There are a number of llama trainers, two of which are Marty McGee Bennett and John Mallon who both have excellent methods of training. There are a couple of Marty McGee’s books available on our Llama Books page.
The International Llama Association is based in Denver Colorado. You can order a free catalog from them at 1-800-WHY-LAMA. (There’s that priest again.).
The ILA has a list of llama-related books and publications in their catalog, and also on their web page.
There are also numerous regional organizations and clubs in most areas of the continent. If you contact anyone in an area in which you are interested, they can put you in contact with the local club. There are a number of other llama organizations, as well as quite a number of farms, listed on the Llama Links page of our Llama Question and Answer page.
Llamas don’t produce fibre as quickly as sheep, usually needing a couple of years to grow enough wool to make shearing worthwhile again. Some of our offspring born in the past few years are very heavy wooled and require shearing every summer when it gets hot and humid. Mind you, we have mild winters in our area so if you are in a location with severe winter weather, you may not want to shear your animals. If this is the case, I would suggest that you check with some of the experienced local breeders. They may suggest shearing by hand which would allow you to leave a couple of inches of fibre for protection. Another potential problem is sunburn if the fibre is shorn too close to the skin. They need enough fibre left on to protect them from the sun in the summer and enough that it will grow back to protect them from the cold in the winter.
Llama fibre is also used for tying fishing flies, but I don’t imagine you could use very much wool that way unless you were tying really huge flies.
One of the best new sources for fibre information is on the Llamapaedia set of pages.
Maggie Krieger is well-known as a fibre expert and she and her husband Richard have a page on Fibre as part of their Lama Prospectus page.
We send our fibre to Yocom-McColl Testing Laboratories in Denver, Colorado and they promptly send a histogram with the average fibre diameter, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and percentage of fibres over 30 microns. You can link to their online newsletter from this site.
There are quite a number of commercial outfitters using llamas for backpacking in both the United States and Canada, and many llama owners use a few of their males for carrying supplies, whether it is for a picnic, a day hike or an extended trip into the mountains lasting for a month or so.
When we got our first llamas in 1981 to use as backpackers, they were quite a novelty and it was hard to make time hiking in populated areas because you had to stop and answer so many questions. Nowadays they are becoming an accepted sight along the trails in many areas.
There is a good backpacking newsletter called the Backcountry Llama News which comes out every other month and features articles and reviews on equipment, as well as what’s happening along with stories of trips that people and llamas are taking.
A couple of years ago we had Mr. Chuck Jean come to one of our club outings and he soon had six pairs of llamas that had never seen a cart or a harness pulling carts. Mind you, the llama we took threw himself on the ground and fought the harness, but eventually he was pulling the cart along with another llama who had also not wanted to be in harness. There were also two people in front with leads and people on either side of the llamas to make sure that they didn’t stray. Our llama was not impressed and when the harness was taken off, he suddenly bolted and took off down the road.
A very good method of training cart llamas is practiced by Jim and Amy Logan of Chattaroy, Washington. They teach Click and Reward training for llamas which uses operant conditioning as a tool, and they run workshops all over the North America, both on clicker training and cart driving. Our local club had them give two workshops in May, 1999 which we enjoyed very much. Since then, for the first time ever we have had young llamas quickly learn to get into the trailer and it was a non-event for them.
Llamas seem to naturally hate coyotes, and ranchers in Montana and Wyoming may have herds of a couple of thousand sheep guarded by one llama. The average flock though, is 250 to 300 sheep on an area of about 300 acres. Their losses have been cut down considerably while their neighbors are still losing lambs to coyotes.
Iowa State University has a great 12 page booklet titled Guard Llamas which is very comprehensive. The booklets are available from the Extension Distribution Center, 119 Printing and Publications Bldg., Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011. The cost is around a dollar.
They are very patient, never complaining if feeding time is delayed. We usually give them a little bit of dairy ration in the evening which is a good way of getting them into the barn if you need to enclose a mom and baby for instance. They don’t need much shelter and prefer to be outside unless it is really pouring rain or there is heavy snow accompanied by strong winds. On the usually mild West Coast, occasionally in the winter, you can look out in the morning and see llamas covered with snow where they have slept outside. In colder climates you would probably need a barn to protect them during really cold periods. You sometimes see an animal from the prairies that has lost part of an ear from frostbite.There is a good site called Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System which has information and photos of a great number of poisonous plants. Another excellent resource is North Carolina Poisonous Plants which has a huge list of plants to be careful of.
People are constantly amazed at how calm and friendly our llamas are. We have often noticed young children who, when they first arrive at our farm, are terrified of the animals, are a few hours later out in the pasture by themselves with the llamas eating out of their hands.
