Fencing

Lynd and Jeanne Blatchford
Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm

Llamas are very respectful of fences. With the exception of our newborn, Easy Wynn, they could all leap our fences … and I am not so sure that he could not. There are some circumstances where they are not so respectful; e.g., when Túpac was 10 months old he leaped the fence keeping him from our females. Fortunately, he had not achieved sexual maturity.

The questions to be addressed when selecting fencing include:

·         Do I plan to breed llamas, i.e., will I need to physically separate my males and females?

·         Will I have young crias in my pastures, i.e., will I have to worry about crias getting their heads stuck or caught in the fencing?

·         Do I have predators, including dog packs, which I need to keep out of the pastures?

Barbed wire should never be used. The large eyes of llamas are susceptible to injury by the barbs. In addition, your llamas can also get easily scratched about their faces and legs with barbed wire. Remember that llamas are very curious animals and are always coming up to the fence to see what is going on about them.

The open spaces in your fencing should either be large enough to prevent your llamas from getting their heads, necks or legs caught in them, or small enough to prevent them from putting their heads or legs through them. If you will be having crias in your pastures, the spaces should probably be small enough to prevent them from putting their heads through. If they are large enough to prevent their heads being caught, they most likely can escape.

If you will be having intact males and breeding females in your pastures, you should either consider having the pastures physically separated or putting in an appropriate barrier, e.g., an electrified fence, a high fence or a double fence between the males and females.

We use wire fencing which is four feet high and the height of the spacing decreases the closer you get to the ground (commonly known as field fencing). This discourages the crias from trying to stick their heads through the fencing to feed upon the grass on the outside. If we have males and females in adjacent pastures we put up an electrified wire in the fencing which separates the pastures.

We recommend visits to llama farms in your area when you are first contemplating fencing. You will be able to see the variety of fencing available and obtain an insight on how others have solved the fencing problem.