Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm
759 Turkey Street, North Berwick, ME 03906
Phone: (207)676-9427, FAX: (207)676-9441
E-Mail: lynd@greenbriarllamas.com

Our Newsletter

We publish our newsletter at the end of each quarter. While its focus is oriented towards first time and prospective first time llama owners, we will send it, free of charge, to anyone interested in llamas.

We invite questions, comments and suggestions. If we receive a question of general interest, we will put it in the newsletter.

Happenings

In May we acquired two new llamas, Midnight and Samantha. Midnight has joined Túpac as a herd sire at our farm. His genealogy is about as different from Túpac’s as is possible with US bred llamas. Thus his addition to our breeding stock materially increases the gene pool in our herd. Samantha has been added to our spring breeding program and is being bred to Midnight.

At the end of May we attended the 1999 Llama and Alpaca Bazaar in Stamford Vermont. This is always a fun and informative event. We recommend this annual event highly.

We are now clearing underbrush from some more of our land. This new area may eventually become additional pasture. We will be retaining the more mature trees to provide shade (and leaves) for our llamas.

These pasture additions and changes greatly expand our options in pasture management.

On June 26 and 27, the Maine Llama Association celebrated Maine Llama Day at the La Kermesse Festival in Biddeford Maine. We took Thoreau and Easy Wynn on the 26^th. The facilities and the people at La Kermesse were terrific. We and our llamas had an enjoyable time.

Web site

We now have a web site on the Internet, http://www.greenbriarllamas.com. We are publishing farm pictures and llama news items on our web site and are maintaining a listing of upcoming llama events. We are also providing links to various local, regional, national and international llama organizations. Articles from our farm newsletter and articles we have written for the Maine Llama Association newsletter are available through our web site.

Our newsletter is also available through the web site. Advantages to accessing the newsletter through the web site include:

·        There will be more pictures and all pictures will be in color and they will be expandable to a larger size

·        There will be links to related articles, pictures and sites

·        The newsletter will be available through our web site before it is mailed to our mailing list.

We hope that you will visit our web site frequently. We welcome any suggestions you may have for improving the site. Our e-mail address is in the masthead of this newsletter.

Llama Events This Summer

Sunday, July 25, is Maine Open Farm Day. Many farms in Maine, including ours, will be open to the public. We will be conducting tours of our farm and will also have demon­strations of weaving and spinning for those who are interested. While we make a big day of Maine Open Farm Day, we are always willing to give tours and answer questions throughout the year – just call ahead.

On August 21^st and 22^nd the Vermont Llama and Alpaca Association will be sponsoring the Stowe Llama and Alpaca Festival.

On September 24^th – 26^th the third annual ALSA Show at Durham, Connecticut, will be held. We will publish more details as they become available.

The Fryeburg Fair, Fryeburg Maine, will be held October 3^rd – October 10^th. Llamas will be present on October 3^rd – October 6^th. The llama show will take place on the 5^th from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM.

Keeping Males Together

In our last issue of our newsletter we wrote about llamas as herd animals and the inappropriateness of keeping a llama in a solitary situation.

Because of his aggressive tendencies towards other males, Midnight had been kept in his own pasture prior to our acquiring him. When we had first attempted to move Easy Wynn in with Túpac and Thoreau, we encountered similar problems. Easy was eight months old at the time. I have italicized the words move and in, because therein lay our mistake … but more about that later.

We were using three pastures to house four males and two of the males, Easy Wynn and Midnight, were not particularly happy … both were pacing excessively. With the advice and counsel of Jane Dunstan of Ridge Mist Llamas we first opened the gate between the pastures containing Easy Wynn and Túpac and Thoreau. Túpac and Thoreau immediately visited Easy Wynn and some new, friendly, relationships evolved. The difference between our prior introduction and the new introduction was a result of avoiding any territorial squabbles … allowing the males to visit made all the difference.

The next step was to introduce Midnight to the other three. When we opened the gate between his pasture and the other two pastures, he immediately thundered across the pasture to attack Túpac. To our surprise, Thoreau, our gelding, two years younger and 60 pounds lighter than Midnight, interposed himself and thoroughly established himself as the alpha llama in those pastures. He was able to best Midnight because, in our opinion, he was in better physical condition. Thoreau and Túpac have been playing and chasing each other for a year while Midnight has not had the opportunity for such exercise.

Allowing the transition to open male pastures to happen was not easy. There was a lot of noise and some mayhem … but no llama was physically hurt, nor would we have permitted any llama to be hurt … Midnight initially suffered some ego battering but the end result was well worth it.

With the passage of each day we see an increased bonding amongst our males.

The advantages of the new set up are:

·        All our male llamas are now getting good exercise through playfully chasing each other around the pastures.

·        Easy Wynn is learning how to be a male llama by following the play and the example of the other males.

·        Thoreau has found a new role, that of ‘uncle’ to Easy Wynn.

·        Easy Wynn and Midnight are clearly happier. Easy is no longer pacing and Midnight’s pacing is minimal and only happens when he is wistfully looking over at the female pasture.

·        We only need one pasture for our males.

The only disadvantage of the new set up is there have been several occasions where the ‘boys’ have decided to play boy games at 2 AM and you can hear them from afar.

Do we feel that males should be kept together in all situations? No, there are some males who are too territorial. Will we maintain open male pastures when possible? Definitely yes.

About Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm

Our primary focus is to breed llamas of sound disposition and conformation. All our crias (baby llamas) will be halter trained and social­ized before we will put them up for sale.

We will work with interested buyers in helping them determine the type(s) of llamas appropriate for them. We will provide advice and counsel after the sale.

We invite and encourage farm visits. Please call and come visit us.

Our best to you,

Jeanne and Lynd Blatchford