Winter - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

Andrew Spillane shows how an expensive piece of kit that may seem like a bit of an extravagance can
finally surprise you and show its true worth and how a multiplicity of voices speaking for French
camelid breeders end up speaking as one to the benefit of all.
After a miserable spring and a damp
summer we have enjoyed a beautiful
mild autumn. The enjoyment marred only by
the continued unseasonable mildness as we
enter winter watching the inexorable spread of
the blue tongue virus. As of Tuesday this had
reached more than sixty percent of France and
is predicted, by the Ministry of Agriculture,
to be 100% by some time in Spring. Work
continues apace for a vaccine and it is hoped
to be available in 2008.
I have often found it strange how an item
or project designed or bought for one purpose
can provide a significant benefit in a totally
unforeseen area. In the autumn of 2006 we
purchased an ultrasound scanner. We had not
been happy with our breeding programme
depending on spit-offs. The scanner was for us
a significant investment at around e2400 and
we were unsure if the investment was entirely
justified, but we believed that we needed to
improve our ability to predict pregnancy.
This autumn one of our alpacas gave
birth to a female cria from one of our top
studs. On the third morning we noticed the
mother behaving strangely, obviously in great
discomfort and rejecting the cria whenever she
tried to suckle. The birth had been quick and
easy and the entire placenta voided within the
hour. On initial examination by ourselves we
found an abundance of milk but the mother
was in very serious pain with no obvious
external signs of cause.
Our next step was to call our vet and we
caught him between clients. He arrived late
morning and by now the mother was showing
serious signs of distress and the infant was
weakening rapidly, refusing any form of bottle
feeding. The vets initial external examination
confirmed our own findings, much pain,
much milk but no obvious signs of obstruction
or infection. His highly sophisticated and
expensive scanner was in use by a partner at
a farm over an hour away so we offered our
hand held model. After a little searching he
located the problem, a very large blood clot
pressing on the wall of the uterus and causing
immense pain. A suitable pain killer was
administered followed by a clot de-coagullent.
Within ten minutes the mother was feeding
her cria and twenty minutes later moving
freely. Without doubt our scanner proved a
major factor in saving the life of a cria and
probably the mother. Expense on scanner
suddenly justified.
In a strange way politics in the French
Petite Camilides world have followed a similar
path. As many of you are aware the French
alpaca and llama world is very factionalised,
with five associations and one Syndicat Eleveur
Professionale. This latter, SNELA, was formed
in Autumn 2005 with high hopes that it could
give leadership and cohesion to the amateur
societies. For a while nothing changed and
attitudes became more entrenched, rivalries
more intense. Sadly a familiar story in the
alpaca world everywhere.
In March 2007 the unforeseen and
unpredicted enforcement by a local DSV
of a ten year old directive was to change all
this. Alpacas and llamas have always been
considered ruminants in France, but health
legislation concerning sheep and cattle has
not been enforced on them. A Departmental
(county) veterinary officer decided to do so
and was backed by the Ministry and suddenly
we were faced with draconian regulations and
unreliable tests.
SNELA and the associations wrote letters
to the Ministry and several agreed to allow
SNELA to represent their interests. In France
the world shuts down for July and August,
so little was expected to happen before
September.
In September several individuals and
associations wrote to SNELA requesting
information, a meeting to discuss policy and
a long overdue (18 months since the previous)
AGM. All such requests were peremptorily
rejected by the self appointed president and
several were told in conversation that she
would decide policy and they would do as
they were told. It became evident that the only
concern of SNELA was to protect the multispecie
(cattle & sheep) breeders entitlement
to government compensation in the event of
culling. In the land of egality this did not get a
good reception.
The associations wrote individually to the
Ministry and started to co-ordinate their
efforts. Within weeks the various association
presidents were freely communicating and they
rapidly produced a cohesive and compelling
letter justifying their arguments and position.
They also discovered that a private meeting had
been arranged by SNELA with the ministry
the day before a reluctantly called AGM.
The associations wrote a joint letter to the
Ministry and were promptly invited to attend
the meeting along with Dr Guidicelli, a vet,
breeder of alpacas and llamas and France's
foremost authority on these species. The
meeting, on the 27 November 2007 in Paris,
proved both positive and productive.
The Director from the Ministry of
Agriculture explained that his primary
concern was for the health of the French
population and French agriculture as a whole.
Having said this, he recognised the concerns
of the alpaca and llama community. He
realised that we are a growing and developing
industry and we must accept that legislation
is inevitable for the protection of all. At the
same time he agreed further research was
essential before final specific legislation and
accepted that testing should, in general,
be on a voluntary basis at this time. If one
opted for testing then animal registration
was to be mandatory. He further accepted
that compulsory registration, as requested
by the associations of all small camelids, was
desirable but pointed out that this was not
practical for administrative reasons at present.
It was accepted that current tests available
were extremely fallible and research would
take place to find the best solution, however it
must also be acknowledged that all tests were
fallible to a certain extent.
In answer to a question concerning the
compulsory slaughter of animals he affirmed
that a compensation package was not a
problem, experts needed to be used to provide
true values for this. He recognised that the
associations had behaved responsibly in their
reaction to these issues and had encouraged
their members to be positive and proactive in
trying to respond to these and other problems.
He assured all that he was not interested in
'a quick fix solution', calling for a further
meeting to discuss progress in three months.
It is indeed ironic that SNELA whilst
arbitrarily trying to dominate alpaca affairs in
France has succeeded in uniting the various
associations in common cause for the first
time in the history of small camelids. I can
only hope that the associations will build upon
this fledgling relationship. Sadly SNELA
seems to be the only casualty, marginalised
with only a handful of supporters remaining.
68 Alpaca World Magazine Winter 2007 / 08