Reactions of Alpacas to Shearing and Accompanying Procedures

Abstract

Europe´s demand for high-quality alpaca products is rising, including animal welfare as one important aspect of process quality. Shearing and associated procedures like restraint and handling can impact welfare negatively to a varying degree depending on exact conditions. This study researched behavioural stress reactions of alpacas related to shearing procedures in one experiment and one observational study under field conditions in Peru. The experiment investigated acute behavioural stress-reactions of alpacas to shearing by comparing the behaviour of alpacas that were shorn while they were restraint lying on the bare wooden floor (N = 19, Floor, the common procedure), while lying on a soft mattress (N = 20, Mattress) or that were held standing and not shorn (N = 19, NoShear). Animals were caught one by one and randomly assigned to the three treatments. In Mattress and Floor, animals were restraint by fixing a rope to the hind limbs and holding the front limbs; NoShear animals were led to the shearing place, held there for 3 min and then released. Animal vocalisations were recorded directly by one observer; struggling and other animal behaviours and human handling behaviour were analysed from video recordings. The observational study investigated the potential mid-term stress of the whole situation by behavioural observations of alpacas before being gathered for shearing and when back on pasture (N = 5 herds). Animal behaviour did not differ between the Mattress- and Floor group, and only small differences in human handling could be seen in the experiment. The NoShear group showed fewer and shorter flight attempts, less defensive movements with the limbs, head, and torso and fewer animals were screaming. There were no significant differences regarding duration of fixation or of shearing between the two shearing treatments. In the observational study, the feeding activity of alpacas was higher after shearing than before, but the other basic activities (walking, standing, lying with or without rumination) were not affected. In conclusion, animals experience higher stress when being shorn rather than just being held at the shearing place, although stress during shearing seems relatively independent from using a soft mattress or not and the handling without shearing is stressful as well. Results of the observational study show the importance of providing sufficient food after shearing and keeping the procedure´s duration short.