Is There Money in
Breeding Llamas? Or Any Animal?
Like with most livestock, there are people who will promote them by presenting them as something that you can retire and or make money on. Over the years we have been told that emus, ostriches, pot belly pigs, hedgehogs, llamas and more recently alpacas will solve all our financial needs and make us rich beyond our wildest dreams. This simply is not true for a mired of reasons.
Buying good and reliable stock for your breeding program can be pretty pricey. Proven lines that give consistent and that yield reliable results for what you wish to breed can run upwards into the thousands of dollars. Obtaining them (both through purchasing and transport) is generally not cheap. With the current gas costs, there are fewer haulers picking up and delivering animals. This has also caused the fees for this service to go up significantly.
Depending on the age of the animal you buy, you may be incurring more issues or sitting on an animal that is too young to produce. It is best to wait to breed llamas until they are at least 3, preferably 4. Breeding llamas too young sometimes results in inability to produce milk or birthing issues. It can also seriously affect their growth and do permanent damage to their bodies. If you purchase older animals, you need to be aware that much like older people; they will require more care and expenses. As llamas age they need teeth floating, extra grain, coats and more TLC. The aging process can start for some animals as young as 12. Some animals as they age are no longer able to keep weight on which means they shouldn’t be bred. Baby llamas can drag down a female in very short order, especially if she is already thin. In the end you may have a geriatric on your payroll for quite awhile. My most recent geriatric I put down lived to be 26 and hadn’t had a baby in over five years. She had to be grained for the last ten years. You can pay it in good feed or vet bills!
In the last few years, hay and grain costs have skyrocketed. Llamas do not usually do well on low quality hay. If you do feed your younger animals that, it will catch up with them later in life as they age and start to fall apart from the lack of good nutrition. Last year we paid $8,000 for a load of hay from the Eastern part of our state. Grain (corn, oats, barley, alfalfa pellets, senior feeds etc.) has gone up significantly and bills for geriatric animals eating this can run at least a couple of hundred dollars a month. Our herd currently costs us about $400 per month in special grain feeds.
Mineral supplements help to insure healthy animals and babies. The Northwest area I live in is Selenium deficient and requires extra supplementation. With our dark winter months, vitamin D is essential to strong legs and bodies in our animals. We pay about $300-400 twice a year for specialized camelid minerals.
A vet bill is always right around the corner and usually not expected. Animals get hurt, sick and many other things. Some things you can treat yourself, but there are times when you definitely need a veterinarian. Most vets charge a farm or office call and then charge for their supplies, services during the time and an hourly rate. Vet bills for our personal farm run from $200.00 and up. In the last few months we have had two llamas off feed and one euthanized. These three visits have cost us close to $1,000. If you breed llamas, your chances of a problem go up significantly. If mom doesn’t have milk or the baby is born early, it brings on a whole new set of problems and expenses. If you do your own vet work, you still have to buy the supplies and materials to do this. Most drugs are not cheap and if you have to buy them from a veterinarian, they are even more expensive!
Llamas need brushes, halters, leads, packs, show supplies, grooming supplies and much more. If you show or use fiber, the bathing supplies are needed. Blowers, bathing machines and shampoos all help with this process. Many serious breeders have electric shearing equipment and blades. I currently own about $2,500 in shearing equipment to keep up my own herd and work on the local animals I shear.
Selling fiber will not pay your expenses. There is no commercial market for fiber; most of ours are sold to hand spinners. The key to selling fleece is that it has to be very clean and free of debris. By the time I brush, bath, shear and skirt the fleece the $50-80 does not cover much. As the animals age (alpacas included) their fiber becomes course. When fiber becomes coarse it is no longer good for fine to the skin projects. You are realistically looking at 5-7 years of production before the fleece isn’t really very marketable. Coarse fleece can be used for stuffing things, felting or rugs and does not bring much money.
There are many things you need to keep a farm running efficiently and to care for your animals properly. Most people want or need a tractor if you have a large amount of property. Additionally there are livestock weight scales, trailers or vans to haul (we have two trailers and one van), trucks, restraint chutes to hold unruly animals and more. With a farm it is never ending and there is always one more thing you need to make life easier!
Don’t forget fencing, gates and shelters too! Materials for fencing are expensive. We recently had a quote made for a small quarter acre area and the estimate with labor and materials was over $12,000. Metal is very expensive right now and between the fencing and roof materials, it can be astronomical! Good fencing protects your animals from potential threats.
To protect our llamas from potential threats, we have two livestock guardian dogs that live on our property and protect the llamas. They require vet care and feed too. They are one of our farm tools too.
If you want to be in business, you have to advertise, show, join local associations and promote your animals. Advertising in many magazines and directories can be pricey. Additionally, fees for associations and show membership can add up. Our memberships to these things run over $250 a year easily. Having a marketing and advertising plan is a successful key to running a regular business, farming is no different in this respect.
Obviously, I personally have chosen this lifestyle as a labor of love. I breed, show and use my llamas for my personal enjoyment. Currently, we have about 22 llamas in our herd and of that 6 are geriatrics. Additionally, we have 4 that are replacement animals for our older animals and that are too young to breed. The llamas we breed are not fad type animals, we breed just good all around llamas. We would be okay with keeping any of them if they didn’t sell. Even having owned the top show llama in the nation, doing limited outside services and selling 3-8 llamas a year, we are not making money. On a good year we pay our hay bill and maybe some of the vet or show expenses. We have a strong market for our animals, fiber and shearing business. Even with this, we have never shown a profit on our income taxes. As with anything like this, if you don’t cut corners and take proper care of your animals, you do not make money. Consider this when you are starting a farm and choosing this lifestyle.
