BIRTH & NEBORWN CARE
giving birth
 Llama babies, called crias, are almost always born during daylight hours, usually in the morning.  In the Andes, this gives the newborn a chance to get up and dry off before the severe cold of night begins.  A doe who is about to give birth will generally show some of these signs anywhere from a month to two days prior to giving birth: engorged udder; swollen vulva; dropping pellets at random and not necessarily on the manure pile; vulva lips everting (turning out) when she gets up or sits down; unusual lethargy; soft humming (or louder groaning); involuntary twitching of the lips; lack of appetite.  She may also show none of these symptoms.  Llamas are highly individual and you have to get to know the pattern of each female.

 Llamas do not usually need or want assistance in birthing.  The process takes less than an hour; she will spread her legs very wide and "hunch" her rear end down.  A few lie down to give birth.  The cria comes out nose and front feet first; delivering the head will take a few minutes; then after another pause, the shoulders appear.  By now the cria is draping down almost to the ground.  Another heave, and the hips are through; minutes later the whole baby is on the ground.  Within two minutes to ten hours the placenta--a large, venous sac filled with fluid--is delivered.  This should be intact; if not, then the female may have retained some of the placenta and a vet should come and "cleanse" her in the next few days.  (We always check the placenta, but have never seen one even partially retained.)

 The only help that is appropriate for owners to give after a normal birth is to put iodine on the navel as a precaution against bacteria.  Within an hour a healthy cria will figure out how to stand (delightful to watch, if the owner can resist the urge to interfere) and muddle over to the nearest big shadow, which in the open, treeless, light of an Andean morning would almost certainly be mom.  (Warning: if it is inside a building or enclosed by a solid, dark fence, the cria's instincts may trick him into trying to nurse on the fence.) Other llamas can get in the way of this process; but in a herd a vigorous youngster will quickly figure out which one is his mom; the one that doesn't kick him! All the llamas in the field will be very curious and crowd around the newborn, so the owner can separate the new pair to reduce the confusion.

neonatal care
 It is imperative that the cria nurse from the mother within the first twelve hours.  During this time its stomach is open to pass the colostrum right through to the bloodstream.  This thick, sometimes clear fluid, which is in the first milk a mammal produces after giving birth, contains all the immunities the mother has built against the bacteria normal to her environment.  Human babies get these across the placenta before birth, but ruminant babies must get theirs when they first begin to nurse.  (In this way, nature weeds out the weak and sickly who are not able to get up and suck in time.) After the first twenty-four hours, the colostrum will be digested in the usual way and the antibodies in it will go to waste.  Without this protection, the cria has no resistance for the first three months until his own immune system is able to produce the necessary protection.

 Crias are the most adorable creatures on four legs.  Many are curious and friendly, and it is a great temptation to get them to "bond" to you.  If it is male, DON'T! Young herd animals are learning what is proper in the way of behavior toward other members of their species during this time.  You do not want to "mis-imprint" the young male on your own species; as an adult he is likely to choose human targets for natural male aggtression.  (Mis-imprinted females can get pushy and bratty, but since a herd of females does not fight among themselves, it is not so much a problem if they think you are on their level.) This does not mean that you should not interact with the babies---trust is learned early---but handlers must be careful not to send a young animal confusing signals at this very impressionable age.  The best way is to interact positively with the mother--feeding her, brushing her and otherwise demonstrating to the cria that you are a pleasant but non-herd sort of creature.  At weaning, this effect can be increased by putting the juvenile llama in with your tamest herd member.

 Crias should be given their first immunizations at two to four months, followed within four months by a booster (usually an 8-way shot for tetanus and various clostridium bacteria).  A worming shot or oral wormer is also a good precaution against parasites.  The young are weaned anywhere from four months (early) to six months.  If a doe has not weaned her cria by this time, it is advisable to separate the two so that the mother’s developing fetus is not deprived of nutrients or her body depleted.

 Llamas mature at about the same rate as horses, reaching their full growth at three to four years of age.  Females will mature faster than males, as a rule; a few genetically rapid growers will be of breeding weight as early as thirteen months; others are not ready until thirty months.  Eighteen months seems to be average.  Anywhere from eighteen months to thirty months, the front four teeth will fall out and be replaced by adult teeth; if the llama is on pasture only it may be wise to give extra feed at this time.