SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING CRIA
By Linda Blake – Southern Alpacas Stud
Healthy cria may need supplementary or full feeding if the
mother is not feeding them, or not feeding them enough. This
can occur after a caesarean (when the dam does not recognise
that she has birthed and does not bond with the cria), when a
first-time parent is reluctant to recognise her cria and her new
role, if a cria’s mother is unwell or has died, or when a dam
has little or no milk - although these mothers usually come into
better production within three weeks.
If faced with such a challenge, you will need to be prepared to
be a constant food source for the first few days (and nights) of
the cria’s life. My priority is keeping the cria alive and getting
it strong, and then assisting it when it is interested in, and able
to get milk for itself. Assuming that the dam and cria are both
healthy, these initial days of dedication should enable the
mother to take over her role as chief feeder within a week.
The cria’s instinct is to look for food from the dam, and this
should be encouraged by keeping them together and by feeding
the cria near its mother and then leaving. Most cria will use
the mother if possible and may even run to have a snack from
her after a feed of the less palatable milk you are providing.
Cria will eventually reject the bottle if the mother is feeding
them enough.
Initial Feeding
1 Make sure that your cria is feeding:
Watch the newly born cria until it stands up and feeds. If the
cria does not stand within three hours you will need to give it
some energy to keep it going. Feed it 60 mls of warm water
with two teaspoons of glucose by syringe or bottle. Try assisting
the cria feed naturally by holding it under its mother or provide
some initial supplementary feeding.
2 Observe the feeding behaviour:
Determine how often the cria feeds and if it feeds well. A cria
seeking milk from its mother will find it if it is there. Usually
a feeding cria will curve its tail up while looking for the milk,
then relax the tail down when suckling. Cria are snackers and
go around all four teats at each feed. They feed for about two
minutes, suckling 10 times a day (about two-hourly).
3 Check that the cria is getting milk:
Look for a milky moustache. If you are unsure, wait until it
has been suckling, then put your finger in its mouth to check
for milk.
Indicators of poor feeding are; frequent attempts to suckle
(more than once an hour), weakness and lethargy, poor weight
gain (or weight loss) and no milk moustache after feeding.
If a cria is frequently attempting to suckle, it is likely that
the dam is short of milk. She could have ample milk in the
morning (as she creates a store of milk overnight when she is
sitting down and her cria cannot suckle) but can run out during
the day. This results in the cria continually trying to look for
more milk.
Dams can take up to three weeks to come into full milk
production. You can use Oxytocin to make the dam let her milk
down if it is there, but it will not stimulate milk production.
Domperidone is a human medicine that does stimulate milk
production and has been used on alpacas, but it is not a vet
medicine approved for alpaca use.
Colostrum
It is crucial for a cria to be fed within four hours of birth.
Cria have no antibodies when born, and are unable to fight
infection and disease. Cria obtain antibodies from their
mother’s milk. The first milk is a creamy and sticky solution
called colostrum. This has high levels of antibodies essential
to the cria but the cria’s bowel can only absorb these antibodies
in the first 12 to 24 hours of its life.
If the cria has not suckled in four hours, you will need to
start supplementation. Assuming it is not a frail cria (which
requires extra care), use a bottle of formula milk which includes
colostrum (preferably milked from its own mother).
Alpacas are not easy to milk, as they produce a little milk, often.
However, milk can be expressed from the teats using a 10ml
syringe with its top cut-off. Put the syringe on the udder, and
draw the plunger back. Decant it into a sterile container - but
keep out of kicking range!
You can use colostrum from another alpaca or llama, or from a
cow, goat or sheep. An artificial colostrum substitute could also
be used. I keep ColoZen in the fridge. It is a bottle of powder
and a bottle of fluid and is made up when required. A teaspoon
of powder with 15 ml of the fluid makes enough ColoZen for
3ml doses in each of the first five feeds.
August 2006
n alpaca breeder can suddenly be faced with the need to
bottle feed that brand new cria. If you are going to be a
substitute ‘paca mama’, this article will give you some tips on
your new role, which you will find challenging and exhausting,
but hopefully rewarding.
