The Reality of Breeding Llamas
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This poor female was seized by animal control along with 40 other llamas. The owner was allowing the llamas to just interbreed etc. This female was less than a month from giving birth. She was severely underweight and had no care program. Buying from backyard breeders creates & encourages situations like this one!
For years now, we have gotten the e-mails and phone calls from people that have bred llamas because they bought them cheap, thought they would make big money, were sold them for something the llama was nowhere near suited to do (packing, guarding and 4H frequently) or thought it would be fun for their kids to watch the birthing process. Often times too new owners have been taken advantage of by irresponsible llama (now alpacas too) breeders dumping or trying to make a quick buck!
We have also heard the people say it is their right to breed whatever and however they want. While this is true, people's situations change and their lives change. What if something happens to your spouse (health, accidents, job loss) or you decide you just don't want to do it anymore? What if you have a bunch of llamas you can no longer keep? Before creating a bunch of llamas you need to think about these things. Responsible people like us and other llama lovers get tired of having to fix and clean up other people's mistakes. People like ourselves, take cria'ting more llamas seriously and factor in more than just the wool or a cute face.
Each llama pairing should at the very least be selected based on conformation, personality, functionality, bloodlines and more! If you are new to llamas, how can you know this information? Breeding should be done with a specific end use or purpose in mind. Many people that can't sell their llamas give them away re-bred or say they would make great breeders. If nobody wants them, why would someone want their offspring? Breeding is not wrong, but please just be responsible when you think you may want to breed some llamas as they live 15-25 years if bred right. You get what you pay for too usually! Nothing is more heartbreaking than to have to put down an animal with a sound mind and failing body.
Please before you decide to be the big llama breeder, take time to learn more and educate yourself. The requests and stories listed below are all REAL and have been sent over and over to folks like myself! For more information about Rescue Llamas please contact us.
We have also heard the people say it is their right to breed whatever and however they want. While this is true, people's situations change and their lives change. What if something happens to your spouse (health, accidents, job loss) or you decide you just don't want to do it anymore? What if you have a bunch of llamas you can no longer keep? Before creating a bunch of llamas you need to think about these things. Responsible people like us and other llama lovers get tired of having to fix and clean up other people's mistakes. People like ourselves, take cria'ting more llamas seriously and factor in more than just the wool or a cute face.
Each llama pairing should at the very least be selected based on conformation, personality, functionality, bloodlines and more! If you are new to llamas, how can you know this information? Breeding should be done with a specific end use or purpose in mind. Many people that can't sell their llamas give them away re-bred or say they would make great breeders. If nobody wants them, why would someone want their offspring? Breeding is not wrong, but please just be responsible when you think you may want to breed some llamas as they live 15-25 years if bred right. You get what you pay for too usually! Nothing is more heartbreaking than to have to put down an animal with a sound mind and failing body.
Please before you decide to be the big llama breeder, take time to learn more and educate yourself. The requests and stories listed below are all REAL and have been sent over and over to folks like myself! For more information about Rescue Llamas please contact us.
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This unlucky guy and his friend were dumped at the auction and had his halter left on for six months like this. The halter was so tight he couldn't hardly open his mouth to eat. In the top right shot you will notice the pus coming out from under his halter. A friend and I got to help the folks that got these two boys, try to get them cleaned up and healed. This is NOT fun!
Over the years we have received numerous emails, calls etc.
from people that are in various situations. Below
is a sampling of what we receive on a weekly basis.
from people that are in various situations. Below
is a sampling of what we receive on a weekly basis.
We are in the process of selling our ranch, and need to find GOOD homes for our remaining llamas as soon as possible. There are three available: 2 females, and 1 gelding. Also, please feel free to pass on this info if you know anyone interested in adopting a llama. We prefer that these llamas go to experienced and responsible owners, rather than to people who have never owned llamas.
Hi, I am looking to sell my llamas, and do not know how to approach this. I need to do this as soon as possible, for I cannot care for them. If you could give me any information, or lead me in any direction, it would be very appreciated. So far I have just put a few ads in the paper and online, but have not heard of anything so far. Since several people have mentioned llamas and alpacas, I wanted to mention the name of a friend who has 90+ !! llamas to sell/give away. Due to some personal reversals, they needs to find homes for these animals, but so far have only received offers from people who want them for meat. They have raised and bred these animals for their "wool" and would like them to be used for that. They also have wool, roving and yarn. If anyone is interested.
Sorry to bother you . I just got a phone call from a friend who was called by X Veterinary Hospital--An individual wants to find a home for 7 llamas or they will send them to slaughter--free to a good home. If anyone knows of a good place give them a call please.
Hello, I'm writing to you in desperate need of assistance. We own nine llamas now and can no longer maintain a healthy environment for them to live. We reside on a X acres lot of which the llamas share about half. We have never been able to establish a descent pasture since the beginning which began I guess about five years ago. We are real animal lovers and always thought llamas where such beautiful animals and wouldn't it be fun to own a few. ( bet you've heard this before!) Well low and behold my spouse gets to talking to some llama owners and finds they have some for sale. He/She finds a male that happen to be born on (his/her) birthday and decides to buy it for like $300. Well the people tell He/She that they can hold on to it for as long as it takes us to put up fences and do some land clearing. (a whole other story in itself) In the mean time my spouse takes the occasion to visit with His/Her llama and talk to these people some more and who convinced my spouse that He/She would really need at least one more but they could make my spouse a good deal on and a mother and son. Sooo.. you know how cute they are, He/She makes the deal, now we have three. But these people also try to sell us an old barren female whose about 11 years old. We say no and let it go at that. It seems only a few months down the road and we are being pestered to take these animals right away as these people are having some personal problems of their own and need to get rid of them. So one Saturday they show up with our three llamas plus the old one we never wanted. We asked what the deal was and they told us it was good to have four because of them being social creatures and such. He told us to just keep her for awhile and if we decided to keep her we might pay him something for her. Anyway, I really don't mean to bore you so with drawn out details but that was the beginning of what turns out to be a nightmare. I'm now living with a muddy swap pasture and nine llamas. We now have 4 adult llamas, one male and three female, 5 young ones, the oldest one a male, who seems to have quite a bit of alpaca in him as he is very small and woolly. He is I guess about 2.5 years. Of the other four three females (1-2 years) and another male (8 months). Our males are now all gelded but it's a bit late now. We have done our best to provide shelter, food, water and medical care they need but it has become an overwhelming burden on our financial means as well as the animals need for good pasture land. We have tried on occasion selling them with no success and have been lately considering offering to pay someone to take them. This I'm sure is not the thing to do as I understand what this does to all llama breeders. Please understand, we have done our best to keep these llamas healthy and will continue to do so. They have plenty of water and a very nice shelter (which they use as a toilet, that I'll never understand) and I feed them about 3/4 of a bale of eastern or local grass hay a day and supplement it with a mixture of pellets and cob. With nine llamas this comes to about $100 a week and I still don't feel their eating enough. There is so much more to my story but I think it better discussed over the phone or in person. Please advise me of some solution to my dilemma. I will be forever grateful! Thanks for your time!
