Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2005 - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

This article by Marty McGee is meant to help youtransport your alpaca wherever you may be heading, ascomfortably as possible and with a minimum of drama.LOADING UPMOVING OUTEarly in the morning on clinic days as Iwander around organising my equipmentand preparing for the weekend I watch asthe animals arrive. I have seen alpacas arrive fortheir weekend with me in all manner of vehiclesand in varying states of mind. It could be that myanimal student was loaded the morning of theclinic and is experiencing motorised travel for thefi rst time in his life. Other students are problemanimals that are diffi cult to work with and mayvery well be diffi cult to halter, lead and load. Theprocess of getting to the clinic could have beenunpleasant for both the alpaca and his person.I believe that travelling for an alpaca is muchmore frightening than we probably realise. Froman alpaca’s point of view, getting in a small boxand jumping out into a totally new environmentmust be pretty weird. There is nothing in theirlives that would prepare them for the sensationsinvolved in travelling in a trailer or van. There areways to ease an alpaca’s fear and reduce thestress of travel without investing an unrealisticamount of time. First of all, just because youralpaca will fi t in it doesn’t mean the conveyanceis appropriate. A feeling of safety and securityis very important to an animal under new andfrightening circumstances. The back seat of a Volvomay be great for the kids but is probably not theway to bring your fi rst alpaca home. Ideally you arehauling your alpaca in something he can standin (even if he must keep his head down whenstanding). The good news for us humans is that it isnatural for most alpacas to lie down when they aretravelling. However, when an alpaca is lying downhe has a small area on which to balance and littleopportunity to create a stable platform. Nature hasnot designed an alpaca for balancing while lyingdown in a moving vehicle. You can help your alpacarelax more fully while travelling if you consider theissue of balance as you plan for his trip.Uneven fl ooring, wide expanses of fl at areaand of course movement all pose problems for analpaca trying to keep his balance. Orienting youralpaca at an angle to the line of travel will help.Using hay bales or partitions to orient the way youralpacas position themselves will guide them intolying down in a way that contributes to their abilityto balance as well as giving them something tolean against.Unnecessary noise and sudden movements willall contribute to a feeling of anxiety. Wrap metalparts that clank and bang with cloth or duct tapeand drive with an awareness of your passenger,brake gently and early and take corners slowly andsmoothly. In order to imagine what it would be likethe fi rst few times your alpaca is transported, thinkof yourself being hustled into a new carnival ride– a roller coaster for example. Now imagine ridingit for several hours! Ideally your alpaca’s fi rst trip isgoing to be a very short one up the driveway andback home. First impressions are really important.Your alpaca will learn to relax while travelling if hisfi rst few excursions are short and sweet.Comfort is obviously important when it comesto your alpaca’s attitude about travelling. Densepadding is probably the most important factorthat will contribute to a comfortable ride. Youralpaca’s legs and under belly are designed torest on the ground for long periods howeverunder normal circumstances the ground wouldn’tbounce and shift nor would your alpaca be deniedthe opportunity to stand up and shift around. Inaddition many trailer fl oors are much harder thanthe ground. Thickness is not the same as shockabsorption. Density is much more important. Atwo-inch dense rubber mat will provide more in theway of comfort than a ten-inch piece of non-densefoam. What ever you use in your conveyance alongwith any ramps or steps the surface should providegood footing even when wet. An old piece of carpetthrown on top of some dense rubber matting worksgreat. Wind is another factor to consider. Askingyour alpaca to endure four hours of a fi fty mile perhour wind in his face is a bit much. A windscreenis a fairly easy addition to most conveyances. Windblowing around inside an open sided stock traileris a very good reason to avoid bedding with hay orstraw. Chaff blowing around inside a trailer is nogood for fl eece or your animal’s eyes.Your alpaca will do his level best not to go pottyin a van or trailer so visit the dung pile before youload. Otherwise your alpacas may spend hours indiscomfort trying not to go to the bathroom. Beforeleaving home pick up a bit of poop in a smallairtight container and take it with you. That waywhen you stop at a rest stop you can off load youralpacas open up the poop container and the urgeto go will hit.Alpacas feel safer with another alpaca around.When possible take at least two animals. If you aredelivering an alpaca to a new home and you haveroom, take three and bring two back. Ideally onewill be an experienced traveller and can transmithis calm attitude to his more inexperiencedtravelling companions.Your alpaca will be using new muscles to keephis balance while travelling and might very well besore the next day. If your are travelling to a showit might be smart and kind to take a nice walkto help loosen up the kinks before settling youralpaca into his small show stall.Many people feel it is safer to leave a halter onthe alpaca during transport. If you decide to leavea halter on, it is very important to make sure that itfi ts properly. A properly fi tting halter is one that iscomfortable and doesn’t interfere with your alpaca’sability to ruminate and eat. A properly fi tting halterfi ts well up on the nose bone and has enough slackin the nose band so that your alpaca can easilymove his jaw enough to both eat and ruminate.In an ideal world we would all have time totrain each alpaca to understand how to step upinto their particular chariot. Reality is that thereare lots of times when the travel day arrives andthe alpaca has never seen the inside of a trailer.There are several ways to approach loading anovice; techniques that make it much easier forall concerned. If possible, physically organise theloading process so that you can herd the animalin to the conveyance by exerting loading pressurefrom behind the alpaca rather than trying to pullhim in from the front. Back your vehicle up to thebarn or pasture opening. Create an aisle way thatleads into the vehicle if you can and then herdthe alpaca from the back. Creative use of panels48 | Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2005