wool plucking by another animal

[Anonymous]

Hi Marty,
I took your training class and continue to use the methods you taught with success. However, I have a dilemma with a female from our farm. She had the awful habit of pulling out her herd mate's fiber. She has managed to de-tail several of them over the year and one/half she's been around. We have tried several methods to stop this annoying behavior, we hung several dog clothe bones (the ones with the fringe ends) in the barn, we have used hot sauce on the tails of her victims, we have attempted to use Bitter Apple when we are able to catch her in the act. All attempts have failed. She is of breeding age now and we are hoping , once bred she would stop ( not too confident). Do you have any suggestions on what to try and have you any idea as to why she is and has been doing this? She had a normal birth and a mother that plenty of milk and attention.
I would appreciate any advise you could give us.
Thank you,

[Marty McGee Bennett]

HI, thanks for the email. You have tried a lot of different things I am not sure what else I could offer other than separating her from the others long enough to break what is probably a habit. Perhaps she had a reason in the beginning... weaned too early or a mineral or vitamin deficiency... now it is probably just something she does because she does. Perhaps changing the herd composition or moving her to another pasture to give her something new to do and look at...
I would just mention again early weaning (younger than 5 months) can cause things like this or other behavioral problems that can be quite annoying and difficult to get rid of. I recommend leaving your female camelids in with their moms as long as you can and even letting the mothers wean them totally. Boys need to leave the female herd when they begin acting randy but should be able to remain with the adult females until five or six months of age. When left in a bit longer these youngsters are disciplined by the adults and learn to be respectful.
marty