Are your alpacas choking?

Alpacas have a unique way of eating. They reach down to take a bite of grass and then raise up to chew. This works so seemlessly they we rarely notice the process. The problem of choke occurs when the try to swallow while their head is down. The end result is a horrible choking, coughing, spitting green froth. If you have never seen this before it can be quite frightening. This often occurs while eating grain sources. This is not to say the problem is a result of the grain, but rather the way they rush to swallow the grain quickly. Alpacas can be very competitive about grain and the result is a hurry to eat and swallow while their head is in the grain bucket. We realized this issue with ours and took measures much as we have done in the past with other livestock.
Since the alpaca should take a bite and raise their head to swallow when decided to raise their grain feeders in such a way that they had no choice but to lift their head up to swallow. Such as the following...
In this picture Diesel can reach into the feeder to get a nibble of grain, but then he has to lift his head out to chew and swallow. The position of the feeder makes chewing and swallowing while his head is in the bucket too dificult. This keeps him from choking. This is a bit of trial and error for height placment. As our alpacas grow their height changes and so adjustment are often necessary.
In this picture the feeder is approximately 28 inches off the ground. This is not set in stone. We arrived at this measurement by placing a pan of grain on the ground and then raising it up until we found the height that forced our alpacas to lift their heads out of the pan to chew. We noted the height with a tape measure. This does take at least two people to accomplish. Then we mounted the feeders at that height from the ground since the ground is not level. Another measurement we took into account was the distance apart. This helps keep the alpacas from arguing and thus gorging.
Here we have placed the feeders approximately 24 inches apart. Each animal needs to have at least 21 inches between them at the feeder. Sometimes this is an issue is space is limited. Fortunately, we have large pens and so space is not an issue here.The more you can reduce their stress during eating the better. In part 2 we will discuss more on the solutions to this problem. If you have any questions and would like to speak with us we are always available and happy to assist in any way. Feel free to email us at info@aroundthepeakalpacas.com You can also find more contact info on our contact page https://www.aroundthepeakalpacas.com/contact-us.htm This topic will also be covered in our next Farm and Ranch Series © DVD-Farm Maintenace. This first DVD is available in our store now. https://secure.llamaproducts.com/ Enjoy!
Annie :)