Having covered alpaca behaviour last time with Marty McGee Bennet of Camelidynamics, we should know everything about 'our' alpacas and understand them perfectly. But they still bring some surprises to our everyday living with alpacas.

I have been supervising some matings here on the farm and it is a complex set of behaviours to fully understand. On this occasion, we had some 'run-off' tests as well as 'spit-off's'.

Nearly done for the year with the matings, Autumn has made an appearance so thoughts must turn to ensure our animals are sufficiently protected from the weather and to take the opportunity to review our alpaca health plan.

I recently discussed with Tanya Russell how she has been developing her own skills in faecal testing before worming her alpacas.

There are services available to carry out tests, which may include your vet but it should be the right test, which is widely recommended to be the Modified Stoll's test in the case of alpacas.

See https://www.ukalpacavet.com/laboratory-services/faecal-testing/