Alpacas Can Increase Attention Span

When John was young, he was involved in an individualized music therapy program which improved both language development and attention span. Playing the drum just a bit longer than he wanted, did
indeed, increase the amount of time he could attend to tasks.

We have been able to implement these same principles to our chores
with the alpacas. We now own six animals, and the daily routine of
haying is the perfect activity to achieve this objective. Each alpaca consumes about a sheaf of hay a day or one bale a week. We use plastic baskets to carry this out through the pen.

Irish Rose and Alameda, the breeding females, assert their dominance
in the herd and place themselves at the front of the wagon. The six month-old crias, Sooleana and Kimi, burrow under the brood mare
quality hay to suck up the precious chaffe. Princess Nomian and Kaboom are left to fend for themselves. John can immediately
recognize his importance in this endeavor and finds it very rewarding.

Raking up the fallen hay, however, is not as much fun. We fill a wheelbarrow and take it to the tractor's bucket. Knowing that we are almost ready for our "break", I ask for just one more trip. We have
been able to add more time to this chore very gradually, and our progress is not always consistent. But, the trip to the fast food drive thru
for lunch has never failed to motivate!