I just returned from a farm who has a X year old intact male they must find an appropriate home for in the next 10 days. He is dark black with heavy wool. The owners are leaving the state and must be out by the 24th. He is free to a home who can handle a male with an attitude and who is difficult to halter. Once haltered, he's easy to handle. The owners would rather have him put down than take a chance on having him go to a home where he'll be mistreated because of his poor manners.
Hello, I was referred to you by a friend in the llama owner's group association. I have a few llamas which I would like to find a home for. They told me that you could help me with this situation. There are four of them, and two are adults male/female, one 1-year old female, and one 3 month old baby male. Please tell me any information you can, and any information you would need from me. Please help me with my llama X. He is aggressive and if somebody doesn't take him by the end of the month I am going to have my vet put him down. I really don't want to put X down, but I have no choice. I just can't keep X any longer. Will you please help?
Hi, My daughter/son just got our first llama a few months back. We have done the 4-H thing with all kinds of market animals and horses. The point is we have no idea really what to do. Our goal is to get the llama so that it can show at our fair which is the X Fair in September. X is a 6 year old that was donated to the 4-H program here. Evidently the llama came from a breeder in X I believe who was liquidating their herd. The llama has had one offspring in 1999. It is really not very friendly. It is halter broke. Not very easy to catch and definitely does not want it's feet or legs handled. How do we trim it for show? I guess any pointers and hints that you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for contacting me. I have 3 llamas, 2 males 1 female. I do not know the exact age of the older male, but the female is about 1 year old, and the younger male is only around 3-4 months or so. He's still rather small. Anyway, I fear that they are not getting the attention they need and deserve, for my whole family works during the day. Please let me know what you can.
Tonight I went over to evaluate four rescues for a man. The situation (if ever there was) for rescuing is quite good. The man doesn't have to move for up to three months and he is willing to pay for the care and vet stuff to get them placeable. He had four llamas total to place. The good news is that three are VERY placeable and easy to deal with. The fourth is a problem child!
Well, I have to say I saw one of the most pathetic cases of llama selling ever yesterday. I have been trying to get down to X to evaluate these animals. Had I known it was as bad as it is, I would have gone MUCH sooner.... The owner barely speaks English and is concerned about how much they have put into these animals ($800.00, male, female and her female cria). It was kind of hard to understand this person and what their comments were, but I finally figured out a few things....The male is a X son they bought from a bigger breeder....The female is (was) his 13 year old mother. I say was as she died sometime in the last six months, I assume from parasites as they didn't know they need shots. The way I know she died in the last six months is because their 6 month old son (should I say his brother or son?) is out in the pasture. He is running with his two year old sister who along with her older brother has had a halter on for the whole time they have been there. Their toenails haven't been done since they got them in 1999. The halter I fear has grown into her face (I am not good with this kind of things). The male is in a small 12x12 area I would guess with broken glass everywhere.
A while back, I was called in on a local situation where the Humane Society was notified that someone who had llamas was having a lot of them die. I quit posting what was going on, as for a while I was hopeful that I could help by educating the person & eventually get him on a list or two. As it turned out, this was not to be the case. The day of the WTC bombing, the owner told me they wanted me to try to find homes for them, so my hopes were high. By the end of the week, he/she had changed their mind. I continued to email suggestions for basic care, and intended to get back to them in 3 weeks. They called me after another female died... just 2 weeks later. Okay, just wanted to let everyone have an update. This was a situation where the owner bought at auction, had been to my place several yrs. ago for 'Llama 101' when they bought their first llama...and did not follow the advice given. Instead, llamas were in w/ many species of other animals...all were drinking from the same pond, no vaccinations were given, food was 'chop'...a mix of whole oats & corn...plus grass hay (first come, first served...so some animals starved), wormer was something given on feed for goats, no m-worm wormer given. A total lack of basic care...clean water, the right food in the right amount, herd management, and vaccinations.
I picked up a male & a female & they both spent the night at my place. I delivered the female to her new home the next day & still have the male at my place in foster care...he officially belongs to LRN. Both llamas had papers...they were bought at a local livestock auction. The female's name is X...she went thru the Hartman sale in NE last spring, as did the other young male & female that died. She has a body score of 2...the female that died had a score of 1. She is so small, we couldn't believe the age on her papers. For awhile, we suspected she was a miniature, but when we checked the spring Hartman's flier, the herd sold was of standard size. X is probably pregnant (she's now 20 mos.), and is scheduled for a progesterone test. So, I read with interest the info. shared here re. abortion vs. letting the pregnancy go to term for a female that is at risk of surviving...and I passed the info. on to the new owners, as they have to make the decision. Her ears are extremely crusty...right now we think it's ear mites (& she's being treated for this), but it could also be a sign of poor nutrition. This is a 4 yr. old male...purchased at the same auction 2 yrs. ago as a gelding. I had to tell the owner that he was not a gelding....and I never convinced them that he was breeding the females even tho they had never seen this behavior. He/She had seen X bully into submission the younger male that died...the younger male would kush every time X would come around. (I believe this llama died because the owner did not realize that he was being raped & did not separate them...he had maggots seen under his tail & was not treated for infection before he died, eventually w/ pneumonia.) Back to X...he has been trained at some point to lead & loads in a trailer. He does not stand tied w/o supervision & is afraid to be touched. He is not trained to allow toenail trimming, but fortunately, his nails were not long, as he is constantly moving. I cannot prove my theory, but I believe he was way overweight when bought at auction 2 yrs. ago, as he has wrinkles between the front legs & on the sides of his neck and there are noticeable folds of skin (kind of feels like a bunched up heavy coat). He is a good weight now, but thinner than most people in our area can keep our llamas at this time of year. His fiber is dry...topline is scaly...not just dandruff. This is the first llama I've had to take in under LRN....and has as such been quite the learning experience. I was required to have him castrated, which I would have done anyway, as he's not one you'd want to breed.
Say... a friend of a friend who works at X just phoned me about a free llama - a "trained" (I haven't seen the llama) 7 yr old female - here is the person and number to contact if you have any takers: Evidently the llama is headed for the slaughter house.......So who knows - maybe someone will want a pet with nice wool. Hope so.
I just acquired a stud Llama named X who is big and powerful. He has years of growth and it is too late to groom him for this year. It took awhile to handle him because he is so strong. He fights with the males and harasses the female llamas. He is a character that has been dubbed, due to the timing of his acquisition and his oppressive attitude towards females, X.
I have one female that balks. I sometimes have walked her with a rope attached to a 20 hp Craftman tractor to keep her going while I calmly talk to her and try to lead gently. If she balks it will tighten the rope and pull her along. If she tries to sit it will bring her right out of it and we walk around the pasture until we have no episodes. But a week later we are back to using the tractor. Any ideas for training them to lead at our walking speed? or do we just keep doing it often enough that they know what is expected and that we will not concede to their resistance?
