Alpaca Weaning Age: When to Wean a Cria by Weight

Walk onto almost any alpaca farm, and you will hear the same rule of thumb: "Wean at six months." Breeders circle a date on the calendar, separate the dam and cria, and hope for the best.

Six months is a reasonable starting point, but a date on its own tells you nothing about the cria in front of you, and weaning a cria that is not ready is a common cause of unnecessary alpaca weaning stress.

A calendar cannot tell you whether a cria is big enough, whether it is growing on solid feed, or whether its dam is running out of condition. Even the Alpaca Association of New Zealand, which puts usual weaning at around six months, says it depends on the size of the cria and the dam.

Here is how to wean a cria safely, by weight and growth rather than by the calendar alone.

The Anatomy of Alpaca Weaning Stress#

Separation is stressful for a cria, and stress has a cost. The British Alpaca Society notes that most weanlings suffer some separation stress, which leaves them more open to worms and other parasites.

At the same time, a cria that is still relying heavily on milk cannot make up the difference from pasture straight away, so it may lose weight while it adjusts.

The result? The cria's weight drops, and parasites such as Eimeria macusaniensis (E. mac) and gastrointestinal nematodes find an easier target. Weaning a cria that is too small, or not yet growing on solid feed, makes that setback more likely.

When to Actually Wean#

Look at the scale and at the animals themselves, not just at the calendar. A cria is ready to wean when it is big enough and is growing steadily on solid feed (both covered below).

Watch the dam's condition too - but in the opposite direction to what many guides claim. Lactation is a heavy metabolic drain, and a high-producing dam can lose condition fast. If she is getting thin, that is a reason to wean earlier, not later: pulling the cria takes the load off her, and a dam that keeps losing condition while feeding a cria (and often carrying the next one) is at risk of problems such as fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). A thin dam is a signal to act and to talk to your vet, not a gate that blocks weaning. You can track both animals with the Alpaca Body Condition Score Calculator.

1. The Weight Target#

A published benchmark for cria weight at weaning comes from camelid veterinarian Dr Jane Vaughan: wean at approximately 4 months of age, weighing more than 25 kg, with the cria reaching about 45 kg by 12 months.

The growth that gets a cria there is fast. The Alpaca Association of New Zealand describes normal gain as about 6 kg in each of the first two months and 5 kg in each of the third and fourth months, and Vaughan expects crias to double their birth weight by 30 to 60 days.

If your cria reaches the usual weaning age but is still well short of that, do not wean it just because the date has come. Ask why it is small. Vaughan names poor nutrition of the dam and cria, and too little vitamin D, as likely causes, and your vet can help you find out which applies.

2. Growing on Solid Feed#

Reaching the target weight is only half the picture. You also want to see the cria gaining weight on solid feed, not only on its mother's milk.

Crias start nibbling solid food in their first weeks, and their digestive system takes time to catch up. According to the Australian Alpaca Association, the first stomach compartment (C1) is poorly developed at birth, reaches adult proportions by about 8 weeks, and takes about 12 weeks to reach full adult activity, when it can properly break down plant fibre.

Keep weighing the cria in the months before weaning. If you look back at your 60-Day Cria Growth Curve, you should see a baseline of 100 to 250 grams per day in the early weeks.

As you approach weaning, the cria should still be gaining. If its weight stalls or starts to fall in the weeks before your planned weaning date, talk to your vet before separating the pair. Usually the right move is to delay weaning until it is growing again. The exception: if the stall is because the dam has run dry or is losing condition herself, delaying only drains them both - your vet may advise completing the weaning and moving the cria onto good-quality weanling feed and forage instead.

After Weaning: Keep Weighing#

The true test of your weaning decision happens after separation. Use the fence-line weaning method (separating dam and cria by a secure fence where they can still see and smell each other) to reduce stress, and keep the scale out:

• Weigh the weanling about a week after separation and again a week or so later, then carry on with your usual weigh-ins.
• A short pause in growth right after separation is common while the cria adjusts.
• Call your vet if the weanling keeps losing weight, or has not started gaining again after the first week or two. There is no published percentage that marks the line, so do not wait for one. Parasites are a frequent cause after weaning: the British Alpaca Society notes that weanlings are at particular risk, so ask your vet whether to test or treat (see the deworming guide).

Stop Doing the Math on a Clipboard#

Tracking birth weights, weekly gains, and post-weaning weigh-ins for a group of juveniles is a logistical nightmare when done on a barn whiteboard. A cria that has quietly stopped growing is easy to miss until the animal is visibly thin.

That is why we built AlpacaKeep: it keeps birth weight, recent gain, the weaning date, and post-weaning checks together, so you can see whether a cria is ready and how it responds afterward.

AlpacaKeep is built and run on a working alpaca farm and is in private beta now for farms in the EU, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, with every feature free for the beta farms. The Free plan for up to 10 animals stays free afterwards. Get early access. Our free record-keeping templates are yours to download too, with no signup.

Sources & Further Reading#

• Vaughan, J. (2016). Are your crias growing? Criagenesis.
• Alpaca Association New Zealand. Neonatal and Cria Care.
• Australian Alpaca Association. Alpaca Advice: Alpaca digestion and nutrition (2020).
• British Alpaca Society. Alpaca Fact Sheet #11: Alpacas and Parasites (reviewed 2018).
• Wiedner, E. Herd Health of Llamas and Alpacas. Merck Veterinary Manual.
• Cebra, C., Anderson, D. E., Tibary, A., Van Saun, R. J., & Johnson, L. W. (2014). Llama and Alpaca Care: Medicine, Surgery, Reproduction, Nutrition, and Herd Health. Elsevier Health Sciences.
• Van Saun, R. J. (2006). Nutrient requirements of South American camelids: A factorial approach. Small Ruminant Research, 61, 165-186.