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The mother likes to be able to see her cria feed
If a cria misses out on colostrum it will not receive essential
antibodies and will therefore be prone to infection. In such
situations a transfusion of alpaca plasma can provide these vital
antibodies. Alpacas can be tested for antibodies by measuring
IgG levels.
Assisting Cria Feed Naturally
At first, some dams (especially first time mothers) may not
want to let their cria feed. However, in my experience, almost
all dams will eventually accept their cria.
Cria will instinctively look for food from the mother, so keep
them together, although not in the very confined space you
would use when mothering on a sheep and lamb. This is
because alpaca dams can attack their cria by spitting, biting,
kicking, and trampling.
Bottle feed the cria in the dam’s presence. Do this in a small area
so the cria is close to the dam. Once the cria is strong enough,
and this may not be until it is a few days old, help it access its
mother’s teats. You may need to utilize a small space and use
your body position to prevent the dam from moving away, so
that the cria can get at the teats.
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Some dams require holding. This is a two person job as the
dam will try to sit down. The restraining person can use their
knee under the dam’s stomach and the other person can guide
the cria in under the dam.
When guiding a cria under its mother, stand at the rump end
and place the cria between yourself and the dam. This way,
when the dam turns around to see what is happening, she sees
and smells her cria.
It can take a week of restraint before a dam will accept a cria
of her own free will. Over that time the level of restraint can
be eased off as the dam learns to co-operate. Continue to bottle
feed during this time, but only after first assisting the cria to
drink from its mother.
Feeding Healthy Cria
A healthy cria will be keen to feed and can drink relatively
large amounts at once. These cria can be fed every three to
four hours.
AgResearch has tested various substitute milks on alpacas
and has determined that the best alpaca supplementary feed is
Anlamb. Make up Anlamb using the lamb dose. The milk can
be made up to double strength, but increase it to this consistency
gradually. I also add a teaspoon of glucose per 100 ml of milk
in the first week.
The best substitute milk for alpacas is Anlamb
Place the bottle of milk in a jug of warm water to heat it up to
room temperature. Do not microwave. Keep the bottle, teat
and all equipment sterile by soaking in a disinfectant solution
like Virkon.
The correct position for feeding a cria
There is an important exception to this feeding regime. If the
cria is frail, it will need two hourly feeding around the clock.
Make sure the cria sucks, so the milk goes down the throat and
is not squirted into its airways. Keep the flutter valve at the
base of the teat on the upper side so that air can enter the bottle
and help the milk go out.
Do not feed any cria more than about 200-250 mls a feed. The
maximum a young cria should get a day is 1200 mls. This may
increase to 1500 mls a day when the cria is a few weeks old.
It will then reduce when the cria is about two months old and
beginning to graze.
Poor suckers can be assisted to drink. Pop your finger in the
cria’s mouth then slide in the teat. Hold the cria’s mouth closed
and slowly stroke its throat to encourage it to swallow. This
may take three hands initially (a second person to do the throat
stroking) but it is possible with two hands.
While providing supplementary feeding, leave the cria with its
mother. Although you are feeding, there are other important
alpaca socialisation skills that the dam needs to teach her
baby. Alpacas are quite happy with humans helping feed their
babies and, unlike sheep, will not reject their cria. Bottle fed
cria will just about always try to suckle the mother after a bottle
(she tastes better) and regular stimulation of the dam’s teats by
the cria will assist milk flow.
Orphan cria
Feeding Position
Make the cria stand to feed and stretch its neck up to simulate
a natural feeding position. This helps the milk go into the 3rd
stomach via a groove in the oesophagus. (Milk in the 1st and
2nd stomachs can cause colic.)
Most healthy cria with a mother will get back on her for food
within weeks, but orphans or non-bonded cria are a long term
project and require feeding until they are four or five months
old.
Orphan cria feeding can follow the Anlamb package
recommendation for lambs for the first four weeks. Six feeds
a day are required for the first month. You can then begin to
reduce the number of feeds.
