Llovin My Llamas! My learning curve with these amazing creatures

Of all the animals I have, the llamas are the ones that I get either the most questions about, or the craziest looks. Llamas? Why would anyone want a llama? Of course this happens is in my neck of the world. There are plenty of alpaca farms in our area, but very few llama breeders. In fact, when I decided that I might actually want one, I had a heck of a time finding anyone within a decent driving distance that I could get information from and visit a farm! I started with one female, and said THAT WAS IT! Yeah, I now have 5 llamas total, and expecting a sixth with a birth soon. How the heck did that even happen?! Well, I’ll tell you.

I’ve had goats for several years now, and they are purely as pets. I could do a whole blog post about goats, and how they are like dogs! And fun! And CUTE! ….sorry, I digress.
Since I’m a [sometimes overly] protective Mama with all of my animals, I started looking into protection for the goats. One thing that I kept reading about was using a llama as a guard. Llamas, as it turns out, are super curious creatures that will more often come TOWARD something new to check it out, rather than just run away like most animals. That trait alone is enough to scare off any potential predators. Llamas are also territorial. Even a coyote doesn’t want to mess with a three hundred pound llama who can kick or stomp. Additionally, llamas eat the same as goats for the most part: a diet comprised of mostly hay. So I figured – this is a great idea! I’m gonna research the heck outa this and get a llama. I bought books on Amazon, read articles online, and took all kinds of notes. Nick pretended it wasn’t happening. In fact, I actually went out of my way to read the llama books when he was home so he knew I was serious. I eventually got a shake of his head, and a couple “You’re Crazy” comments from him, and I knew he was ready to accept the inevitable.
In early spring 2019, Craigslist has a female llama posted for what I thought was a reasonable price. She wasn’t registered, so she was a bargain! Or so I thought at the time. We drove the ways to meet the owner and llama with a trailer in tow. OK who the heck am I kidding I wasn’t leaving without her. When I met her I kept thinking, WOW she is a big animal. WOW she is so calm. She was already haltered when I got there, and led on a rope easily. Her name was Lady Jane. ALRIGHT! Load her up she is coming home! I got in the truck as we pulled away from the farm and looked at my family – “HOLY CRAPOLA I JUST BOUGHT A LLAMA”!

Just reading this last paragraph to myself…sigh…I had so much to learn and it was gonna be a fast and bumpy ride. It took all of two days and we nicknamed Jane as “Banana” for her long curvy and always alert ears. Banana was gonna be teaching me some stuff…little did I know…a lot of the stuff I had read in books or online was either flat out wrong, or wouldn’t work for my situation or location. Her previous owner wasn’t a breeder, and although knowledgeable about Banana in particular, he wasn’t able to prepare me like I thought. Llamas are different from any other animal I have now or have had in the past, and their care is different too. Most strikingly, their DISPOSITION is different, and it has to be taken into consideration when working with them. Llamas are more like cats in my opinion. They only want attention or touching on their terms, and everything with them is about earning trust and using calm energy. I had a HUGE trust deficit with Banana when I got her and didn’t even know it at the time.

Banana came already haltered because she hated…HATED getting haltered –as I soon learned. One thing I read was that I couldn’t leave the halter on unless I was working with her. It was a danger to the animal to leave it on all the time. Llamas have very little bone on the top of their noses, so halters can easily slip down and cut off air, or cause issues with the skin.
So I removed the halter on Banana, and a HUGE chunk of her nose skin was embedded on the halter and came off her nose with the halter!! Peeps, I’m telling you there was blood everywhere, and Banana took off into the pen full speed. I felt physically ill for the pain she had to have been in not only from the skin coming off, but the ill fitting halter to begin with. Poor Banana had a poorly fitting halter on and she wasn’t gonna fall for that trap again. Like I said – HUGE trust deficit to start off.
I had the vet scheduled to come out to give vaccinations and give her a once over the next day. I learned in a short hour period that a llama that doesn’t want to be messed with WILL. NOT. BE. MESSED. WITH. Banana is almost three hundred pounds, and she knows how to use her back end as a barrier. She also isn’t shy about spitting when she is mad. Llama spit is gross…and it smells horrible. and it gets all over you. I was covered in it. And I deserved it.