Before I got him I had another stud who was like the devil himself when with the other llamas. He was mounting everything that moved all the time including the geldings, and reeking havoc. So I have not put X in with the rest. He is well behaved with me. I have been told that if the females are bred the males should be fine with them and they can pasture together. What are your thoughts?
Say... a friend of a friend who works at Sardis just phoned me about a free llama - a "trained" (I haven't seen the llama) 7 yr old female - here is the person and number to contact if you have any takers: Evidently the llama is headed for the slaughter house.......So who knows - maybe someone will want a pet with nice wool. Hope so.
Hi Niki, X brought me an ad from our local paper where some one is giving away twelve llamas ranging from six months to nine years. I thought this sounded like something a rescue facility might want to know about. An older man locally here needs to place his 4 llamas. He has had cancer and wants to start making arrangements to find new homes for these llamas. I haven't seen the llamas in two years, but here is what I remember..... Just received a phone call from X, the message......we are giving away all our llamas. They will be moving to X and need to find good homes for their critters. A few of their llamas I helped care for....they seem very sweet tempered. We had one at our farm for about six months....very sweet. I do not care for their living area, but do not believe they are in poor health. If you know of any kids that need 4H llamas....this might be the place to look.
I spoke to you yesterday about a llama and our desire is to place him. My husband and I purchased him as a weanling in early 1996 from X farm along with a second weanling from another farm. We trained them for packing at an early age and have used them many times in the Wilderness, though not in the past couple years. The longest trip they have been on was in 1999 when we went out for 4 weeks and 120 miles. Both llamas worked fine with the exception of our boy's speed, which is the main reason we have decided to place him. Our Boy's walk is better suited for a wedding party than meeting our pace on the trail! He will move out for brief periods, but really prefers not to. Our second llama, X, who has always accompanied him, keeps up a pace fine. We're not talking about stressing them either: Our boy just doesn't seem to like moving quickly.
Dear Niki, X gave me your number. I have some health issues and location problems that have lead me to decide to liquidate my small herd. I have 2 males, 2 females (1 with a new X male cria). I also have some tack and odd & ends. If you come across anyone looking for a good deal, have them give me a call at.......
Hello Niki, Seems the only time I communicate is when llamas need new homes. The X's are divorcing. X called and asked me to spread the word about finding new homes for their six llamas. Two geldings, and one with a retained testicle, but a sweety; three females. I told them that I would send you an e-mail in hopes there are some good people on your side that need some llamas.
We have a Llama in need of rescue. We would appreciate your help in finding an appropriate home for this animal. We don't have any good solid history on this animal. It was auctioned at a place called X in X, which is about 16 miles north of X. Our son was there two weeks ago to sell some of the chickens and ducks he has raised -- and on a whim with a few dollars in his pocket decided to bid on the Llama, never expecting to be the high bidder at $22.50! This has proven to be a tough learning experience for our son. We are not pleased with the problem he has created for himself and us, but our primary concern now is the welfare of the animal. Here's a bit more information about the condition of the Llama for which we are urgently seeking a home: The one person who came to look at it when we had it advertised last weekend told us that he guessed it was in the range of 2-5 years old. Although our son was told at the auction that the Llama was a gelding, this prospective buyer told us that it has *not* been neutered. Also, there is a wound of some sort on the hind right leg. We don't know if it us just a tear in the skin that is healing, or perhaps a tumor, as there seems to be a bit of growth on it. The Llama seems well-mannered. He has never spit at us! He will follow with a halter, but is extremely resistant to going up a ramp into the pickup truck with which our son has transported it twice. We've since found a friend who has a horse trailer that we intend to use for any future transport! The animal is currently at the auction house in Woodland. Our son took it back there yesterday, hoping to sell it off. He could not stay for the auction, due to other appointments -- and the Llama did not sell. Thus, the Auction House has asked us to come and pick it up at our earliest convenience. We are in the process of trying to locate a Veterinarian in the our area. Once we've done that, we will go get the Llama and take it to the Vet. Then, unless we find a better avenue, the only option we have is to bring the poor animal back to our home in a residential neighborhood of X. We do have a small pen for chickens, ducks and a pygmy goat. We're also in the process of building a 10'x12' barn, and that is where we've been keeping the Llama. I hate to think of leaving him there much longer...So, anything you can do, to help us find an appropriate home for this dear animal would be MOST APPRECIATED! NOTE: This guy ended up having to be put down.
Niki, I was talking with X and she informed me that you might be looking for a good 4H llama. I have an outstanding show quality gelding with a great disposition that I need to give away. He's out of our champion stud "X" and he's approximately 3 years old. I've just recently sold the farm and need to find him a good home otherwise he's going to have to go to the Montana sanctuary. Please let me know if your interested as I'm planning on leaving for Montana on July 12th. Thanks.
I received a phone call from a member who is going through a divorce and thus a move. She has 11 llamas. She wants to keep 5 of them but needs to foster them for a year until she can move to X. The other 7 she needs to find good homes for. There are 4: a gelded male, a female and her baby that she would like to see be kept together. The other 4 are females. The ones she needs foster care for are 5 gelded males and 1 female. She is currently living in downtown X, but the farm will be liquidated by the end of July and it is located in X and she has friends who could transport if necessary.
Hello, We live on X and we have 4 wonderful llamas, all with papers and trained in the Tellington Touch method available! (X, 9 year old appaloosa female, her 2 daughters, X, 5 years old and X, 3 years old-both coffee colored with incredible wool; and X, 10 years old, gelded male, guard llama, great personality, and trained to pack- and has incredible to crimp to his fiber (has wool evaluation papers, too).) The property we moved to in May, will only support 2 animals (and we have 2 dogs). This has been a very sad time for us…
We desperately need to find new homes for our llamas-we have just learned that we need to have our llamas off the pasture we are renting as soon as possible because new tenants are moving in-we have about 2 weeks. Received a phone call from X this afternoon, who has a family getting involved in 4H. The father has been planning [ not very well as you will soon see] this or quite a while now. He purchased Storey's Guide to Raising llamas more than a month ago and then decided it was time to get some llamas. This is where it gets ugly. Somewhere along the line he stumbled on some folks who had llamas and were giving away two of them in order to make room for more when their females gave birth. A bred female 6 years old [they think] due in June, along with a 4 year old [ they think] intact male. They had gotten the llamas from someone else. This is where it gets more bizarre and scary.
They went out to visit the llamas, and watched the kids 8 of them, play chase with the llamas' and thought it was little strange, but once cornered, the llamas stopped running and the kids would take turns trying to "ride" the llamas until they got bucked off. Don't ask me why, but this man decided to take the male and the female. He took a trailer out to get them, the kids rounded up the llamas [cornering them], tied lasso's around the male and female and dragged them kicking and screaming into the guy's trailer. By this time the man was somewhat beside himself as he realized the mistake he had made. Even his son commented on how this 'can't be right dad'.
Well they got the llamas to where they are being temporarily housed, turned them loose, and promptly started calling X for information and assistance. They went out to the NW Show a couple of weeks ago, purchased some halters from X and tried haltering the llamas, who naturally were somewhat violently opposed to it. The male was screaming, spitting, baring his teeth and charging the man. He was knocked down once during the process after being chest butted.
