For some reason that I can't quite recall. I arranged for the vet to come and do some pregnancy scanning today.......on my birthday! (just getting too old to bother). It is always a day that can go either way and unfortunately it was a rather disappointing result. Cambridge Camilla who was mated to E P Cambridge Navigator (now owned by Houghton Hall Alpacas) scanned empty. Her last mating date was May 2009 so we had hoped that she would have produced our first cria of the year. It is always more difficult with females who are new to the herd as I have no base line for 'normal behaviour'. However, if she is this temperamental when empty, then we are going to be in for trouble when we have hormones to cope with as well (just to confirm the fact that she has attitude, she refused to pose for the camera, hence the poor quality). I think I need to spit her off again just to convince myself, but I think that it is probably wishful thinking. Minnie was also empty but that was no surprise and we are happy to be able to start her on a early spring cycle, rather than the autumn one she would have been on. Legacy of Purston (13 years ) had all his pregnancies confirmed. His outside matings have also been successful. Typically, it's just the girls who have a long return journey for re-mating who have not carried their pregnancies. On a positive note we do have 10 females confirmed. Exciting times ahead!
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Pregnancy Scanning
For some reason that I can't quite recall. I arranged for the vet to come and do some pregnancy scanning today.......on my birthday! (just getting too old to bother). It is always a day that can go either way and unfortunately it was a rather disappointing result. Cambridge Camilla who was mated to E P Cambridge Navigator (now owned by Houghton Hall Alpacas) scanned empty. Her last mating date was May 2009 so we had hoped that she would have produced our first cria of the year. It is always more difficult with females who are new to the herd as I have no base line for 'normal behaviour'. However, if she is this temperamental when empty, then we are going to be in for trouble when we have hormones to cope with as well (just to confirm the fact that she has attitude, she refused to pose for the camera, hence the poor quality). I think I need to spit her off again just to convince myself, but I think that it is probably wishful thinking. Minnie was also empty but that was no surprise and we are happy to be able to start her on a early spring cycle, rather than the autumn one she would have been on. Legacy of Purston (13 years ) had all his pregnancies confirmed. His outside matings have also been successful. Typically, it's just the girls who have a long return journey for re-mating who have not carried their pregnancies. On a positive note we do have 10 females confirmed. Exciting times ahead!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Happy Birthday Barbara, hope you had a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteWe do our own ultra-sound scanning, to be fair to your vet, scanning late stage pregnancies in alpacas can be a bit hit and miss. You'd think it would be easier, but that's often not the case. I would suggest you try a spit off before discounting the pregnancy. I am not sure how experienced your vet is at scanning alpacas, but it can be a little more complicated when near full term.
Hope that helps.
Rob
We know of a female scanned twice empty, wouldn't sit, vet gave her something to make her more receptive and she aborted a perfectly formed cria. So be careful. We are due to scan at the end of March, I have my doubts about a couple of girls, but you can never be certain.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Diane
Dear Rob and Diane,
ReplyDeleteThank you both very much for the feedback. I was hoping that it might be the case that late pregnancies can be more difficult to detect. I will certainly spit her off again and keep my fingers crossed.
Barbara
Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteLets hope your vet got it wrong on this one. I've had one scan empty and be pregnant and the other way round - this scanning lark is hard.
Cheers Debbie
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday......Barbara...Its always disappointing when the scan proves negative...mind you, nature is a marvellous thing, and it looks like technology can be proved wrong !...no matter how advanced...sometimes we have to let nature do its thing....before we interfere...the spit-off will usually do the trick !.....Jayne
ReplyDelete