Description

Cinco is a gorgeous rose gray male born on Cinco de Mayo of 2022. Right away we knew that he was special. His fiber has excellent crimp from head to toe and is becoming more dense every day. Cinco has always been very athletic, but when he was six weeks old he broke his lower left front leg so badly while playing that we were unable to save it. Rather than having the vet take his leg off at the shoulder, we decided to have it amputated through the joint at the knee. Two thirds of an alpacas weight is carried on the front end so as Cinco grew, his right front leg would take a beating unless he had a way to bear some of his weight on the left front. Having a stump would allow us to fit Cinco with a prosthetic leg. It would also allow him to be able to breed in the future more easily, using his left residual limb to hold onto a female. When Cinco was about four months old he received his first prosthetic leg, fitted with an adjustable height pylon so that we could lengthen the leg as Cinco grew..

He adjusted quickly to the prosthetic and is able to walk with a reciprocal gait pattern now and run and jump, although not to the extent he could before his injury. We are looking forward to Cinco's first walking fleece class in early 2023 to see what the judges think of his fiber. We are disappointed that we will not be able to show him in a halter class since he lost his leg as we were certain he would have done quite well, but we are very pleased that Cinco is alive and well and will remain on our farm forever.

Cinco has become quite the celebrity, having debuted on KARK news with Andrew Epperson, an article on Newsweek, YouTube News and more. He is a farm favorite as he loves people (and treats) and kids are able to learn about disabilities from his experience.

Newsweek article: https://www.newsweek.com/baby-alpaca-learns-walk-again-prosthetic-leg-adorable-clip-1749410#:~:text=Heartwarming%20Trending%20Animals%20Pets%20Prosthetics%20An%20alpaca%20has,Mayo%2C%20which%20is%20how%20he%20got%20his%20name.