X went out there Saturday and they were able to halter the female and after much greening was able to get the male haltered as well. X indicated that there was a substantial amount of tail wagging and ears flat back by the male while on halter, but X didn't think it was a prelude to an attack. It has been relayed to me that the male literally leans sideways almost continually on the female never letting her more than just a couple of feet from him, and interjects his body between her and anyone who approaches.
They led both animals [such as leading was worth] around for a little bit, then the man released the male from the halter. The man turned to walk away and was charged and attacked, chest butting, screaming, fighting teeth exposed. It took X distracting the male to get him to stop long enough for the man to get out of the pasture. Twice when I was talking to X, X commented on the 'lights out' syndrome in his eyes. X has never seen it before, but when I asked X said that it was just pure rage, and that you could see in his eyes that there was no one home.
Hi, I have a male llama (just turned 2 years old last month). Next week, he is being gelded due to, what I call, behavioral problems. He has always been very gentle, affectionate and naturally curious. We brought him home as a 4 month old weanling. He is the only llama that we now own. However, at one point we did have 2 juvenille males. (The other male has since found a new home working with other sheep.) I recently found him trying to mount a whethered market goat. (he was lying on top of him like trying to mate.) I have never had any problems with him. In your opinion, would he be ok for guard to other goats. The one he was mounting is no longer here. He has never showed this behavior to any of the other goats (wheathered males & intact females).
The answer to this one is NO he shouldn't be guarding anything small or be in with female llamas.
We have had llamas for the better part of eleven years and have enjoyed them so much. We have a small barn and 35 acres in South Tennessee. Basically, all of our llamas have been "rescued" from the situations you speak so eloquently about. We've had a tragedy here in the last three weeks. A male llama was brought in. We had a mature female and an unrelated 10 month female cria. The male llama was put out to pasture with the females. Tonight we were finally able to get them in. He has demonstrted all of the "berserk llama syndrome" signs of aggression and we had not been able to get to the females. He has destroyed the cria's face and she will have to be put down. We are waiting for the vet to help us decide if we can save the mature female. Her lower jaw is damaged. We have handled livestock for years and have never seen anything like this and of course, are devastated. You must get a lot of heartbreaking letters like this.
X Llamas of X is selling off its herd of 19 llamas at discount prices due to the layoffs at X! All animals are very healthy, and all sizes and colors are currently available at $150-$300 per llama. Most are REGISTERED with the Llama registry, and bought at between $500 and $800 apiece. MUST SELL QUICKLY! Currently have: 9 breeding females, 2 breeding males, 3 geldings, and 5 spring babies (3 female, 2 male).
Hello, we have X llama's that came with the house we bought. I have been trying to find a home for them but I can't find anyone who is willing to give them a good home. We have X gelded males and X female who is the mother of both males. They are healthy and happy and will eat out of my hand. I am hoping you might have some ideas that could help me. We are in X just outside of X. I think they are particularly attractive animals. Thank you.
Hi, I got your email address from a man named X. I emailed several sights trying to learn more about llamas because I have a neighbor who has X males of which he knows nothing about. He is a drunk and a druggie and I think they are being abused. The most recent thing hes done is try to ride one like he's breaking a horse. The poor things head is pulled back and when he falls off he gets so mad he's running around the field yelling and I'm not sure what else he's doing to them. They are always bellaring, sound like they are being beaten. They were attacked by his rottweiler dogs previously and I took and hour before the sheriff got here to shoot the dogs. The llama's were tied at the time. The smaller llama was pretty chewed up and he wouldn't get a vet out here. He told the officer he was putting neosporin on the sore's. I doubt that cause I would have taken a pretty big tube and he was saying he couldn't afford to get a vet. These llamas are in less than an acre with very little grass and no brush. I don't know how much a llama eats or what they eat since I know nothing about llamas. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Maybe I shouldn't even worry about them from what X said that they will take care of themselves.
We own a few acres in the country so we thought it would be OK to let our daughter put a llama in with the horses. My husband thought they might eat down some of the sage brush, so when we saw a young male in the paper for $150.00 we bought it. Well this male is about 18 months and had been kept in a herd of goats with a halter on till it grew into his face. The guy we got it from assured us that it would heal up and be fine. Well it has healed up but this poor llama fights like a fiend anytime you try to halter it, (no big surprise), but is otherwise an un-aggressive llama that you have to trap to touch. Then a neighbor gave us an adult female. They bred immediately and are running loose in the pasture, the female is totally wild. I am worried that this male could become aggressive and be a danger to kids wandering through the pasture. Also from what I read on your website you don't keep males and females together anyway, although she seems to be able to handle him now, she is bigger than he is. If we had him neutered at this point could he be kept as a semi-pet out in the pasture or is it too late?
The answer to this is: 1. Why would you be breeding an animal you can't even catch? How are you going to help the Mom if needed when she births? 2. No you do not keep intact males with females. They can rape the female and possibly breed her while she is giving birth. 3. Yes, he may become aggressive now that he is in with a female. 4. No, he is not safe to have in with small livestock or the female, even after gelding. 5. Lastly, without knowing the genetics or anything about conformation, you should NEVER breed.
I have printed your webpage and will ready it when I get home from work. I am hoping someone may be able to give me some quick advice I can put to use this weekend. I am a new Llama mama. I purchased a male and female two years ago June and they share about 1/2 acre pasture (we have 1 1/2 acre total). They are currently 2 1/2 years old, having been born in 1/2002 to different parents. The female gave birth on Sunday afternoon. The male tried to interfere (by mounting and bothering her), but we got there in time to move him to a neighboring area. I talked to the breeder I acquired them from that evening and she recommended that I move him back into the same area with the Mom and baby. She said that he will help attend to the baby so that Mom can have periodic breaks. So, the following day, we allowed him in the same pasture and all seemed to be going well. Last night, however, he attacked the female and appeared to be trying to rape her. He knocked her down and held her. She was not interested and started to hum and threatened to spit. He wouldn't give up and it looked as if he was going to bite her. The baby walked near and the Dad reached his neck like he wanted to attack the baby. I immediately moved Papa to the adjoining area. Mom settled down, but puts back her ears and hums when he nears her (from the other side of the fence). The male has always been friendly to other animals and people. He has always been gentle with me and other people, including my 2 year old grand-daughter (always under supervision). I felt sorry for him last night because he missed his mate, so I gave him attention by brushing and trimming his back. He tolerated this well, but started to get a little pushy with me - but still controllable. I am worried that now he may be getting too aggressive and I was hoping to breed the two again, but if he is being mean then I don't want to put her in danger.
I ordered two video tapes a couple days ago by a Llama trainer on the web and hope that it may educate me more. Those tapes may not arrive for several days, so I was searching for more answers on the internet and found your page. By this quick summation, can you advise if this is typical behavior 'new father'? Is it temporary? Or should I consider having him neutered? I was really hoping to breed them again, but I don't want her or the baby (or anyone else) in danger.
