since ive asked for help with my chickens...ill continue with my questions. im going to buy a female llama tomorrow. she is $500 and that is all i know about her at this time. i know its short notice (and not to mention past midnight), but can you help? im renting a farm w/ 28 acres. lots of fenced pasture, a nice little barn for shelter, etc... we are saving now for our own homestead and all animals will be going with us, so that is not a problem. are llamas useful other than my wife and kids fascination? we want to learn how to spin in time, but are they more useful other than their coat? i know this must sound crazy, but i really want a llama. this summer it will have a horse friend too, do they get along? maybe ill go look at her on sunday...

thanks- dyintobehomesteader

-- aaron snowden (noexit_ever@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002

Answers

oh my goodness.... i should have read the exotic animal section first. i think i might have to just go look at this animal and talk to him. i know its been around a zebra, but now im worried...

-scaredtobehomesteader

-- aaron snowden (noexit_ever@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002.

Llamas are useful on the homestead. They help keep the dogs off your property and away from your livestock. It never ceases to amaze me that a good portion of people move into the country and suddenly feel that their dogs no longer need to be controlled. I keep a shotgun for this purpose since a gun eats less than a llama. Also a gun is good for smacking upside the head of the irresponsible dog owner.

Part of this post is tounge in cheek, I'm not going to say which ;~)

Diana

-- Diana (dvance4@juno.com), January 12, 2002.

i think llamas are like alpacas, and i've heard that alpacas will pine away and die if you don't have at least 2, preferably three of them. this might not be the case w/llamas in general, and specifically, if you all spend time w/it like a pet that could avoid the whole lonely animal blues. just my two cents.

-- james (james@wireboard.com), January 12, 2002.

I have llama's on my homestead. I have a couple of concerns. First, $500 for a female llama is VERY VERY cheap. Why is it so cheap? Most females are $2000 or up. What vet care has the animal received? How friendly is the llama? If the owners can halter the llama then you DONT want her. Second, Llama's need companions. Other llama's, Sheep or goats will do in a pinch but other llama's are best. A horse is not a good companion for an unknown llama. I would be very concerned if a llama owner would sell a single llama to anyone. LLama owners tend to be very prtective of the breed. I know some owners that will not even sell their llama's until they interview the new owners and see the living conditions the llama's will have.

Llamas are fun. I got them as big pets. In a homestead enviornment about all your going to get is wool off them. They can do some packing if trained but thats about it. They can provide 4h projects for the kids, lots of attention if you like that. We take ours for walks into town. Eveyone wants to see the "fuzzy horses".

If you do get the llama, I would be very cautious on this one and need some help let me know.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 12, 2002.

Aaron, check out this website

http://members.aol.com/LostCrk431/LCL.html

They have lots of info on llamas.

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), January 12, 2002.

Gary, Did you mean "IF the owners CAN"T halter the llama, then you don't want her?"

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 12, 2002.

I would think it depends on where you are in the country as to the price of the llama. We have breeders here with very nice animals who sell them at 6 months for 400 to 500 for females and less for males or weathers.

Fully grown llamas here sell for less than $1000 for females as so many people bought into the llama thing thinking they were going to make a bundle and now have all these animals that are eating them out of house and home. Good deals can be had, but be sure to have your llama checked out by someone who is familiar with them if you aren't.

I would think the llama should be able to be lead and brushed and possibly be used to people handling her at that price.

Cindy

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), January 12, 2002.

Correction. If the owner cant halter tha animal then dont get it.

An untrained young llama is NOT what I would recomend as a first llama.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 12, 2002.

Female bred llamas can be picked up in our area rally cheap. Saw one the other day for 150. People will give them away also. My friend picked up one of the free ones that now lives in thier bottom land with their herd of meat goats. Since having the llama she has not lost one goat to the coyotes or 'wild' dogs. She also has to tie him up when working with the goats since they are his and he doesn't like for them to be messed with. The good and the bad.

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), January 12, 2002.