My friends and family like to joke about Bitchy Banana, and yes she is kinda bitchy. I am pretty amused with her most times, and she is often the subject of my social media posts because she is just so grumpy! That said, I have learned a LOT from Banana on what to do or not do with a llama. She isn’t shy to tell me when I’m screwing up. Now, well over a year and a half later, I actually have a decent working relationship with Banana. Yes she still spits, she still hates haltering, she hates affection, but I can do what I need to with her, and have gained her trust enough to let me. I really love that llama.

I knew I needed help figuring out how to handle this large animal. I found Marty McGee Bennett and a HANDS ON class she was holding in Pennsylvania for camelids. Sign me up! Sign Nick up! Surprisingly, Nick was cool about going to this, even though the llamas aren’t his favorite thing. The classes were awesome and held on, of course, an alpaca farm. I learned A LOT, and made a bunch of new friends from all around the world. People who are, ahem, somewhat crazy like me and love camelids! And you know what!? More people to ask my questions to! Everyone did some part of their animal husbandry differently. It was cool to hear all the different options.

Well, I loved Banana, but Aubrey really was interested in llamas and wanted one that was a little easier to work with. READ: allowed us to touch her. Enter Peaches-N-Cream. I found Peachy on a online llama auction in summer of 2019. She was an older gal at twelve. LLamas can live upwards of twenty plus years, so we figured we would still have time to love her. What sold me on Peach was that she was easy going. The owner said you could walk up to her and halter her or love on her. And he was right about it all. Peach is a sweet older lady, who doesn’t mind all the affection we wanted to shower over her.
Peach brought with her teaching time as well for me. She was bred, and due to have a cria -llama word for baby- in a couple months. She also introduced me to her owner Floyd, who would be a great resource for us in how to work with llamas. He owned them for over forty years, and was always willing to help anytime I asked.
Peach had her baby, who we named Tux, and he was adorable. He was the definition of cute and mysterious. He broke our hearts in half in just a few short weeks when he suddenly and unexpectedly passed away overnight. It was devastating for us all. The vet’s calm assurances that it wasn’t anything we did wasn’t quite enough for me. Where did I go wrong?
We had planned on going into the winter that year with three llamas on the farm. Tux’s death pushed me to find one more girl who would help even the emotional toll on the herd, and ourselves.

Enter Star Fawn Princess, or just “Princess,” who I purchased from a breeder in another state. Princess was smaller than my other two, with a disposition somewhere between Banana and Peach. I loved her instantly! She came in and made herself right at home. Princess taught me about the power of a llama kick (OUCH!) and how to avoid that when giving shots (more on that later). I also learned a bunch from her owners about how to care for a llama with different fiber than I was used to. Princess has what is called Suri fiber. It’s longer and less thick than regular llama fiber, and has a wavy, softer texture. Llamas with suri coats sometimes have to be monitored in winter for being cold. I bought Princess a nice new winter coat, and when the temps got really cold here she wore it in pride 🙂 I might be biased, but green is definitely her color.