The answer to this is: 1. You shouldn't be breeding llamas that are less than 3 years old, despite what most breeders will tell you. 2. The male should NEVER be kept in with the female as evidenced by the various issues you are having. 3. Males do not give the females breaks and watch their babies. 4. Males do usually breed at night, so that makes sense why all of a sudden at night he tried to breed her. 5. She also is not healed from having her baby, so this is not good. 6. Males will breed and hurt their babies. 7. Breeding always changes behaviors, males become more aggressive and focused. 8. Why breed them again? Is there a market for these babies you are wanting to make? Do you have a spot for male offspring as the male will attack them and they can potentially breed their mother if not separated.
We have been through your website and hope we understand what is probably going on. We purchased a Llama about fours years ago and were told not to neuter him ever!! We have been using him as a guardian Llama and he has been excellent with both cattle and horses, until recently. We sold our bull and since then as the cows have been coming back into heat and birthing he has started chasing them. Obviously we moved him away from them and put him in with two gelded horses who respect him as he respects them. We obviously need to geld him ASAP, which we will do. He has never threatened us or our personal dogs, but we realize it could happen. Therefore after we geld him we need to keep him away from the cows for a while? Then hope the gelding is all that is needed. We have never handled him as this is what had been recommended. Sorry for our ignorance.
Yes, he is trying to breed your cows and should be gelded right away. Unfortunately geldings and intact males can never and should never be trusted as guardian animals. Almost all at some point, start to breed and or smoother the livestock they guard. You don't know if they do, until they actually try it. Sometimes with fatal results. Only females should be used for guarding, this is their job and they should not be bred while guarding. Gelding this male will not stop the behavior, it will lessen it to some degree, but he will still have urges and cannot be trusted. Even guardian llamas need to be handled for routine shots, shearing, nails etc. If he has not been, we recommend that you work on training him and get these things done while he is knocked out.
Hi, I am looking to sell my llamas, and do not know how to approach this. I need to do this as soon as possible, for I cannot care for them. If you could give me any information, or lead me in any direction, it would be very appreciated. So far I have just put a few ads in the paper and online, but have not heard of anything so far. Since several people have mentioned llamas and alpacas, I wanted to mention the name of a friend who has 90+ !! llamas to sell/give away. Due to some personal reversals, they needs to find homes for these animals, but so far have only received offers from people who want them for meat. They have raised and bred these animals for their "wool" and would like them to be used for that. They also have wool, roving and yarn. If anyone is interested.
Sorry to bother you . I just got a phone call from a friend who was called by X Veterinary Hospital--An individual wants to find a home for 7 llamas or they will send them to slaughter--free to a good home. If anyone knows of a good place give them a call please.
Hello, I'm writing to you in desperate need of assistance. We own nine llamas now and can no longer maintain a healthy environment for them to live. We reside on a X acres lot of which the llamas share about half. We have never been able to establish a descent pasture since the beginning which began I guess about five years ago. We are real animal lovers and always thought llamas where such beautiful animals and wouldn't it be fun to own a few. ( bet you've heard this before!) Well low and behold my spouse gets to talking to some llama owners and finds they have some for sale. He/She finds a male that happen to be born on (his/her) birthday and decides to buy it for like $300. Well the people tell He/She that they can hold on to it for as long as it takes us to put up fences and do some land clearing. (a whole other story in itself) In the mean time my spouse takes the occasion to visit with His/Her llama and talk to these people some more and who convinced my spouse that He/She would really need at least one more but they could make my spouse a good deal on and a mother and son. Sooo.. you know how cute they are, He/She makes the deal, now we have three. But these people also try to sell us an old barren female whose about 11 years old. We say no and let it go at that. It seems only a few months down the road and we are being pestered to take these animals right away as these people are having some personal problems of their own and need to get rid of them. So one Saturday they show up with our three llamas plus the old one we never wanted. We asked what the deal was and they told us it was good to have four because of them being social creatures and such. He told us to just keep her for awhile and if we decided to keep her we might pay him something for her. Anyway, I really don't mean to bore you so with drawn out details but that was the beginning of what turns out to be a nightmare. I'm now living with a muddy swap pasture and nine llamas. We now have 4 adult llamas, one male and three female, 5 young ones, the oldest one a male, who seems to have quite a bit of alpaca in him as he is very small and woolly. He is I guess about 2.5 years. Of the other four three females (1-2 years) and another male (8 months). Our males are now all gelded but it's a bit late now. We have done our best to provide shelter, food, water and medical care they need but it has become an overwhelming burden on our financial means as well as the animals need for good pasture land. We have tried on occasion selling them with no success and have been lately considering offering to pay someone to take them. This I'm sure is not the thing to do as I understand what this does to all llama breeders. Please understand, we have done our best to keep these llamas healthy and will continue to do so. They have plenty of water and a very nice shelter (which they use as a toilet, that I'll never understand) and I feed them about 3/4 of a bale of eastern or local grass hay a day and supplement it with a mixture of pellets and cob. With nine llamas this comes to about $100 a week and I still don't feel their eating enough. There is so much more to my story but I think it better discussed over the phone or in person. Please advise me of some solution to my dilemma. I will be forever grateful! Thanks for your time!
I just returned from a farm who has a X year old intact male they must find an appropriate home for in the next 10 days. He is dark black with heavy wool. The owners are leaving the state and must be out by the 24th. He is free to a home who can handle a male with an attitude and who is difficult to halter. Once haltered, he's easy to handle. The owners would rather have him put down than take a chance on having him go to a home where he'll be mistreated because of his poor manners.
Hello, I was referred to you by a friend in the llama owner's group association. I have a few llamas which I would like to find a home for. They told me that you could help me with this situation. There are four of them, and two are adults male/female, one 1-year old female, and one 3 month old baby male. Please tell me any information you can, and any information you would need from me. Please help me with my llama X. He is aggressive and if somebody doesn't take him by the end of the month I am going to have my vet put him down. I really don't want to put X down, but I have no choice. I just can't keep X any longer. Will you please help?
Hi, My daughter/son just got our first llama a few months back. We have done the 4-H thing with all kinds of market animals and horses. The point is we have no idea really what to do. Our goal is to get the llama so that it can show at our fair which is the X Fair in September. X is a 6 year old that was donated to the 4-H program here. Evidently the llama came from a breeder in X I believe who was liquidating their herd. The llama has had one offspring in 1999. It is really not very friendly. It is halter broke. Not very easy to catch and definitely does not want it's feet or legs handled. How do we trim it for show? I guess any pointers and hints that you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for contacting me. I have 3 llamas, 2 males 1 female. I do not know the exact age of the older male, but the female is about 1 year old, and the younger male is only around 3-4 months or so. He's still rather small. Anyway, I fear that they are not getting the attention they need and deserve, for my whole family works during the day. Please let me know what you can.
Tonight I went over to evaluate four rescues for a man. The situation (if ever there was) for rescuing is quite good. The man doesn't have to move for up to three months and he is willing to pay for the care and vet stuff to get them placeable. He had four llamas total to place. The good news is that three are VERY placeable and easy to deal with. The fourth is a problem child!
