Finding the mutual benefits with your animals
At our farm, we have an ethos of “mutual benefits”, which means in everything we do and offer, we do it for the benefit of both our visitors and our animals. The rewards of this are incredible and we see daily how this creates the best interaction, bringing so much happiness to the farm.
Come for a wellbeing session
From gentle interaction in the field, a walk through the village and hand feeding the alpacas, we see these mutual benefits; people are enjoying the close interaction with these amazing animals and the animals enjoying the enriching social aspects, being fed and site seeing. Even our hand wash station demonstrates this ethos; the first and last thing I’ll ask you to do at the farm is wash your hands, the first time benefits my animals’ health, the second time benefits yours!
Walk the alpacas
If we ever notice that the mutual benefits stop, i.e. either visitors or alpacas show signs of stress, discomfort or dislike, we pause and take time to adapt and correct what may be the cause of the problem. We advocate open space and choice so we do not entrap or make either people or animals stay in a situation or do an activity if they don’t want to. Animal welfare is at the forefront of what we do.
As much as you can train an animal, they will always have natural instincts and in a stressed situation this could mean “fight or flight”. Alpacas being a herd animal would be preyed upon if they lived in the wild, so if they didn’t enjoy a situation, they would run and wouldn’t spend much time interacting with people if they didn’t feel happy or safe. They need to have trust in me and visitors and as a responsible owner, I continually watch them for signs in their behaviour to keep them and visitors happy and safe.
We’re proud to deliver training on the farm, whether it’s to help you get the best out of the alpacas you already have, because you’re thinking of starting your own alpaca journey, or an experience you’ve always wanted to do, speak to us about our alpaca husbandry and handling training days
Whilst I look at this from a work perspective, I also have cats and a dog who I use the same principles with to make sure I help them be as happy as possible, and get some trusted cuddle time with them too!
Let’s look at dogs for example. A dog will usually show you a sign that they’re happy by wagging their tail or show excitement by being a little bouncy and running towards you. But do you know the signals that dogs use to show stress or anxiety? These are important to look out for to have a happy animal, and also to keep them and those around them safe, preventing unwanted defensive or aggressive behaviours. Dogs can demonstrate small movements to show signs of stress such as moving their ears back, averting their gaze and turning their face away from unwanted attention, flicking their tongue or stress yawning. When you see these small but telling signs, it’s time to remove the hazard and help your dog feel safe. This is the same across all animals.
Create magical memories with your family here at our alpaca farm in Deux-Sevres with one of our experiences with the alpacas on offer - or even better, extend your alpaca time with a stay in the glamping tent!
When we pay attention and take positive action from animals' stress signals, we can embrace their happiness, remove any hazards or danger and reassure them they are safe and loved. They will return this with that super interaction we adore and crave from animals, that in turn greatly benefits us by releasing endorphins, de-stresses you, lowers your heart rate and generally makes you feel happier. And there are the mutual benefits!
See if you can notice these in your pets and once you do and react to these in a positive way, you will reap the rewards of bringing joy to your pets. I hope you can give this a go at home and of course, give us a visit at the farm too if you want to see this in person or find out more.
