Decked by a critter!

Corky · #1 07/27/06, 04:56 PM

As we don't have a forum for Alpacas, and to be honest this could have happened with another type critter anyway, I am posting it here. OK Cabin?

anyway.... We put halters on our alpacas last weekend so we could give them shots and worm them.
After we were finished, DH chose to leave the halters on them for a while.

Who knows why. Anyway after taking the lead ropes off he couldn't catch them again.
I managed to catch them all but one and take them off after many bumps and bruses. All but one. One of the really big guys.

DH tried several times and got hurt everytime so he gave up.
That poor critter wore that halter all week.
Last night I decided I was going to get the thing off. I am almost 65 and 5' 2".
I had him cornered in the stall and I used feed as bait. It took a while but I finally was touching him and he was eating out of my hand.
I caught the halter and he lunged. Did I say he is a big guy? I kept my hold and he settled down. I then realized I had the wrong side of the halter and no lead rope handy. Drats!!!
When I tried to change sides he threw back his head on that long neck and got me square in the face! I wear glasses. THAT HURT!!!!
Thought my nose was broke. Wasn't. Thought my glasses were broke. They wern't.
I GOT THAT SUCKER OFF TOO!!!!! I couldn't see a thing as my glasses were knocked off and my face was full of dust but I hung on and finally got that darn thing off and fed him more feed from my hand to settle him down.

I AM SO PROUD OF ME!!!!!!awwwww.... a day in the life of a homesteader!

Jerngen · #2 07/27/06, 05:25 PM

LOL! Not laughing at you but the image of a 5'2" 64 year young determined woman wrestling with that critter! Good for you! I hope you are feeling better soon! I have to show my wife this story because she keeps saying she wants to raise Alpacas eventually.

Westwood · #3 07/27/06, 05:34 PM

Ohhhhh, if you knew Corky you'd have no doubt she'd prevail!!

Spinner · #4 07/27/06, 05:39 PM

Are you telling us that all those commercials showing the calm friendly alpaca's are not being 100% honest with us? LOL

cath · #5 07/27/06, 08:12 PM

Hubby and I always try to work together when we are haltering or working with the alpacas. Our first attempts should have been on America's Funniest Home Videos!

We've had great luck using a 8 ft length of white plastic pipe to separate and corner a 'paca to get the halter on. We hold it horizontal in the middle of the pipe and gently flap the ends up and down. It doesn't spook them and does a great job of herding one into a corner of the fence.

I keep trying to get a halter on when one is feeding from my hand but haven't had luck yet except when our female is hugely pregnant or nursing. But the boys are too skittish. And fast!

Corky · #6 07/27/06, 08:37 PM

Yep! Them critters are fast!
I have been sent flying by that smallest one several times.
The first time was when he was barely a year old.
I didn't even see him comming. I was trying to catch him and I scared him and instead of running away he chest butted me.
Didn't even feel it but I did feel the ground when I got there.

The rule is don't startle them. You will loose!

You want a laugh you should read the old threads about when he thought I was his girl friend. Oh my! Needless to say... he is no longer a fully intact male now. I showed him by golly!!!

Ozarkguy · #7 07/27/06, 08:59 PM

.

TOO FUNNY Corky! Thanks for the chuckle!

This was one of those that should be on "worlds most amazing videos"!

But alas, mom knows the critter acts up but still takes care of the youngun...

...."and fed him more feed from my hand to settle him down."

Thanks for letting us in on what alpacas are REALLY like!

Good luck and keep us posted on this mischievious critter of yours!

.

Fla Gal · #8 07/27/06, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corky

You want a laugh you should read the old threads about when he thought I was his girl friend. Oh my! Needless to say... he is no longer a fully intact male now. I showed him by golly!!!

I remember that thread and how you promptly showed him he was not your mate. They do sound like lovin' critters.

Happy to hear you were able to get the halter off with a minimum of a fight. That hurts a lot when your glasses get smacked into your nose or face. Ouch! Good for you. You go girl!

big rockpile · #9 07/27/06, 10:32 PM

Glad your ok.

big rockpile

marvella · #10 07/28/06, 12:10 AM

gotta admire that homestead determination!

corky, you be careful out there!

sgrmtndrone · #11 07/28/06, 05:00 AM

Quote:

to be honest this could have happened with another type critter anyway

Glad you are ok. A few years ago we were given a pair of Emu's . DS#2 & I rented a Uhaul to go after them . We had never been around a emu and we did not have a clue on handeling them . So we figured we would catch them and tie their feet together. We got it done , but I ended up with scratches and a black eye . That thing was something to say the least lol .

deaconjim · #12 07/28/06, 05:21 AM

You're right, there isn't a forum about Alpacas. Perhaps there should be one.

Since we're on the subject, I have been curious about them. Is there a way to make money raising them? I've seen the ads about them, but I'm afraid that the Alpaca market would go the way of the Emu market.

Corky · #13 07/28/06, 07:05 AM

We need a forum for exotics so we can include emus, llamas, alpacas and any other unusual critter.

about emus.... well.... there is another interesting story.
We also had one.
We were firefighters at the time so we had our radios on our belts at all times.
We were out working in the rock garden when we got a call from the sheriff.
He wanted to know if we would please help them catch a runaway emu and then take it in so he would not have to shoot it.
We had no place for an emu but we went anyway. SUCKERS!!!!
We drove to a nearby town where they had the bird cornered. He was scared to death and hurt really bad. He had fallen off a passing truck.
It took three big men to get that bird tied up and loaded in our truck.
The sheriff just leaned un his truck chewing on a straw shaking his head. He said he could not believe it took three big men to catch one big chicken.