Well, I have to say I saw one of the most pathetic cases of llama selling ever yesterday. I have been trying to get down to X to evaluate these animals. Had I known it was as bad as it is, I would have gone MUCH sooner.... The owner barely speaks English and is concerned about how much they have put into these animals ($800.00, male, female and her female cria). It was kind of hard to understand this person and what their comments were, but I finally figured out a few things....The male is a X son they bought from a bigger breeder....The female is (was) his 13 year old mother. I say was as she died sometime in the last six months, I assume from parasites as they didn't know they need shots. The way I know she died in the last six months is because their 6 month old son (should I say his brother or son?) is out in the pasture. He is running with his two year old sister who along with her older brother has had a halter on for the whole time they have been there. Their toenails haven't been done since they got them in 1999. The halter I fear has grown into her face (I am not good with this kind of things). The male is in a small 12x12 area I would guess with broken glass everywhere.
A while back, I was called in on a local situation where the Humane Society was notified that someone who had llamas was having a lot of them die. I quit posting what was going on, as for a while I was hopeful that I could help by educating the person & eventually get him on a list or two. As it turned out, this was not to be the case. The day of the WTC bombing, the owner told me they wanted me to try to find homes for them, so my hopes were high. By the end of the week, he/she had changed their mind. I continued to email suggestions for basic care, and intended to get back to them in 3 weeks. They called me after another female died... just 2 weeks later. Okay, just wanted to let everyone have an update. This was a situation where the owner bought at auction, had been to my place several yrs. ago for 'Llama 101' when they bought their first llama...and did not follow the advice given. Instead, llamas were in w/ many species of other animals...all were drinking from the same pond, no vaccinations were given, food was 'chop'...a mix of whole oats & corn...plus grass hay (first come, first served...so some animals starved), wormer was something given on feed for goats, no m-worm wormer given. A total lack of basic care...clean water, the right food in the right amount, herd management, and vaccinations.
I picked up a male & a female & they both spent the night at my place. I delivered the female to her new home the next day & still have the male at my place in foster care...he officially belongs to LRN. Both llamas had papers...they were bought at a local livestock auction. The female's name is X...she went thru the Hartman sale in NE last spring, as did the other young male & female that died. She has a body score of 2...the female that died had a score of 1. She is so small, we couldn't believe the age on her papers. For awhile, we suspected she was a miniature, but when we checked the spring Hartman's flier, the herd sold was of standard size. X is probably pregnant (she's now 20 mos.), and is scheduled for a progesterone test. So, I read with interest the info. shared here re. abortion vs. letting the pregnancy go to term for a female that is at risk of surviving...and I passed the info. on to the new owners, as they have to make the decision. Her ears are extremely crusty...right now we think it's ear mites (& she's being treated for this), but it could also be a sign of poor nutrition. This is a 4 yr. old male...purchased at the same auction 2 yrs. ago as a gelding. I had to tell the owner that he was not a gelding....and I never convinced them that he was breeding the females even tho they had never seen this behavior. He/She had seen X bully into submission the younger male that died...the younger male would kush every time X would come around. (I believe this llama died because the owner did not realize that he was being raped & did not separate them...he had maggots seen under his tail & was not treated for infection before he died, eventually w/ pneumonia.) Back to X...he has been trained at some point to lead & loads in a trailer. He does not stand tied w/o supervision & is afraid to be touched. He is not trained to allow toenail trimming, but fortunately, his nails were not long, as he is constantly moving. I cannot prove my theory, but I believe he was way overweight when bought at auction 2 yrs. ago, as he has wrinkles between the front legs & on the sides of his neck and there are noticeable folds of skin (kind of feels like a bunched up heavy coat). He is a good weight now, but thinner than most people in our area can keep our llamas at this time of year. His fiber is dry...topline is scaly...not just dandruff. This is the first llama I've had to take in under LRN....and has as such been quite the learning experience. I was required to have him castrated, which I would have done anyway, as he's not one you'd want to breed.
Say... a friend of a friend who works at X just phoned me about a free llama - a "trained" (I haven't seen the llama) 7 yr old female - here is the person and number to contact if you have any takers: Evidently the llama is headed for the slaughter house.......So who knows - maybe someone will want a pet with nice wool. Hope so.
I just acquired a stud Llama named X who is big and powerful. He has years of growth and it is too late to groom him for this year. It took awhile to handle him because he is so strong. He fights with the males and harasses the female llamas. He is a character that has been dubbed, due to the timing of his acquisition and his oppressive attitude towards females, X.
I have one female that balks. I sometimes have walked her with a rope attached to a 20 hp Craftman tractor to keep her going while I calmly talk to her and try to lead gently. If she balks it will tighten the rope and pull her along. If she tries to sit it will bring her right out of it and we walk around the pasture until we have no episodes. But a week later we are back to using the tractor. Any ideas for training them to lead at our walking speed? or do we just keep doing it often enough that they know what is expected and that we will not concede to their resistance?
Before I got him I had another stud who was like the devil himself when with the other llamas. He was mounting everything that moved all the time including the geldings, and reeking havoc. So I have not put X in with the rest. He is well behaved with me. I have been told that if the females are bred the males should be fine with them and they can pasture together. What are your thoughts?
Say... a friend of a friend who works at Sardis just phoned me about a free llama - a "trained" (I haven't seen the llama) 7 yr old female - here is the person and number to contact if you have any takers: Evidently the llama is headed for the slaughter house.......So who knows - maybe someone will want a pet with nice wool. Hope so.
Hi Niki, X brought me an ad from our local paper where some one is giving away twelve llamas ranging from six months to nine years. I thought this sounded like something a rescue facility might want to know about. An older man locally here needs to place his 4 llamas. He has had cancer and wants to start making arrangements to find new homes for these llamas. I haven't seen the llamas in two years, but here is what I remember..... Just received a phone call from X, the message......we are giving away all our llamas. They will be moving to X and need to find good homes for their critters. A few of their llamas I helped care for....they seem very sweet tempered. We had one at our farm for about six months....very sweet. I do not care for their living area, but do not believe they are in poor health. If you know of any kids that need 4H llamas....this might be the place to look.
I spoke to you yesterday about a llama and our desire is to place him. My husband and I purchased him as a weanling in early 1996 from X farm along with a second weanling from another farm. We trained them for packing at an early age and have used them many times in the Wilderness, though not in the past couple years. The longest trip they have been on was in 1999 when we went out for 4 weeks and 120 miles. Both llamas worked fine with the exception of our boy's speed, which is the main reason we have decided to place him. Our Boy's walk is better suited for a wedding party than meeting our pace on the trail! He will move out for brief periods, but really prefers not to. Our second llama, X, who has always accompanied him, keeps up a pace fine. We're not talking about stressing them either: Our boy just doesn't seem to like moving quickly.
