Snip Snip
February 18th 2008 02:23
We did toenails on Saturday. Here’s a tip: When cutting alpaca toenails, plan to do it after it has been raining.
After rain, it’s a bit like how your nails are softer after a bath or shower. Same with alpacas when they’ve been walking about on wet ground.
It hadn’t been raining here on Saturday though, so the alpacas toenails were bone dry and much harder to cut than when they’re wet. They were due to be done though, so out we went.
On the whole though, alpaca toenails aren’t hard to cut. Getting the alpaca to stand still for you, is more of a challenge than cutting nails. They don’t have hooves, just two small toenails on each foot.
I did a post on the technique of cutting toenails a while back so I won't go through that again.
One good thing about the dry weather though, some of the alpacas had worn down their nails on the hard ground, so they didn’t need much clipping at all.
That said, I wouldn’t like to be doing hundreds of alpacas’ toenails. With my little herd it’s a leisurely 1-2 hours job, that’s including a general check over to make sure everything’s right with them. It could be done much faster if we were in a hurry, but I think it’s better to stay calm around these creatures. If you’re tense or worked up about something, or trying to do a rushed job, the alpacas will pick up on that and they’ll get stressed out too.
We use garden pruners to do alpaca toenails. Foot rot sheers work fine too, but are expensive to buy. Last time I looked, they were about $69 at Roberts.
Note: Foot rot sheers are tough as and you can cut through all sorts of things with them – so it’s great having a pair around, even if you don’t do alpaca nails with them.
Pruners are much cheaper. Alpaca toenails aren’t heavy duty work, so pruners will last a long time. You’ll need to sharpen them up periodically, but that’s easy enough. Pruners are lighter and smaller too, better suited to a lady’s hand (the blokes might want to be big and tough and use the foot rot shears).
And when you’re done with the alpacas, you can go and prune the roses (if the alpacas haven’t eaten them).
After rain, it’s a bit like how your nails are softer after a bath or shower. Same with alpacas when they’ve been walking about on wet ground.
Here's Maddy, looking stunning after the tiniest rain shower.
It hadn’t been raining here on Saturday though, so the alpacas toenails were bone dry and much harder to cut than when they’re wet. They were due to be done though, so out we went.
On the whole though, alpaca toenails aren’t hard to cut. Getting the alpaca to stand still for you, is more of a challenge than cutting nails. They don’t have hooves, just two small toenails on each foot.
I did a post on the technique of cutting toenails a while back so I won't go through that again.
One good thing about the dry weather though, some of the alpacas had worn down their nails on the hard ground, so they didn’t need much clipping at all.
That said, I wouldn’t like to be doing hundreds of alpacas’ toenails. With my little herd it’s a leisurely 1-2 hours job, that’s including a general check over to make sure everything’s right with them. It could be done much faster if we were in a hurry, but I think it’s better to stay calm around these creatures. If you’re tense or worked up about something, or trying to do a rushed job, the alpacas will pick up on that and they’ll get stressed out too.
We use garden pruners to do alpaca toenails. Foot rot sheers work fine too, but are expensive to buy. Last time I looked, they were about $69 at Roberts.
Note: Foot rot sheers are tough as and you can cut through all sorts of things with them – so it’s great having a pair around, even if you don’t do alpaca nails with them.
The top ones are foot rot shears, the bottom ones are pruners
Pruners are much cheaper. Alpaca toenails aren’t heavy duty work, so pruners will last a long time. You’ll need to sharpen them up periodically, but that’s easy enough. Pruners are lighter and smaller too, better suited to a lady’s hand (the blokes might want to be big and tough and use the foot rot shears).
And when you’re done with the alpacas, you can go and prune the roses (if the alpacas haven’t eaten them).
And here's a rose, one of the few still alive in my neglected garden.
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Comment by katyzzz
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A lot of your advice could well be followed by parents of young children.
Maddy looks like she's saying, "now, what are you up to?"
Interesting as always.
Comment by Rosemary
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
Ah!. Too much attention on the big one in bloom, forgot about the little unopened one. They're nice roses, pink on top, yellow underneath. They have a very slight rose scent - yes I do stop to smell the roses.
I think the same principles would probably apply to human kids as much as when handling alpacas. We rely so much on spoken language, but it really is just one part of communication. When you deal with someone who can't understand words, then your actions have to speak for you.
Thanks for dropping by.