Llama Information and Use. Also visit our other site www.everythingllama.com
Llamas were first domesticated high in the Andes Mountains around 4000 BC, making them the oldest domesticated livestock of the Americas and one of the oldest in all the world. Llamas are able to survive off of the low quality forage offered at 3500 to 5000 feet in the Andes. Since their original domestication llamas have been utilized by the Andean people as pack/work animals and a source of meat, wool, and fertilizer. In South America llamas were widely used to bring materials out of the mines, earning the them name "ships of the Andes". Just recently modern roads and trucks have replaced llamas in packing out materials, but they are still used today in areas which do not have proper roads and by individuals whom cannot afford the more modern technology.
USES: Pet, 4-H, brush/pasture control, & Companionship
"Llamas are fun" This simple slogan almost has a trademark on it. In 1974, Dick and Kay Patterson ran a small ad in Sunset magazine simply reading "llamas are fun". From the first ad Dick and Kay sold nearly all the animals they had for sale, and later had a 1 year waiting list for their animals. This simple ad helped kick off the phenomena in North America.
Llamas are great with youth of all ages. The are a calm and easy to train animals and make excellent companions, pets, and 4-H/FFA animals. Over the years we have watched animals in the 4-H program work with children from age 3 to 19, this includes children with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities. Llamas respond to their handlers with a calm and collected demeanor, which can be described as nothing short as magic. Our llamas have made many visits to parades, nursing homes, hospitals, churches, and more.
Many llama owners tell us "they are just so much fun to watch out the window". They are also great organic brush control. They browse like deer, and enjoy eating "a little bit of everything" and will remove the underbrush from your property, which greatly reduces fire dangers. If you have blackberries, llamas love em!
Of the 40+ Llamas we sell each year off the farm, over half of them go for pets, 4-H, brush control, and companionship.
Llamas are great with youth of all ages. The are a calm and easy to train animals and make excellent companions, pets, and 4-H/FFA animals. Over the years we have watched animals in the 4-H program work with children from age 3 to 19, this includes children with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities. Llamas respond to their handlers with a calm and collected demeanor, which can be described as nothing short as magic. Our llamas have made many visits to parades, nursing homes, hospitals, churches, and more.
Many llama owners tell us "they are just so much fun to watch out the window". They are also great organic brush control. They browse like deer, and enjoy eating "a little bit of everything" and will remove the underbrush from your property, which greatly reduces fire dangers. If you have blackberries, llamas love em!
Of the 40+ Llamas we sell each year off the farm, over half of them go for pets, 4-H, brush control, and companionship.
Uses: Guarding
Over the years we have sold many llamas to guard sheep, goats, alpacas, and calves. Some of our customers who raised sheep and goats on a large scale had coyote losses as high as 30%, and the vast majority reported those losses going done to absolute zero!
We have even sold llamas to be out in the pastures surrounding a rural home to protect the family's chickens, small dogs, cats, etc against coyote attacks. To date our customers have reported 100% satisfaction on their guard llama purchases.
Generally we sell females and geldings to be used for guarding. We also will sell young males to be guards, and they go on to be successful guards. Since llamas cannot be safely gelded until they are 15 months some of these males leave here as whole males and get gelded at the sheep ranch they are working on. Sometimes the buyer of our animals choose not get the male gelded and none have reported a llama trying to mount a sheep or goat as some of the "llama chat lines" suggest, however I am sure that could happen in rare instances and we always recommend that all guard animals get gelded when age-appropriate.
Llamas are not only successful guards, but also economical especially since you can feed the llama and use the same herd maintenance on your llama as you would a sheep or goat, which means no dog food to buy like you would need to with a livestock guardian dog.
We have even sold llamas to be out in the pastures surrounding a rural home to protect the family's chickens, small dogs, cats, etc against coyote attacks. To date our customers have reported 100% satisfaction on their guard llama purchases.
Generally we sell females and geldings to be used for guarding. We also will sell young males to be guards, and they go on to be successful guards. Since llamas cannot be safely gelded until they are 15 months some of these males leave here as whole males and get gelded at the sheep ranch they are working on. Sometimes the buyer of our animals choose not get the male gelded and none have reported a llama trying to mount a sheep or goat as some of the "llama chat lines" suggest, however I am sure that could happen in rare instances and we always recommend that all guard animals get gelded when age-appropriate.
Llamas are not only successful guards, but also economical especially since you can feed the llama and use the same herd maintenance on your llama as you would a sheep or goat, which means no dog food to buy like you would need to with a livestock guardian dog.
Uses: Packing
Properly trained and conditioned pack animals can carry 25-30% of their body weight (60-85 Lbs) over many miles. Llamas walk at your pace, making them the perfect hiking companion for the very young, the elderly, and everyone and anyone in between. Llamas feet are padded on the bottom with a thick leathery pad, which does less damage to a trail then a typical man in hiking boots (if you have tried to walk down a horse trail, you will appreciate the very low impact of llamas). This pad is durable, and injury to the pad is rare. Another benefit to packing with llamas is that llamas enjoy eating underbrush which often eliminates the need to pack in special feed for your hiking companions.
Uses: Llama Fiber (wool)
Llama Fiber is lightweight, warm, and extremely versatile. While llama fiber has been utilized for centuries by the Inca Indians, here in North America we have just started to scrape the service on utilizing this blessing from our "speechless brothers". All llamas grow usable fiber, used in making rugs, rope, sweaters, suits, felt, artwork, socks, etc, etc. The finest llama fleeces are as fine as the finest alpaca fleeces and cashmere and have no guard hair. Medium quality llama fiber rivals most alpaca fiber with minimal guard hair as well. Two-coated llamas now make-up the minority of llamas in North America, their coats have a fine down-like undercoat, when the guard hairs are removed their fiber is very fine and even with the guard hair left in these 2-coat fleeces can be utilized for making rope and rugs.
More to come...
Photos from Micah & Erin, focusonmore.com