Dear Niki, X gave me your number. I have some health issues and location problems that have lead me to decide to liquidate my small herd. I have 2 males, 2 females (1 with a new X male cria). I also have some tack and odd & ends. If you come across anyone looking for a good deal, have them give me a call at.......
Hello Niki, Seems the only time I communicate is when llamas need new homes. The X's are divorcing. X called and asked me to spread the word about finding new homes for their six llamas. Two geldings, and one with a retained testicle, but a sweety; three females. I told them that I would send you an e-mail in hopes there are some good people on your side that need some llamas.
We have a Llama in need of rescue. We would appreciate your help in finding an appropriate home for this animal. We don't have any good solid history on this animal. It was auctioned at a place called X in X, which is about 16 miles north of X. Our son was there two weeks ago to sell some of the chickens and ducks he has raised -- and on a whim with a few dollars in his pocket decided to bid on the Llama, never expecting to be the high bidder at $22.50! This has proven to be a tough learning experience for our son. We are not pleased with the problem he has created for himself and us, but our primary concern now is the welfare of the animal. Here's a bit more information about the condition of the Llama for which we are urgently seeking a home: The one person who came to look at it when we had it advertised last weekend told us that he guessed it was in the range of 2-5 years old. Although our son was told at the auction that the Llama was a gelding, this prospective buyer told us that it has *not* been neutered. Also, there is a wound of some sort on the hind right leg. We don't know if it us just a tear in the skin that is healing, or perhaps a tumor, as there seems to be a bit of growth on it. The Llama seems well-mannered. He has never spit at us! He will follow with a halter, but is extremely resistant to going up a ramp into the pickup truck with which our son has transported it twice. We've since found a friend who has a horse trailer that we intend to use for any future transport! The animal is currently at the auction house in Woodland. Our son took it back there yesterday, hoping to sell it off. He could not stay for the auction, due to other appointments -- and the Llama did not sell. Thus, the Auction House has asked us to come and pick it up at our earliest convenience. We are in the process of trying to locate a Veterinarian in the our area. Once we've done that, we will go get the Llama and take it to the Vet. Then, unless we find a better avenue, the only option we have is to bring the poor animal back to our home in a residential neighborhood of X. We do have a small pen for chickens, ducks and a pygmy goat. We're also in the process of building a 10'x12' barn, and that is where we've been keeping the Llama. I hate to think of leaving him there much longer...So, anything you can do, to help us find an appropriate home for this dear animal would be MOST APPRECIATED! NOTE: This guy ended up having to be put down.
Niki, I was talking with X and she informed me that you might be looking for a good 4H llama. I have an outstanding show quality gelding with a great disposition that I need to give away. He's out of our champion stud "X" and he's approximately 3 years old. I've just recently sold the farm and need to find him a good home otherwise he's going to have to go to the Montana sanctuary. Please let me know if your interested as I'm planning on leaving for Montana on July 12th. Thanks.
I received a phone call from a member who is going through a divorce and thus a move. She has 11 llamas. She wants to keep 5 of them but needs to foster them for a year until she can move to X. The other 7 she needs to find good homes for. There are 4: a gelded male, a female and her baby that she would like to see be kept together. The other 4 are females. The ones she needs foster care for are 5 gelded males and 1 female. She is currently living in downtown X, but the farm will be liquidated by the end of July and it is located in X and she has friends who could transport if necessary.
Hello, We live on X and we have 4 wonderful llamas, all with papers and trained in the Tellington Touch method available! (X, 9 year old appaloosa female, her 2 daughters, X, 5 years old and X, 3 years old-both coffee colored with incredible wool; and X, 10 years old, gelded male, guard llama, great personality, and trained to pack- and has incredible to crimp to his fiber (has wool evaluation papers, too).) The property we moved to in May, will only support 2 animals (and we have 2 dogs). This has been a very sad time for us…
We desperately need to find new homes for our llamas-we have just learned that we need to have our llamas off the pasture we are renting as soon as possible because new tenants are moving in-we have about 2 weeks. Received a phone call from X this afternoon, who has a family getting involved in 4H. The father has been planning [ not very well as you will soon see] this or quite a while now. He purchased Storey's Guide to Raising llamas more than a month ago and then decided it was time to get some llamas. This is where it gets ugly. Somewhere along the line he stumbled on some folks who had llamas and were giving away two of them in order to make room for more when their females gave birth. A bred female 6 years old [they think] due in June, along with a 4 year old [ they think] intact male. They had gotten the llamas from someone else. This is where it gets more bizarre and scary.
They went out to visit the llamas, and watched the kids 8 of them, play chase with the llamas' and thought it was little strange, but once cornered, the llamas stopped running and the kids would take turns trying to "ride" the llamas until they got bucked off. Don't ask me why, but this man decided to take the male and the female. He took a trailer out to get them, the kids rounded up the llamas [cornering them], tied lasso's around the male and female and dragged them kicking and screaming into the guy's trailer. By this time the man was somewhat beside himself as he realized the mistake he had made. Even his son commented on how this 'can't be right dad'.
Well they got the llamas to where they are being temporarily housed, turned them loose, and promptly started calling X for information and assistance. They went out to the NW Show a couple of weeks ago, purchased some halters from X and tried haltering the llamas, who naturally were somewhat violently opposed to it. The male was screaming, spitting, baring his teeth and charging the man. He was knocked down once during the process after being chest butted.
X went out there Saturday and they were able to halter the female and after much greening was able to get the male haltered as well. X indicated that there was a substantial amount of tail wagging and ears flat back by the male while on halter, but X didn't think it was a prelude to an attack. It has been relayed to me that the male literally leans sideways almost continually on the female never letting her more than just a couple of feet from him, and interjects his body between her and anyone who approaches.
They led both animals [such as leading was worth] around for a little bit, then the man released the male from the halter. The man turned to walk away and was charged and attacked, chest butting, screaming, fighting teeth exposed. It took X distracting the male to get him to stop long enough for the man to get out of the pasture. Twice when I was talking to X, X commented on the 'lights out' syndrome in his eyes. X has never seen it before, but when I asked X said that it was just pure rage, and that you could see in his eyes that there was no one home.
Hi, I have a male llama (just turned 2 years old last month). Next week, he is being gelded due to, what I call, behavioral problems. He has always been very gentle, affectionate and naturally curious. We brought him home as a 4 month old weanling. He is the only llama that we now own. However, at one point we did have 2 juvenille males. (The other male has since found a new home working with other sheep.) I recently found him trying to mount a whethered market goat. (he was lying on top of him like trying to mate.) I have never had any problems with him. In your opinion, would he be ok for guard to other goats. The one he was mounting is no longer here. He has never showed this behavior to any of the other goats (wheathered males & intact females).
The answer to this one is NO he shouldn't be guarding anything small or be in with female llamas.
