Pregnancy Management

• Repeat Pregnancy Tests. Test your females for pregnancy the first time between day 30 and 60 depending on the method used. If they are positive, reconfirm the diagnosis by repeating the exam around day 90 or later. There can be a considerable amount of embryonic loss during this time. It costs much less to repeat a test for pregnancy than it does to assume a female is pregnant for an entire year before finding out that she is not. If there is ever a time when you question if a female is still pregnant, test her again. If she is still pregnant you have peace of mind and if she isn't than you can begin breeding her again without losing lots of time. See Pregnancy Diagnosis for more details.

• Consider the time of year. Late pregnancy during the warmer months of the year is more difficult on the female llamas than during the cooler months. They are carrying more weight, processing and excreting more wastes, eating more, breathing less easily and they are producing milk which increases their water requirements even more. This all contributes to putting females in the third trimester at a much higher risk for heat stress. If you have females who are prone to heat stress already, breed them so that they are due between late November and late April. If they are due during the warmer weather go to extremes to prevent heat stress. See the heat stress page for details.

• Minimize traveling during early pregnancy. Traveling or increased stress may put an embryo younger than 60 days at an increased risk of loss. This impression may be due to increased detection and not actually an increase in embryonic loss. The act of travelling also provides an incident to which the loss can be attributed. These are also females who are probably going for outside stud service and are being pregnancy checked before they leave the stud's farm and after they return home. This makes it more likely that normal embryonic losses will be detected. Some of this may depend on the females stress level and how comfortable she is travelling. Regardless of whether travelling causes an increased risk of embryonic loss, it is easy enough to avoid travelling during the first 60 days just to be sure.

• Don't increase feeding until the last trimester. The fetus does the vast majority of its growing during the third trimester. Prior to this point the female does not need any extra nutrients to support her or the fetus. In fact feeding her more than she needs at this point could be detrimental. It could cause her to gain weight which would increase her chances of dystocia because of a narrowed pelvic canal due to fat deposition. It also could decrease her milk production because extra fat in the mammary gland decreases the amount of functional mammary tissue. SeeNutritional Requirements for llamas.

• Increase feedings slowly. There is no rush to drastically increase the female's intake once she reaches the third trimester. The growth rate of the fetus gradually increases over this time so the amount of feed consumed should reflect this. You want the female to be consuming a lactating ration by the time of parturition. Small weekly increases should change the diet slowly enough to avoid overfeeding and digestive upset. If you feel your female is already too fat, now is not the time for a diet. Trying to get the female to lose weight during late pregnancy can be life threatening. Work on weight loss after the first 3 to 4 weeks of lactation.

• Don't leave an intact male in with late pregnant females. During the third trimester of pregnancy females the placenta begins to produce more estrogen. This can make a female smell like she is receptive to the male. Some females will even allow a breeding to occur. Even if they don't allow a breeding to occur, an aggressive male may still chase the female and force a breeding. A breeding could easily result in an abortion or premature birth of the cria. It is an easy situation to avoid. Never leave late pregnant females in the same field/paddock with intact males.

  A rough estimate of the relative estrogen levels in a pregnant female llama.

• Keep her toenails trimmed. Keep in mind that she will be carrying extra weight in the last trimester of pregnancy and having toenails which are too long can add to any discomfort she might have. The timing of toenail trimming must be individual. A calm female who does not struggle or get stressed over toenail trimming could easily be trimmed at any point during her pregnancy. Another female who really hates toenail trimming and gets very stressed and puts up a fight should be trimmed more cautiously. It would be best to trim her toenails 90 to 120 days before she is due and then do not trim them again until after the cria has been delivered. Stress is unlikely to cause an abortion, but it is one of those things which is easy to avoid with some planning. See instructions for toenail trimming.

• Vaccinate 30 to 60 days before she is due. All female llamas should be vaccinated with Clostridium types C and D and Tetanus 30 to 60 days prior to giving birth. It is essential to boosting the protective antibodies in the colostrum for the cria. Giving the vaccine closer than 2 weeks prior to birth does not give the vaccine time to produce an antibody response in the female and allow her to put those antibodies in the colostrum. Giving the vaccine too far before birth loses out on the maximum antibody levels and does not give you the most benefit for the time and expense of giving the vaccine. There may be an increased risk of abortion with the use of a 7-way or 8-way Clostridium vaccine instead of just Clostridium types C and D and Tetanus. There are more antigens which cause more of an inflammatory reaction with 7- or 8-way vaccines. Prostaglandins are one of the agents released by the body with inflammation. Certain types of prostaglandins in the correct amounts could damage the corpus luteum which produces progesterone and cause an abortion. This difference between the vaccines is all theory and has not been scientifically proven though.

• Continue to deworm on your regular schedule. Deworming with drugs approved by your veterinarian for pregnant animals does not pose any risk to the pregnancy. Most of the commonly used dewormers like ivermectin (Ivomec) or fenbendazole (Panacur or Safeguard) are safe for pregnant animals. Pregnant animals are not exempt from parasite control. The only increased risk of abortion may be related to the stress involved with the administration of the dewormer. If you are concerned about this consult with your veterinarian about other options.

• Weigh and body condition score your females one week after giving birth. Yearly weights and body condition scoring after giving birth is a good way of monitoring your nutrition program. A female who gains 10 lbs. each year is going to be overweight enough to cause problems with fertility, birthing and milk production in a few years. If she is losing weight you may have underestimated her needs over the past year. It is just a good baseline for evaluating changes during lactation and over the course of the year. It also is a more accurate weight because you don't have to guess at how much weight the fetus may be adding. Learn to Body Condition Score your llamas.