CHANGES IN LIVEWEIGHT AND BEHAVIOR OF ALPACA DAMS AND OFFSPRING FOLLOWING WEANING

The effects of offspring sex, weight, age, and level of interaction wi th the dam on responses to weaning were examined to assist in the deve lopment of a weaning protocol for alpacas. In the first study, pre- an d post-weaning activities, and weight change over Days -12-0, 0-7 and 7-16 with respect to weaning, were recorded for 20 dam-offspring (hemb ra-cria) pairs aged 81-200 days. Pre-weaning changes in dam and offspr ing weights were positively related (P<0.05). Although heavier crias t ended to be found closer to their dams than lighter crias (P<0.05), no additional effect of age on the dam-offspring relationship was found. Following weaning, cria growth rates were low over Days 0-7 but impro ved over Days 7-16, and hembra weight change followed the same pattern . Over Days 0-2, grazing and sitting activities of hembras and crias w ere replaced by standing and walking along paddock fencelines, althoug h by Day 2 fenceline activities had decreased (P<0.05). Crias which we re more frequently observed at fencelines had lower post-weaning growt h rates (P<0.05). In the second study, pre-weaning sucking behaviour, and weight change over Days -30-0, 0-8 and 8-16 with respect to weanin g, were recorded for 19 hembra-cria pairs aged 124-160 days. During 10 hours of observation on Days -5 and -4, the total duration of sucking by individual crias varied from 0-18 minutes, and the mean +/- SEM du ration of sucking was 1.94 +/- 0.113 minutes. Cria sucking behaviour w as positively related to growth rate prior to and weight at weaning (P <0.05). As in the first study, pre-weaning changes in dam and offsprin g weights were positively related (P<0.05). Following weaning, growth rates of the crias were depressed and the hembras lost weight over Day s 0-8 and 8-16. The changes in growth rate and behaviour in Studies 1 and 2 indicated that weaning can be stressful for hembras and crias. H owever, there was no evidence from either study that pre-weaning behav ioural or physical characteristics were related to the changes.