We have had llamas for the better part of eleven years and have enjoyed them so much. We have a small barn and 35 acres in South Tennessee. Basically, all of our llamas have been "rescued" from the situations you speak so eloquently about. We've had a tragedy here in the last three weeks. A male llama was brought in. We had a mature female and an unrelated 10 month female cria. The male llama was put out to pasture with the females. Tonight we were finally able to get them in. He has demonstrted all of the "berserk llama syndrome" signs of aggression and we had not been able to get to the females. He has destroyed the cria's face and she will have to be put down. We are waiting for the vet to help us decide if we can save the mature female. Her lower jaw is damaged. We have handled livestock for years and have never seen anything like this and of course, are devastated. You must get a lot of heartbreaking letters like this.
X Llamas of X is selling off its herd of 19 llamas at discount prices due to the layoffs at X! All animals are very healthy, and all sizes and colors are currently available at $150-$300 per llama. Most are REGISTERED with the Llama registry, and bought at between $500 and $800 apiece. MUST SELL QUICKLY! Currently have: 9 breeding females, 2 breeding males, 3 geldings, and 5 spring babies (3 female, 2 male).
Hello, we have X llama's that came with the house we bought. I have been trying to find a home for them but I can't find anyone who is willing to give them a good home. We have X gelded males and X female who is the mother of both males. They are healthy and happy and will eat out of my hand. I am hoping you might have some ideas that could help me. We are in X just outside of X. I think they are particularly attractive animals. Thank you.
Hi, I got your email address from a man named X. I emailed several sights trying to learn more about llamas because I have a neighbor who has X males of which he knows nothing about. He is a drunk and a druggie and I think they are being abused. The most recent thing hes done is try to ride one like he's breaking a horse. The poor things head is pulled back and when he falls off he gets so mad he's running around the field yelling and I'm not sure what else he's doing to them. They are always bellaring, sound like they are being beaten. They were attacked by his rottweiler dogs previously and I took and hour before the sheriff got here to shoot the dogs. The llama's were tied at the time. The smaller llama was pretty chewed up and he wouldn't get a vet out here. He told the officer he was putting neosporin on the sore's. I doubt that cause I would have taken a pretty big tube and he was saying he couldn't afford to get a vet. These llamas are in less than an acre with very little grass and no brush. I don't know how much a llama eats or what they eat since I know nothing about llamas. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Maybe I shouldn't even worry about them from what X said that they will take care of themselves.
We own a few acres in the country so we thought it would be OK to let our daughter put a llama in with the horses. My husband thought they might eat down some of the sage brush, so when we saw a young male in the paper for $150.00 we bought it. Well this male is about 18 months and had been kept in a herd of goats with a halter on till it grew into his face. The guy we got it from assured us that it would heal up and be fine. Well it has healed up but this poor llama fights like a fiend anytime you try to halter it, (no big surprise), but is otherwise an un-aggressive llama that you have to trap to touch. Then a neighbor gave us an adult female. They bred immediately and are running loose in the pasture, the female is totally wild. I am worried that this male could become aggressive and be a danger to kids wandering through the pasture. Also from what I read on your website you don't keep males and females together anyway, although she seems to be able to handle him now, she is bigger than he is. If we had him neutered at this point could he be kept as a semi-pet out in the pasture or is it too late?
The answer to this is: 1. Why would you be breeding an animal you can't even catch? How are you going to help the Mom if needed when she births? 2. No you do not keep intact males with females. They can rape the female and possibly breed her while she is giving birth. 3. Yes, he may become aggressive now that he is in with a female. 4. No, he is not safe to have in with small livestock or the female, even after gelding. 5. Lastly, without knowing the genetics or anything about conformation, you should NEVER breed.
I have printed your webpage and will ready it when I get home from work. I am hoping someone may be able to give me some quick advice I can put to use this weekend. I am a new Llama mama. I purchased a male and female two years ago June and they share about 1/2 acre pasture (we have 1 1/2 acre total). They are currently 2 1/2 years old, having been born in 1/2002 to different parents. The female gave birth on Sunday afternoon. The male tried to interfere (by mounting and bothering her), but we got there in time to move him to a neighboring area. I talked to the breeder I acquired them from that evening and she recommended that I move him back into the same area with the Mom and baby. She said that he will help attend to the baby so that Mom can have periodic breaks. So, the following day, we allowed him in the same pasture and all seemed to be going well. Last night, however, he attacked the female and appeared to be trying to rape her. He knocked her down and held her. She was not interested and started to hum and threatened to spit. He wouldn't give up and it looked as if he was going to bite her. The baby walked near and the Dad reached his neck like he wanted to attack the baby. I immediately moved Papa to the adjoining area. Mom settled down, but puts back her ears and hums when he nears her (from the other side of the fence). The male has always been friendly to other animals and people. He has always been gentle with me and other people, including my 2 year old grand-daughter (always under supervision). I felt sorry for him last night because he missed his mate, so I gave him attention by brushing and trimming his back. He tolerated this well, but started to get a little pushy with me - but still controllable. I am worried that now he may be getting too aggressive and I was hoping to breed the two again, but if he is being mean then I don't want to put her in danger.
I ordered two video tapes a couple days ago by a Llama trainer on the web and hope that it may educate me more. Those tapes may not arrive for several days, so I was searching for more answers on the internet and found your page. By this quick summation, can you advise if this is typical behavior 'new father'? Is it temporary? Or should I consider having him neutered? I was really hoping to breed them again, but I don't want her or the baby (or anyone else) in danger.
The answer to this is: 1. You shouldn't be breeding llamas that are less than 3 years old, despite what most breeders will tell you. 2. The male should NEVER be kept in with the female as evidenced by the various issues you are having. 3. Males do not give the females breaks and watch their babies. 4. Males do usually breed at night, so that makes sense why all of a sudden at night he tried to breed her. 5. She also is not healed from having her baby, so this is not good. 6. Males will breed and hurt their babies. 7. Breeding always changes behaviors, males become more aggressive and focused. 8. Why breed them again? Is there a market for these babies you are wanting to make? Do you have a spot for male offspring as the male will attack them and they can potentially breed their mother if not separated.
We have been through your website and hope we understand what is probably going on. We purchased a Llama about fours years ago and were told not to neuter him ever!! We have been using him as a guardian Llama and he has been excellent with both cattle and horses, until recently. We sold our bull and since then as the cows have been coming back into heat and birthing he has started chasing them. Obviously we moved him away from them and put him in with two gelded horses who respect him as he respects them. We obviously need to geld him ASAP, which we will do. He has never threatened us or our personal dogs, but we realize it could happen. Therefore after we geld him we need to keep him away from the cows for a while? Then hope the gelding is all that is needed. We have never handled him as this is what had been recommended. Sorry for our ignorance.
Yes, he is trying to breed your cows and should be gelded right away. Unfortunately geldings and intact males can never and should never be trusted as guardian animals. Almost all at some point, start to breed and or smoother the livestock they guard. You don't know if they do, until they actually try it. Sometimes with fatal results. Only females should be used for guarding, this is their job and they should not be bred while guarding. Gelding this male will not stop the behavior, it will lessen it to some degree, but he will still have urges and cannot be trusted. Even guardian llamas need to be handled for routine shots, shearing, nails etc. If he has not been, we recommend that you work on training him and get these things done while he is knocked out.