That bird had it's back and legs torn all to peices but it oozed its own oil and healed up fast without any help except being washed up a little.
We had him for several years and then found him a new home.

Deaconjim, NO! Don't do it. They are already going the was of the emu only slower. People are still investing all their money in a loosing business. It breaks my heart.
Mine are pets. I spin so I have them for the fiber and I got them cheap if that tells you anything.

Jillis · #14 07/28/06, 07:48 AM

An animal that is frightened is a dangerous animal. Some of the gentlest animals can become ferocious when cornered.

cath · #15 07/28/06, 09:44 AM

I would love to see a forum on exotics!! I've seen alpaca and llama questions all over the board, it would be nice to have one spot to find them.

DeaconJim: Alpacas are a great way to make money for a select few owners, they have big herds (read major initial investment), go to every show, are meticulous about breeding blood lines and registration, and very self promoting.

We got our alpacas to be cute lawn mowers. They are very gentle on the land and we have them on marginal pasture that is mostly flooded, any hooved animal would tear the pasture up but the 'pacas with their padded feet are very gentle on the pasture. Their poop is great organic fertilizer and doesn't stink. They even all poop in community piles so it is easier to collect for the garden. They are quiet so are nice to have in smaller acreages with close neighbors.

And, of course, their fiber is outstanding! We have two males who produce exceptional fiber. We could sell it but instead I give it to friends who spin or like to do kids crafts with fiber since it is non-allergenic. Someday if I ever get time (ha!) I would like to learn how to shear, card, spin, and knit with alpaca fiber.

Like Corky we got our original alpacas from someone who was selling off his herd when he didn't see the huge profit margins promised by the alpaca industry ads. We got them for a song, even if one of the "females" they sold us turned out to be a juvenile male! (Our vet got a great laugh out of that one! But before you think that we are total dolts; alpaca males don't drop their testicles until they are over 1 year of age. An easy mistake for a newbie to make!)

Spinner · #16 07/28/06, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corky

about emus.... well.... there is another interesting story.
We also had one...
We had no place for an emu but we went anyway. SUCKERS!!!!

We had 16 of them (they just fell into our lap). It started out when a friend of ours gave us 4. Then another friend had about 500 of them and started looking for homes for them. We didn’t want them, but took a dozen because he was going to turn them out to fend for themselves if he couldn’t find homes for them. I've had my fill of emu's. Next person who wants to give them away will have to find another sucker, this one has learned her lesson! I ended up selling them all to a processing plant here in Oklahoma. I ended up with a bunch of emu meat and a lot of the oil. I like the oil so I guess it was worth all the headaches in the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corky

People are still investing all their money in a loosing business. It breaks my heart.
Mine are pets. I spin so I have them for the fiber and I got them cheap if that tells you anything.

I feel sorry for all the people who will loose money, but at the same time I look forward to the day I can afford to get a couple to keep as pets and provide fiber for me to spin.

Corky · #17 07/28/06, 07:33 PM

If you want pets just look around. There are people that bought them for pets and are now tired of them.
They show up in sale barns around here every once in a while now.
I have 5 and they are 5 different colors.
Mine averaged $300.00 each. Some were less and some a little more.

Christiaan · #18 07/29/06, 12:26 AM

I have two geldings, got them free last September. A bit more work than my Highland cattle, but they do have their charms. All the literature and the former owner insist that you can't leave a halter on them, supposedly because it can slip and the beast thinks its suffocating. I have tried tethering them so they could graze a hard to mow part of the lawn. One was OK with it, the other practically killed himself.
Getting them sheared cost quite a bit more than I counted on, next year I'll try to find someone else to share the expense with.
Mine are brothers, so they fight a couple of times a day. This makes them not quite as pleasant to be around as I'd like. Alpaca spit is extremely nasty, even the Highland cow will back off from them unless she is really PO'd at them.
After a year of raising them I now have a higher opinion of turkeys! These boys are dumb as a box of rocks. I've been told that they are good guard animals. Well the only protection they offer is to stupidly stand and stare at oncoming danger while all the smart critters run away. If the threat becomes too troubling, they protect themselves by turning their backend towards it. If that doesn't work, they lay down. Such nobility, willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may live.
An exotics forum would be nice, but I don't want to moderate it so don't even ask.

cath · #19 07/29/06, 01:01 PM

We live close to each other!

Like all creatures, some are smarter or more aggressive than others.

When we first got our small herd of 'pacas we were given 2 llamas that we were going to use as guard llamas since we live in an area with lots of coyotes. Both llamas were from the same herd and were gelded males.

Well, they were useless as guard llamas--they were too busy fighting and spitting at each other! We sold one of the llamas to a local sheep rancher who was having problems with wolf-hybrids running loose and killing his sheep.

This solved both our problems: together they were always fighting each other but apart they were excellent guards. The sheep farmer told us that his llama did a great job of protecting the sheep, and our llama became a very good protecter of our alpacas. When our female got injured and had to be seperated from the rest of the herd, the llama became the surrogate parent of her cria. It was so cute to see the little alpaca climbing all over the huge llama, biting his ears, playing chase.

Moral of the story--try to find someone who has a non-breeding female or non-dominant non-breeding male to swap one of your alpacas with. It sounds like there is just too much sibling rivalry between your two!

Dun Coille · #20 07/29/06, 02:02 PM

I'd love to get an alpaca or a llama at some point - partly for use as a guard animal, partly for use as a pack-animal, and partly for the fiber. But - if I come up with the money to buy one, Rebec is more likely to buy another goat!