

 

[sayyadina]

Is there any color/odor to the discharge? A little clear discharge is normal when they're open.

Is she a 4 on a scale of 1-10, with 5 being average, or on a scale of 1-5, with 3 being average?

This shows you how to body score. http://www.alpaca.org.nz/downloads/pc-bodyscoring.pdf

Testing for progesterone will tell you if she has a corpus luteum or CL. This can mean that she's pregnant or has a persistent CL which will need to be treated before she can be bred.

You can also do blood work to check for nutritional deficiencies. One thing I know can cause issues in maintaining a pregnancy is a selenium deficiency.

If you don't already have it, Norm Evans' "Alpaca Field Manual" is an excellent resource to have. "Neonatal Care for Camelids" by David Anderson, Toni Cotton & Claire Whitehead is an excellent reference on breeding & birthing. These are probably the 2 books I use the most.

 

[crittergal]

I meant a body score of 4 out of ten. Sorry, I should have specified that to begin with. Very good webpage though, thanks. I have never noticed that the discharge smells bad; it is not clear, more of a brownish color. I don't have either one of those books yet, but I would like to get them. I will ask the vet about drawing some blood on her and see if there is anything out of wack. How do you tell if they have a selenium deficiency? (other than a blood test) She has free choice minerals and feed made for alpacas with minerals in it. My other female, which was a maiden, took on the first breeding last fall and is doing fine. They are both in the same pasture together with the same feed.

 

[ksalvagno]

Only a blood test will tell if they are deficient in selenium.

It sounds like she may need to be treated for a uterine infection. Even if the vet isn't seeing one. There really shouldn't be any colored discharge.

 

[sayyadina]

Colored discharge isn't normal, except for a couple days after giving birth.

4/10 is thin. You'd want them at a 5-6 for breeding, and maybe up to a 7 at the beginning of lactation. Poor condition can contribute to issues maintaining a pregnancy.

Do you have sticks that you can use to herd them with? One in each hand to make your reach bigger. At feeding time, we herd our girls into the section of our barn with several pens. Then we separate out those girls that don't need the extra food.

You can get both books from Useful Llama, which has the best price.

 

[mully]

Colored discharge isn't normal, except for a couple days after giving birth.

4/10 is thin. You'd want them at a 5-6 for breeding, and maybe up to a 7 at the beginning of lactation. Poor condition can contribute to issues maintaining a pregnancy.

I would agree and would get a culture done on the discharge and some blood work to see what her overall health is like.