Early Gelding

[Mark Brindley]

I purchased a gelding as a companion for our bottle feed cria. He is 12 months old & was gelded early. I have read about the development problems these boys have & was wondering what we can do to help his development so we may lesson the impact further down the line. Cheers

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I would make sure he gets a good diet and plenty of vitamins and minerals, and do you best not to let him get fat. There aren't as many problems with early gelding with alpacas as llamas. Which do you have?
I wonder though is the bottle fed cria been gelded and when do you plan to do that? If there is any questionable behavior on his part I would geld sooner than later. I think the danger of behavioral problems is less than potential growth plate problems.

[Mark Brindley]

Thakyou for fast reply. The bottle feed cria is a female & they are both llamas. Both get a good diet of grass, hay & pellets.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I would just repeat the caution about letting the gelding get overweight he probably doesn't need to be eating pellets. Once a llama or an alpaca gelding gets fat it is almost impossible to slim him down again since you don't have the option of pregnancy and lactation.

[tsalpacas]

What is the "ideal" age to geld?

Thanks

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I think that most people agree that around two is ideal however if there are behavioral issues I think that takes precedence and the animal should be gelding as soon as possible if that is an issue.

[docdennis]

It is best to wait until an alpaca is at least 18 months and a llama is 24 months before gelding. If the animal is ,gelded to early, the growth plates in the long bones don't fuse as they normally would, potentially leading to extra long legged or slightly odd looking animals.
As Marty stated, avoid overfeeding. Feed high quality hay, minerals, and minimal grain.

Dennis Thibeault, DVM

[kwallace]

With all that I have read regarding gelding on this site as well as in my llama books and various articles, I am seeking some advice. I have a male llama cria born September 15, 2008. He is currently housed with his mother and his 2 sisters and doing wonderfully socially, weightwise, etc.
Here is my dilemma: He will always be housed with his mother an sisters and the only other llama that I have is an intact male (his father) so it is not a question of will I geld but when?? I know that if I geld early their is risk of growth plate concerns, geld late and there is a risk of breeding and possible behavior issues. I have not noticed unusual or concerning behaviors (he is very stand-offish), he pretend breeds his sisters once in a while(they do not kush for him). I was thinking of gelding him by April. Can others please weigh in on this? Thanks. Also what is the normal post-gelding care for him?

[OHL]

I would definintely NOT geld him in April when he will be only 7 months old. I would very strongly recommend that he reach a bare minimum of 15 months before you consider gelding, 18 is better.

I do not believe gelding a llama before this timeframe is in the best interest of the animal, except in very rare cases (severe behavioral issues, trauma, etc). Alpacas can be safely gelded somewhat earlier, but I still would be very hard pressed to ever recommend gelding before a year old.

This delay will require you to separate him from your females for a while after he is weaned. Socially, he would do best with other llamas or alpacas. I would first suggest pasturing him with your adult male if his temperament makes that at all possible. Another idea is that there may be others near you who have males around his age he could live with until he is old enough to be gelded.

As a last alternative, you could make a temporary area for him adjoining your other llamas. If you are planning to rebreed his dam (or already have), and you are sure she is at least 3 months pregnant by the time he needs to be separated, you could keep him with her while she is pregnant and then geld (if he is old enough) or separate him at least a month before she is due to deliver.

I hope that gives you some ideas to work with.

Sara

[Marty McGee Bennett]

This is a tough one. I agree with Sara and I also know on a small farm that separate housing can be a challenge. I would do your best to keep him intact until a year perhaps allowing him to share a fence line in a small paddock until then as he will surely become randy before then given that he is already mounting. Most of the time males are not able to settle a female before a year old (sometimes 14-16 months) but given that he would breed his sisters or mother... however you could also keep an eye on them and if you did see a serious breeding or thought that a female did get settled you could also prevent any pregnancy by giving the equivalent of the morning after pill none of these options are without a downside but they are all worth considering... along with putting him in with daddy if he is not very aggressive.