Aaron, be very cautious when buying a llama. I have seen some very nice, well-adjusted llamas, but I have also seen the dark side of the species and it's not pretty! I used to work on a petting farm and was in charge of the llamas simply because no one else would deal with them. If llamas aren't well trained and properly socialized, they can be quite dangerous. They don't look very big, but they are solid muscle and if they don't feel like cooperating, they will hurt you. A petting farm is no place for a llama, unless they are being worked with by trained personel. Llamas are territorial and defensive. These can be great characteristics if the animal is well trained and uses these traits in a positive way, or can be dangerous if the animal is not well trained. I will always feel bad for Dumpling, who was a yearling when I went to work on the petting farm. She had not been trained at all when I got there, and I did what I could, using training knowledge that I had from other species. I only worked there 30 hours a week and had a very busy schedule when I was there, so the training that I could do was too little, too late. She was bonded to me more than anyone else, but she still tried to kill me any time I had to work with her. She kicked me so hard when I was attempting to trim her feet once that I have a permanently separated muscle in one arm. Again, I want to state that not all llamas are like this. Poor Dumpling is a good example of all the wrong things to do with a llama! She was sold to a dealer and probably went to the kill floor at some auction. If I could have found the time to work with her more, maybe that could have been avoided, but with young children I could only work so many hours in a week, and those hours were already taken up with other demands. I'll always regret what she became and will always blame myself in some small way. I wish I could have done more.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), January 12, 2002.

Hi Aaron, Cool. I want one too. I understand and have seen them be very protective of their "families". They don't put up with coyotes and stray dogs. If I ever get the sheep I want I will keep a llama also for herd protector/leader. Seems to me that $500 is cheap. I would ask why (especially for a female). Good luck!

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002.

thanks so much for all the information, it really helped me decide that this is not a dog, etc. and i should pass on this oppurtunity and do some research on llamas and their owners. its easy to get so excited and not use farm logic. we are so excited about getting started that we had no idea that it would be so complicated. thanks again.....maybe in the summertime!

waitintobellamaowner

-- aaron snowden (noexit_ever@yahoo.com), January 12, 2002.

Everybody on my road has llamas, almost. I don't get it myself. You can't eat 'em, you can't milk 'em, they don't lay eggs. They're pack animals (they carry stuff), but most people don't use them to pack anything anywhere, and you can't ride them. Which leaves their wool, which makes terrific blankets, to be sure. But are you really going to do the textile thing? If I wanted guardian animals not dogs, I would go for donkeys -- a neighbor has mini donkeys and they sound like the very gates of Hell opening when they come out of the barn in the morning or when intruders wander by. Llamas don't make much noise, so how will they alert you? I asked another neighbor who had just gotten 4 of them why, and he said, "It's instead of a sailboat." Poodle-ated camels, if you ask me. But you really want one. I would say if you recognize that you just plain want one 'cause you think its a cool creature, then you're not rationalizing about its usefulness and you're just getting a large, expensive pet, and who should tell you not to?

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), January 12, 2002.

My wife and I stopped by a neighbor's farm to look at their goats. She has 2 llamas. They are used for protection for their other animals; also have mules for protection. Don't know about their other attributes. They were used for keeping coyotes and stray dogs away.

-- Hank (hsnrs@att.net), January 13, 2002.

Out here llamas currently have no resale value to speak of. Similar situation to pot belly pigs. I have seen them given away and sold for $10-15. They are useful for protection, fiber and packing, I think its just that other species fill those roles.

-- Leslie in MW OR (leslie@webolium.com), January 13, 2002.

I have a friend in west central Missouri who got one to guard her pasture. It worked fine until the llama bonded to 2-3 specific sheep. Then not only were all the other animals in the field fair game to any predator that came along, the stupid llama wouldn't let the other animals into the barn or feeding areas. I have Pyrs and plan to keep having Pyrs on the place.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), January 13, 2002.

Hey Snoozy, I've milked a llama before. It's definately a two-finger operation, and unfortunately I was good at it, so I got to do it a lot for several days. We had a mama llama who couldn't figure out what to do with a cria and a cria that wanted to nurse off the knotholes in the barn. We managed to get the two of them straightened out in under a week, but it was a mighty stressful week for all involved! Before I started working at the petting farm, they had a llama that would give rides on their pony wheel with the ponies and donkeys. Unfortunately she died before I started working there so I never had the pleasure of giving llama rides to small children. May you all be blessed with better things to do with your time than milk llamas and give llama rides!!!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), January 13, 2002.