The how's and why's of getting a boyfriend
January 10th 2008 22:54
There are a couple of possibilities for acquiring a boyfriend for Madeline. We could pay for a one off stud service, or we could purchase a working male.
Usually, with a stud service, the girl goes to the boy’s property and stays until she’s confirmed pregnant. This is most often done by ultrasound at about 60 days after mating.
There are some breeders who do what is known as ‘Mobile Matings’. This is where the boy travels to the girl, does the job and leaves.
There are also ‘Drive Thru’s’, where you take your girl to the boy, they mate and then you take your home again the same day.
There are advantages of using a stud service:
1. You can choose a male with qualities to compliment your girl and possibly improve any weak points she has that you would like to correct in her cria.
For example, if she has soft, fine fleece, but not much of it, you may choose a boy with a thick, dense fleece, if you want the cria to produce more fleece. (Hopefully he would be super soft as well as dense, but it doesn’t always work that way!).
2. You can choose different males for different girls.
3. You don’t have to have a male, or males, living at your place. Male alpacas tend to get agro with each other and fight over the females.
Sometimes you’re lucky and get boys who will live together happily, but most of the time the boys have to live separately or you end up with screaming, fighting and ripped ears.
There are disadvantages to using stud services though. It’s expensive. For a reasonable boy you’re starting at around $400 and then the sky’s the limit if you want a boy who has won ribbons at a national level.
Also, alpacas can and do miscarry sometimes, so if you have a girl who does, you need to keep taking her back to the male, which can be a nuisance.
OK, so to buying a male. This also has advantages and disadvantages (generally the opposite of the above). You will have to use the same male over all your girls, or have a few males.
The males will either get along with each other, or you’ll need separate accommodation for them – a paddock per boy isn’t really feasible round here, as they’d be up to their necks in grass.
The advantages of buying a boy are that he can produce many crias for you, possibly for 10 years or more. You also have him on site all the time, so you can check if your girls are still pregnant whenever you like and re-mate them if they’re not.
You also don’t need to worry about transporting your girls and having them living somewhere else for months.
You can also offer your boy for stud servicing and then other people can pay you to use him.
So, there’s the deal. Not sure which way we’ll go yet. We will have more of Cappy’s daughters as time goes by, so we need to consider what we do about getting boyfriends for them too.
All good fun.
Alpaca Mating
Usually, with a stud service, the girl goes to the boy’s property and stays until she’s confirmed pregnant. This is most often done by ultrasound at about 60 days after mating.
There are some breeders who do what is known as ‘Mobile Matings’. This is where the boy travels to the girl, does the job and leaves.
There are also ‘Drive Thru’s’, where you take your girl to the boy, they mate and then you take your home again the same day.
There are advantages of using a stud service:
1. You can choose a male with qualities to compliment your girl and possibly improve any weak points she has that you would like to correct in her cria.
For example, if she has soft, fine fleece, but not much of it, you may choose a boy with a thick, dense fleece, if you want the cria to produce more fleece. (Hopefully he would be super soft as well as dense, but it doesn’t always work that way!).
2. You can choose different males for different girls.
3. You don’t have to have a male, or males, living at your place. Male alpacas tend to get agro with each other and fight over the females.
Sometimes you’re lucky and get boys who will live together happily, but most of the time the boys have to live separately or you end up with screaming, fighting and ripped ears.
There are disadvantages to using stud services though. It’s expensive. For a reasonable boy you’re starting at around $400 and then the sky’s the limit if you want a boy who has won ribbons at a national level.
Also, alpacas can and do miscarry sometimes, so if you have a girl who does, you need to keep taking her back to the male, which can be a nuisance.
OK, so to buying a male. This also has advantages and disadvantages (generally the opposite of the above). You will have to use the same male over all your girls, or have a few males.
The males will either get along with each other, or you’ll need separate accommodation for them – a paddock per boy isn’t really feasible round here, as they’d be up to their necks in grass.
The advantages of buying a boy are that he can produce many crias for you, possibly for 10 years or more. You also have him on site all the time, so you can check if your girls are still pregnant whenever you like and re-mate them if they’re not.
You also don’t need to worry about transporting your girls and having them living somewhere else for months.
You can also offer your boy for stud servicing and then other people can pay you to use him.
So, there’s the deal. Not sure which way we’ll go yet. We will have more of Cappy’s daughters as time goes by, so we need to consider what we do about getting boyfriends for them too.
All good fun.
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Comment by katyzzz
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I'm off to find your last post which I think I missed. It's hard to keep track now with everything coming on then disappearing so quickly.
Lovely work as usual.
katyzzz
Comment by Rosemary
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
I suppose the process is the same really:
Do you want someone forever, or just for a while?
Will you compromise on looks in favour of a nicer temperament?
Does he need to be tall, if you're short, or dark skinned if you're fair?
So many things to consider, no wonder so many marriages fail.
Comment by AmyHuang
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Comment by JoH
Persistent Parent
I wonder which option the Alpacas prefer?
Comment by Rosemary
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
Some of the girls are happy with any male I choose for them. Others play hard to get to make sure he's up to their standard.
The occasional one will take a dislike to the boy and there's no way in the world you'll get her to mate.
So, yes pretty much like a dating service, but not quite as organised as it could be if they would all just co-operate.