Winter and Llamas

Lynd and Jeanne Blatchford
Greenbriar Llama Karma Farm

Winter brings challenges … more for the owner than for the llamas.

Our llamas like the colder weather but they do not like to be out during a snow or ice storm. Nor do they like to spend time out in the pasture when it is covered by ice or crusty snow. We find that our llamas become bored when they spend extended time in the barn. They will pull shingles off the inner wall (our main barn has had several additions, leaving shingles on some inner walls) and find other ways to get into mischief. To encourage them to go out into the pasture we will place a bale of hay at the far side of the pasture, away from the barn. Not only does this reduce the boredom, it also has the added advantage of giving them exposure to sunlight which is required for production of Vitamin D.

Then there is the dreaded ‘barn poop’. During the more temperate months, our llamas will tend to use communal dung heaps out in the pasture or in our catch pen. In the winter, particularly if the weather is very cold or wet, the llamas will use the barn. With winter temperatures you end up with ‘poopsicles’. Since I am an avid organic gardener I do not find the barn poop too objectionable. It quickly finds its way to my garden and into my dreams of a luxurious vegetable garden this coming summer.

With temperatures hovering around zero, it is necessary to find ways to keep the llamas drinking water from freezing. We use heated five-gallon water buckets. This works quite well but as our herd grows we will need to work out an alternative solution.

Just as we have difficulty navigating across ice … so do llamas. We put sand (no salt) on the slick spots close to the barn.

There is another danger from ice and snow. If you have roof overhangs in areas where the llamas congregate, you need to watch for ice and snow sliding off the roof. We routinely check those areas that could prove to be a problem. The three-sided barn where we are currently housing our two males has a particularly interesting problem. The snow and ice we remove falls into a heap close to the fence. It does not take too long for a tall heap to develop … potentially facilitating a leap over the fence to visit the females.

There are about as many theories on nutrition as there are llama farms. When temperatures plummet below zero and/or when the wind chill factor goes into the high negative numbers we add grain to the diet of all our llamas. Normally we provide grain only to lactating females, late-gestation females and crias. We weigh our herd monthly to monitor the adequacy of the diet.