Buying good and reliable stock for your breeding program can be pretty pricey. Proven lines that give consistent and that yield reliable results for what you wish to breed can run upwards into the thousands of dollars. Obtaining them (both through purchasing and transport) is generally not cheap. With the current gas costs, there are fewer haulers picking up and delivering animals. This has also caused the fees for this service to go up significantly.
Depending on the age of the animal you buy, you may be incurring more issues or sitting on an animal that is too young to produce. It is best to wait to breed llamas until they are at least 3, preferably 4. Breeding llamas too young sometimes results in inability to produce milk or birthing issues. It can also seriously affect their growth and do permanent damage to their bodies. If you purchase older animals, you need to be aware that much like older people; they will require more care and expenses. As llamas age they need teeth floating, extra grain, coats and more TLC. The aging process can start for some animals as young as 12. Some animals as they age are no longer able to keep weight on which means they shouldn’t be bred. Baby llamas can drag down a female in very short order, especially if she is already thin. In the end you may have a geriatric on your payroll for quite awhile. My most recent geriatric I put down lived to be 26 and hadn’t had a baby in over five years. She had to be grained for the last ten years. You can pay it in good feed or vet bills!
In the last few years, hay and grain costs have skyrocketed. Llamas do not usually do well on low quality hay. If you do feed your younger animals that, it will catch up with them later in life as they age and start to fall apart from the lack of good nutrition. Last year we paid $8,000 for a load of hay from the Eastern part of our state. Grain (corn, oats, barley, alfalfa pellets, senior feeds etc.) has gone up significantly and bills for geriatric animals eating this can run at least a couple of hundred dollars a month. Our herd currently costs us about $400 per month in special grain feeds.
Mineral supplements help to insure healthy animals and babies. The Northwest area I live in is Selenium deficient and requires extra supplementation. With our dark winter months, vitamin D is essential to strong legs and bodies in our animals. We pay about $300-400 twice a year for specialized camelid minerals.
A vet bill is always right around the corner and usually not expected. Animals get hurt, sick and many other things. Some things you can treat yourself, but there are times when you definitely need a veterinarian. Most vets charge a farm or office call and then charge for their supplies, services during the time and an hourly rate. Vet bills for our personal farm run from $200.00 and up. In the last few months we have had two llamas off feed and one euthanized. These three visits have cost us close to $1,000. If you breed llamas, your chances of a problem go up significantly. If mom doesn’t have milk or the baby is born early, it brings on a whole new set of problems and expenses. If you do your own vet work, you still have to buy the supplies and materials to do this. Most drugs are not cheap and if you have to buy them from a veterinarian, they are even more expensive!
Llamas need brushes, halters, leads, packs, show supplies, grooming supplies and much more. If you show or use fiber, the bathing supplies are needed. Blowers, bathing machines and shampoos all help with this process. Many serious breeders have electric shearing equipment and blades. I currently own about $2,500 in shearing equipment to keep up my own herd and work on the local animals I shear.
Selling fiber will not pay your expenses. There is no commercial market for fiber; most of ours are sold to hand spinners. The key to selling fleece is that it has to be very clean and free of debris. By the time I brush, bath, shear and skirt the fleece the $50-80 does not cover much. As the animals age (alpacas included) their fiber becomes course. When fiber becomes coarse it is no longer good for fine to the skin projects. You are realistically looking at 5-7 years of production before the fleece isn’t really very marketable. Coarse fleece can be used for stuffing things, felting or rugs and does not bring much money.
There are many things you need to keep a farm running efficiently and to care for your animals properly. Most people want or need a tractor if you have a large amount of property. Additionally there are livestock weight scales, trailers or vans to haul (we have two trailers and one van), trucks, restraint chutes to hold unruly animals and more. With a farm it is never ending and there is always one more thing you need to make life easier!
Don’t forget fencing, gates and shelters too! Materials for fencing are expensive. We recently had a quote made for a small quarter acre area and the estimate with labor and materials was over $12,000. Metal is very expensive right now and between the fencing and roof materials, it can be astronomical! Good fencing protects your animals from potential threats.
To protect our llamas from potential threats, we have two livestock guardian dogs that live on our property and protect the llamas. They require vet care and feed too. They are one of our farm tools too.
If you want to be in business, you have to advertise, show, join local associations and promote your animals. Advertising in many magazines and directories can be pricey. Additionally, fees for associations and show membership can add up. Our memberships to these things run over $250 a year easily. Having a marketing and advertising plan is a successful key to running a regular business, farming is no different in this respect.
Obviously, I personally have chosen this lifestyle as a labor of love. I breed, show and use my llamas for my personal enjoyment. Currently, we have about 22 llamas in our herd and of that 6 are geriatrics. Additionally, we have 4 that are replacement animals for our older animals and that are too young to breed. The llamas we breed are not fad type animals, we breed just good all around llamas. We would be okay with keeping any of them if they didn’t sell. Even having owned the top show llama in the nation, doing limited outside services and selling 3-8 llamas a year, we are not making money. On a good year we pay our hay bill and maybe some of the vet or show expenses. We have a strong market for our animals, fiber and shearing business. Even with this, we have never shown a profit on our income taxes. As with anything like this, if you don’t cut corners and take proper care of your animals, you do not make money. Consider this when you are starting a farm and choosing this lifestyle.