Deprived alpacas

Yes, the rumors are true! We deny our animals so much that they are forced to eat snow to sustain themselves. Why would one want water out of a nicely heated Nelson waterer after all when you can chomp on the fluffy white stuff instead? Now if only they could drizzle some maple syrup on it first, then they’d really have something.

Happy MLK day, BTW. Thinking (stifle that laugh please) about one of this world’s greatest civil rights leaders inevitably brought me around to the voluntary segregation we have witnessed here within our own alpaca herd. No, they’re not racists!  What they are are prey animals following their instincts. Has anyone else ever noticed that all things being equal, that alpacas in medium or larger herds (and sometimes smaller ones too) seem to congregate when out grazing mostly in groups of similar colors? Makes sense if you stop and think about it. If you are an animal that is someone else’s food source and you don’t want to stand out, you stand with those that look most like you. We’ve found this to be true in adult feed groups as small as 8 to 10 animals. I’ve never seen (not that I’ve exactly burned the midnight oil looking, mind you) anyone scholarly write about it but it’s something that we’ve observed enough over the years that I suspect there’s something to it.

Hope it’s warmer wherever you are: I’m taking the boys off to a 4th grade sledding party shortly and it’s a grand total of 1 degree outside as I write this! Brr. Hot cocoa anyone?