By the time the cria is eight weeks old, you will have
progressively stepped down to three bottles a day as the cria will
be starting to graze. They seem to graze in earnest at a younger
August 2006
I find it easiest to achieve this feeding posture by straddling the
cria, restraining it with my knees and using one hand to guide
its head back towards me and one hand to hold the bottle.
NEW ZEALAND ALPACA
Aim to feed the cria 10% of its body weight daily. Crias are
snackers, needing frequent small feeds and will normally feed
every couple of hours from the dam. Bottle feed at three to
four hourly intervals, giving six feeds a day, from daybreak to
late evening. (You do not need to feed in the early hours of
the morning, as alpacas sleep then.) So for example, an 8 kg
cria will get 800 mls of substitute milk a day in six feeds of
about 140 ml.
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age than their paddock mates who have a mother to feed from.
Once they reach 20kg the bottle can be reduced to two a day.
This will be at about three months old. You may like to reduce
the quantity and/or the milk strength over time to wean the cria
off gradually to a single feed a day as it grows.
Bottle fed cria should be fed and left with the herd. This
will help prevent them imprinting on the human feeder. It is
tempting to pat and cuddle the cria, but this can cause problems
later, when as adolescents and adults, they may show no respect
for the human that helped them survive.
Cria Progress
Monitor the progress of the cria. Weigh it regularly. Daily at
first and then weekly until the cria is over 20 kg. Plot a graph of
the recorded weights to show any different growth patterns.
The weight of the cria may drop slightly in the first couple of
days as the milk supply starts. At day three a cria should be
back up to its birth weight. Once the milk supply is fully in (by
week three) cria weight gain should be 1.0 - 1.5 kg a week.
Normal weight gain:
6kg in each of the first two months
5kg in each of the third and fourth months
It is important to record everything that is fed to the cria and
what is done to it. For each feed, record what was in the feed
(e.g. glucose, colostrum), the strength of the milk mixture, the
day, the time, the amount taken and if any was left over. Also
comment on the cria’s response (e.g. ‘keen’, ‘not interested’,
‘nosing under mum’, etc).
Crias are active, and move and play a lot. A sluggish cria that
is resting more, drinking less and not gaining weight, is of
concern. Take its temperature if you have any concerns about
its health. Cria temperatures may fluctuate more than an adult
and may rise to 39.2 oC. Any temperature over this requires
immediate attention from your vet.
Take Heart
Most cria are born healthy and are well cared for by their
mother. But do be prepared and have a feeding kit ready at cria
birthing time. This, along with the information in this article,
should enable you to effectively feed any cria that does need
extra supplementation.
A further article by Linda Blake on caring for frail cria will be
published in the next issue of New Zealand Alpaca.
22 Weigh your cria to check progress
Feeding Kit
• Plastic bottle - small drink bottle or water
bottle, 500ml size - screw top essential
• Lamb teats with flutter valve
• Funnel and strainer
• Bottle brush and bowl
• Disinfectant solution like Virkon to keep
things sterile
• Anlamb - best substitute milk
• Glucose - for extra energy and sugar
• Electrolyte solutions - for hydration if
required
• Measuring jars to shake and make up
milk
• ColoZen or similar colostrum substitute
in fridge or colostrum frozen in
freezer
• Cut-down syringe to milk the dam
Case Study
Erik was named for the vet who saved him by caesarean section. The dam did not bond with her cria, and Erik was
raised on a bottle. A full record of his feeding was kept and the graph shows his food intake.
Bottle Fed Cria
Daily Mls from bottle
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Age in Days
Although kept with the herd, Erik did begin to get over-friendly (as early as two weeks old) and the owners had
to steel their hearts and keep him at a distance so that he learnt appropriate behaviour with humans. At about this
time Erik developed an infection and you can see by the dip in the graph that he went off his food. He responded
to antibiotics and his food intake increased.
There was a second dip between weeks seven and eight when there was a change in feeding frequencies as Erik
moved from five to three bottles a day. Once on three bottles his intake stabilised again. By four months old Erik
was on two bottles a day, then he was weaned off to one bottle a day.
In four months Erik consumed 35 kg of Anlamb, three boxes of glucose and half a bottle of cod liver oil. Two milk
bottles were used and he wore out one teat.
August 2006
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