The saga of Prue continues! It was suggested that we tried a little ballotment. Now I thought I knew how to do this but didn't really - now I do, or think I do (if I have this wrong - feel free to tell me!). my understanding (with the help of The Island Lady) is you stand behind, pick up the tummy and then drop - within a minute the baby should kick or move and you should either see or feel this. Carl misunderstood at first and thought he had to pick up the whole alpaca and then drop her. Having resolved the technicalities we had a go - in fact we all had a go and after the initial shock Prue seemed to find the whole process quite enjoyable (possibly not a good sign).
. . . and we are STILL not sure! Something did move but was it just her stomach bouncing around?!
Dude then did some spit offs and everyone spat except Little Star who was not keen but then did go down.
Trouble and String were both desperate to get in there with him but they have to wait a bit and String can't as he is her dad! Little Star's mating was not terribly successful as she ended up lying on her side and I did not want to leave her too long like that a she is little and he is quite a weight - I thought he might end up crushing her ribcage!
I too find when using ballotment that it is difficult to determine exactally what it is you are feeling...we used it on one of ours and were sure we felt a cria...that was in April...nothing has arrived!!
ReplyDeleteI was rubbish at it too, even my vet says it's very tricky with alpacas.
ReplyDeleteWe had a mating in a similar position this morning!