We Love Camelids!

[Watermelon123]

Soometimes that is all you can do.

 

[Watermelon123]

How's everyone's Camelid?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Hi! WE have had a busy summer and I have been on line very little. Everyone is doing well. Waiting for things to cool off a bit. I am trying to get a "play day" together in the state so that some of us can pool our knowledge. I know Ohio has an active Llama club but there isn't much here in Arkansas.

I really need some hands on pointers on training as I have no clue what I am doing. Reading a book and then trying to make it work, isn't working for me.

 

[Watermelon123]

Doc and his pals are doing great! I have a show in two weeks, fair in four, and a parade on Sunday! He has also been helping train the new 4-hers.

The "play day" sounds like a great idea to learn new things llama related. I will also keep an eye out for a book to help you, Puddin'.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Sounds like you are about to have fun.

I have plenty of books, but I learn better hands on. I plan to just dive in a little more once the weather breaks.

Make sure you share some pics of your events.

 

[josebeth1]

All right, both of you! Puddin Fluff and Watermelon 123, I mean.
I'm stressed busy for the next couple of weeks, and have no business messing around here reading posts when my work is piled up higher than my eyeballs--but I think you guys need to be adopted

Please feel free to PM me with questions (alpaca and llama both)--at the moment, my herd of 33 alpacas and 3 llamas are happily enjoying the perfect weather and the break in the heat --my office window looks out over the pastures and this part of it all at least is idyllic! I'll answer you both as best I can around working 6 days/week and taking care of a total of 80 animals.......

In the meantime, though, check out Paca This and LLama This! on FB -- I'm more Paca This-- it's where many of us hang out when we're not doing the chicken thing

. Also, there's Open Herd, AlpacaStreet, Alpacanation (I'm there under my farm name) and Llamanation. That will give you enough info on everything to keep you learning for a long, long time. Just like all forums, you should quickly figure out who the knowledgeable old timers are.

I live in the thick of it--Northeast Ohio is often called "Little Peru". One of the 3 men who brought the first alpacas in from Peru is our vet and his significant other is very big with the llamas. They have one of the larger and better known farms in the country, and since we speak Spanish at home, their shearers tend to spend their free time at our house (they come in the spring from Peru and stay till Thanksgiving every year).

Anyway, I hope some of this helps you two in your obvious quest for knowledge. These can be very difficult animals to keep healthy sometimes, and the veterinary community still has so much to learn about them since they've been around here for so little time compared to the usual livestock. We still don't even have any medicines labeled for their use yet!!

Best of luck, please keep learning!

Beth
Crias del Cielo Alpaca Farm

 

[Puddin Fluff]

josebeth

thanks for the offer. I will certainly look into that. I am on a couple groups on face book but a few more won't hurt.

My biggest problem is that I am a "monkey see, monkey do" kind of learner so I wish there were more folks close by that I could actually visit. I am muddling my way through with books and on line assistance, but sure do wish I could make a visit somewhere.

 

[josebeth1]

Well, you'd certainly be welcome to visit and learn here if it was only feasible--and I do know folks who have traveled and spent vacations on experienced farms exactly to get that kind of experience. You will also find there are many learning seminars held at universities and on farms with live animals. In the meantime, however, lots and lots of what you need to know for llamas and alpacas does come from reading and there's no way around that!

-Why is diet is so specific and why we don't just try giving them new stuff and treats without checking on it first......,
-What medicine to give and when/why and dosages and how to administer (not to mention what we all really need to have on hand all the time) .....
-What do certain behaviors usually mean? especially those that are "heads up" to a problem brewing.....

I'm sure you can understand, the list is endless. All this "book/internet learning" has saved lives here on multiple occasions and all the "monkey see, monkey do" learning wouldn't have helped if I hadn't known the background stuff behind it. Just one example -- our last cria, the little white boy in the picture above, tried to die on me 3 times in his first week of life. Had I not known to grab the thiamine and what strength/dose, etc in that actual moment that he dropped on the ground, couldn't rise, and was going fast......well, you sure wouldn't be seeing him in that picture!
Remember, too, that alpacas and llamas are notoriously stoic--as prey animals, a huge part of their survival has always been not showing infirmity. Often, by the time an owner realizes something is wrong the animal is seriously in trouble.

I hope this makes you pause and consider your belief about learning -- those "plenty of books" you mention in a previous dose are also your lifesavers in addition to having practical,hands-on experience........

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Very true. I just lament the fact that I don't have many active llama folks near by so that we can bounce things off of each other. I am in the middle of the country but I feel so isolated.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

wishing all you llama lovers a Happy Thanksgiving.