By this point the llamas were becoming my favorite go to group when I wanted to de-stress. There is something very calming about them to me. I also love to immerse myself in learning about them and their different needs and personalities. It’s no surprise this year then when I added two additional females to our herd. Sweet Kisses, aka Kissy Face, and Cloudbirth of Dakota Ridge, aka Cloud, came to live with us late spring this year. Both have very different personalities, and of course have many things to teach me! Kisses is very sweet, curious two year old, and is OK with affection. She also doesn’t mind kisses on her nose 🙂 Of course Aubrey gravitated right to her, and it seems a match in energy levels. She is a small sized llama, and seems to be patient enough to help teach Aubrey how to handle her.
Cloud came to us upset and angry about the change in living locations. She was spitting, clicking, humming – all signs of llama distress. Where Kisses moved right in and made herself at home, four year old Cloud needed more time to adjust. Maybe a lot of time. That’s ok, we can give her that, and we still are. Cloud is expecting a baby this fall, and as any pregnant female can attest to hormones can change a gal. I’ve decided to let her decide when she is ready to bond.
This summer has been incredibly rewarding to see my herd settle in together. I’ve noticed the energy shift in my three original girls, and they started to become a true family. LLamas are herd animals, and they are happiest when with several of their own kind. The change was immediate when my herd went to five, and they had several of their own kind. Even Banana settled down!

The physical care of all of my llamas has been something I’m still learning about. They mostly eat hay, but I supplement with a grain mixture daily as well. They also need special loose minerals free fed all year round. What they can’t get from the hay or grain, they just know when to fill in with minerals on their own.
LLamas also need to be sheared each spring or early summer. This haircut isn’t just for looks; it’s vital to the llama’s health in the heat of summer. Here in Wisconsin we have the heat and humidity, and without shearing the llamas can develop heat stress, or worse, die of heat related illness. I’ve come to depend on my shearer yearly to help me get my girls ready for summer. He also trims their toenails for me at that time too. Llamas HATE their feet being handled, so if I need to do it for them it’s usually a multi-person job.
Summer also means putting on the high powered fans for them to sit by, making sure they have shade, and putting out a small kiddie pool with cool water in daily for them to chill their feet. Preventing heat stress is my main goal in summer.

One real difference in caring for llamas compared to other animals is that they need monthly shots to prevent one particular parasite. This particular worm, called meningeal worm, is unique in the damage it does to llamas and alpacas. It enters through pasture that is eaten, and travels into their brain and does it’s damage there. Results aren’t pretty, and often fatal if not caught immediately. So I’ve decided prevention is the best way to manage it by worming the girls every thirty days with Ivermectin. This kills the worms before they can reach the brain. Not everyone in the country has to follow this protocol for Meningeal Worm. This parasite is actually transmitted via snails/slugs and it originates from deer. The deer are not affected by the worm like the camelids are. We have a very high deer population here, so the risks are much greater for us to have this worm in our herd. Thus, the prevention is necessary. I’ve met other owners who never have to worry about this parasite based on their location in the country.
As another smaller, and cuter, preventative measure of M. worm, I’ve “hired” a small flock of ducks to help keep the snail population down in the pastures. They seem to be doing their job, but I won’t be letting up on the shots anytime soon. As much as they suck for us all.

So what are the most important things I’ve learned sofar from owning my llamas?

1. You NEED a mentor, or several of them. People who own these animals and can tell you the reality of things, not just read in a book. I’ve found some amazing people in the llama world online, and through buying my animals. They are always my go to resources with questions, and the llama people I’ve talked with are always happy to help with questions. People do all kinds of things differently in their ownership, and it’s important to pick what works for you and your herd.

2. You NEED a vet to work with you. My vet is able to offer me advice, a resource for prescription medications, and is available any time needed for emergencies. He is already on standby for when Cloud has her cria, and hopefully will help not only with the birth but with my peace of mind.

3. You NEED to listen to your animals, and really get to know them. Llamas are stoic beings. They won’t show signs of injury or illness until it’s at a bad point. Really knowing your animals will help you not only in handling them, but knowing when to intervene with a vet.

4. Don’t be afraid. I was worried about spit, kicking, getting plain old run over by them in the beginning. None of that bothers me now. Spit washes off, as gross as it is. Kicking can generally be avoided, and knowing when to push or back off when handling your animals is where you build the needed trust with them. It’s true when it’s said that it’s more about training the people than the animals.

I am still a work in progress!