Moon Dancing
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Macho
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Helpful Hygiene Hints for Full Fleeced Alpaca - 2007/02/02 21:09
Helpful Hygiene Hints for Full Fleeced Alpacas
Problems Caused by Fiber Interference.
As we as an industry breed for greater fineness, longer staple length, full body fleece and more density in the fiber of the alpaca, it comes with its own new challenges.
What to look for to identify a fiber induced hygiene problem in the vent area of the alpaca is to pay attention to what looks like a browning or yellowing of the fibers on the back of the hock. It almost looks stick. This will be harder to idenify on colored alpacas. This can be attributed to many causes such as splash back or some times the male doesn’t shoot straight due to physical design, they urinate on their legs due to stream direction or spraying more then streaming. Mostly it is caused by excessive fleece growth between the legs for the male and around the vent area for the female alpaca.
Urine concentrations can burn the skin and create a nice home for bacteria and yeast (fungus). Regular trimming of the fleece, under the tail, to the sides of the vent and inside the legs will prevent any problems before they can occur. Not keeping the fleece away from this area can lead to fecal matted fiber (dingle berries) resting on the vulva and can lead to vulva irritation or vaginal infections. Very fine fleeced yearling females are more prone to this, particularly those that do not have their cria fleece shorn. Add a hay stem or stickers to the area and matting or felting occurs quickly which increases the amount of urine going down the legs rather then away from the body.
Trimming the fleece from the vent area and between the legs should not effect the show-ability of the alpaca but urine on the leg fleece surely will.
Post edited by: Moon Dancing, at: 2007/02/02 21:19
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