I have a problem that just appeared last night. I have a 3 day old male cria. A 10 month old male seems to be trying to remove this newborn from the herd. He is very aggressively playful with the other weanlings but this is different. He pushes him away from the gathering herd and even reared up at him. Once the cria runs off in the other direction the older one leaves him alone. There is also a 1-1/2 year old female. She knocked this newborn down and rolled on him. It was not an accident. Another adult female, who is a behavior problem anyway (Scarlett - you may have read about her) spit at him right after she was introduced to him. Huh?? Is this within any realm of normal? I have not experienced it with any of my other newborns. I separated the Mom, cria and his loving sister from the herd - gave them the barn and paddock area and everyone else was shuffled off to the pasture. I can't keep them this way for long because I live in WA and we are still getting so much rain. Do I need to be as concerned as I feel? I really can't throw up a new building overnight but that is what I think I need to do for this situation. Has anyone heard of such behavior? Any suggestions? I'm so appreciative to all of you for your expertise and willingness to share. Thank you. Debbie Gage TrailSide Alpacas Buckley, WA
