 |
Why Llamas? For Fun of Course!
This article was contributed by Lars Garrison, West Mountain
Farm, Inc.
Photograph by Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm. See Our
Llamas for instructions on how to acquire a high resolution copy of the
photograph.
Llamas are really fun to own! They appeal to a broad range of potential owners - possibly you?
One of our first customers, in 1988, simply wanted llamas to look at – to be well cared for pasture art. Many people enjoy showing animals competitively. We have a friend who trains llamas for pulling a cart. Many people enjoy camping and hiking, but don’t want to carry the load that extended wilderness stays entail. Use of their fiber offers a whole new dimension in life – spinning, knitting, felting and weaving. Simply caring for large animal pets is satisfying to many. Many carefully chosen llamas make great sheep and goat guards, against dogs and coyotes.
In South America llamas are a beast of burden, sometimes called "the Jeep of the Andes." They are the farm to market transportation medium. Every year they are sheared for their fiber (we call it wool, but that really applies only to sheep). And at a certain point, they do become a food animal. Nothing is wasted where the annual family income is under $300, in Bolivia, for example.
Why are they fun? They offer something to almost everyone. We
thoroughly enj
oy working with intelligent large animals on a day to day basis.
We have about 100 llamas and alpacas on a bucolic mountainside of southern
Vermont. They are eminently trainable if you teach in the manner which they
learn. Llamas are aloof, preferring their human to be about three to four feet
away. They seldom react to petting or food as a reward. The trainer has to learn
the traits each animal to gain trust and cooperation – a truly fun challenge. We
enjoy taking our llamas in parades, to nursing homes, using them for pet
therapy, making school and library visits. People really like seeing and
touching these regal, serene, calm animals!
Health care for llamas and alpacas is quite simple. They need about 2% of their body weight per day of good quality first cut hay (they have a very efficient ruminant type multiple stomach). We feed about a pound per day of grain which carries the minerals they would get in South America but are lacking in the soils here; and we have a mineral and salt mix available to them at all times. They get annual shots for rabies and clostridia diseases, and are dewormed monthly. On an average day we do chores for our 100 llamas and alpacas in two hours. With, say, four animals, chores take only a few minutes morning and evening. Be forewarned, however. You will enjoy their company so much that you will be with them much more than that!
Llamas have gained an unfair reputation for spitting. This almost invariable arises from their being raised in petting zoos and the like. When raised as part of a herd, spitting is reserved for other llamas, not people. We have over 100 llamas and alpacas. None of them react to people by spitting.
Llamas can be green-broke to pull a cart in only a few days of
professional training. They are
taught to react to both voice command and reins. Putting the trainee llama in a
cart between two trained ones is easiest. The green llama learns commands within
a few hours, following the example of the other llamas. After the initial
training, it is up to the owner to regularly, every few days, reinforce the
lessons. Not all llamas are able to be cart animals. Careful selection is the
rule.
Llamas and alpacas are shorn every spring; both to harvest the fiber and to relieve heat stress during the summer. Llamas yield about three to five pounds of fiber, while an alpaca gives four to eight pounds. Llamas tend to have more guard hair in their coat than does an alpaca. Unless the guard hair is removed, a manual process, their fiber can be itchy in garments worn near the skin. Properly prepared, both llama and alpaca fiber can be used for anything that wool from sheep can be. A wonderful renewable resource!
Llamas and alpacas are a part of the camel family. The llama was developed from the wild guanaco, while the alpaca came from the vicuna, about 6,000 years ago. The original camel family came from what is now the Mississippi River valley some forty million years ago. In due course the bactrian and dromedary camels went over the Bering Straits, while the vicuna and guanaco went South through Panama to the Andes. The rest became extinct.
If you would like further information, call us at 802 694 1417,
e-mail llamawmf@sover.net. Lars
Garrison,
West Mountain Farm, Inc. Stamford, Vermont 05352.