Barn Management – Another View

In the last issue, Katie Parker and Dick LeDuc of Pondview Llamas provided us with some interesting and helpful information on barn management. They asked that anyone with better ideas share them. We do not have any better ideas but we can add the perspective of new llama owners … our mistakes and successes. We have expanded the topic to also cover some of those items a new or prospective new llama owner should consider when starting up.

Our first, and biggest, mistake was to use sawdust on the floor. It would work itself deep into the coat of the heavier wooled llamas, particularly on the back of the neck. On the positive side, it is absorbent and has some great insulating properties. If you are raising light wooled llamas, you may wish to give it consideration.

The llamas loved the sawdust. They liked to roll in it. If given a chance to vote on flooring our llamas would have definitely voted for the sawdust.

When we replaced the sawdust with sand, we found:

·         It did not take long for any sawdust in the coats of the llamas to work itself out.

The hayracks in our barns when we moved in were the traditional barred hayracks. We observed the following deficiencies:

·         The racks were too short. One or two adult llamas would monopolize a rack.

·         There was a lot of spillage of hay.

·         The crias found it difficult to get at the hay.

We designed our own hay feeders. Rather than being open at the sides and bottom, they are open only at the top with a cut down area at one end to enable the crias to gain access to the hay. They butt up against the walls. We used plywood and 2”x4” studs to construct the feeders. The tops of the feeders are 33” off the ground and the bot­toms are 12” off the ground. The cutouts for the crias are 14” wide and 10” deep. The distance from front to back is 20” at the top and 12” at the bottom. The tops of the feeders and the cria cutouts are all framed with 2”x4”’s. The length is constrained only by the available space.

Katie and Dick mentioned the desirability of having a source of water available in the barn. We wholeheartedly concur. Our barn connects with one set of pastures and an open shed-like structure connects with another set. In the most recent cold snap the non-freezing faucet in the shed froze. A five-gallon bucket of water can become quite heavy if you have to carry it any distance.

A chute is on our recommended list of llama accessories. It is most helpful when you are trimming toenails, doing heavy grooming on a skittish llama or performing medical care on the llama.

Most llama owners we have visited have constructed their own chutes and many of these have used pipes as their preferred construction material.

Dick LeDuc has built wooden chutes, which are aesthetically pleasing as well as being utilitarian.

We are not similarly talented and ended up acquiring the Mallon chute. We bolted the chute to the floor of our main barn. Unless your chute cannot be tipped, we strongly urge that you bolt it to the floor for both your safety and the safety of your llama.

The other accessory, which we feel is necessary, is a scale. Scales are expensive and if you are handy with your hands you may wish to construct a platform scale.

We purchased a digital platform scale because we had neither the time nor talent to build our own. The platform fit very neatly within the Mallon chute. This worked out quite nicely since it reduced the space taken up by these accessories and it facilitated weighing our llamas.

The digital scale readout can be dampened making it easy to read, even if the llama being weighed is rambunctious.

We built a cria creep in one corner of our main barn. Our crias, after some initial work, adopted the creep with enthusiasm. We have seen a variety of creeps in our farm visits. The entrance to our creep is 22” high by 18” wide. There is a 7” high wooden flap at the top of the entrance. This flap is hinged and is held in a down position by a bungee cord. Thus the exiting space can be as high as 29”, which can be helpful if a cria gets spooked or an adult somehow gains entrance.

We have one llama, Marie, who is very adept at getting into a creep. We have concluded that she kushes and wiggles to get herself to where the food is. To frustrate this I place a 2”x4” at the bottom of the entrance with the 4” side extending upwards (the 22” measurement of the entrance is from the top of this 2”x4”). This worked quite well and the crias have learned to step over it.

We have constructed a creep entrance in our shed but only one cria has used it, even though the entrance is somewhat larger than the creep in the barn is. We have long since concluded that merely constructing a creep is not enough, you have to work with the crias to get them to accept it. 

December 11, 1999: We have completely redone the creep entrance to the shed. We read that restricting the width of the entrance is the most effective approach to keeping the adults out of the creep. Through trial and error we have found that a width of 12½" works well with our herd.

What I lack in woodworking talent, I make up for in using the computer. We have a database we have developed for maintaining the health records of our llamas.

When we are expecting the vet to call, we print off the records of each llama. We immediately enter any treatments the llamas have received.

We record registration information, weights, medical and breeding history in our database. The database is changing as we gain experience in raising our llamas.

When you are working out your budget for acquisition of needed farm equipment, e.g., a tractor, consider going up one level rather than trying to scrimp. It is amazing how soon equipment you felt would be adequate, can become somewhat less so as your real needs unfold.