Llama's!

[girlychick]

Hi
I was wondering does anyone out there have a llama? I am obsessed with llama's...even if I have none...I'd love some if we lived on a farm! I have some questions about llama's.

1. How do you make money off of them?

2. Can you ride them?

3. Do you pet them?

4. Are any of there named Steve, Jesse or Starr??(Those are my llama names...don't ask!)

Okay hope I find someone that owns llama's or is obsessed like me!

 

[Whispering Winds]

I have alpacas, which I like better than Llamas. They are smaller and easier to handle. I have a baby, actually she is a yearling now, that follows me everywhere and bites my hair and pants and talks to me in a hum every time I am out there working. Right now the market is down, and you can get pet quality CHEAP so look around. They aren't $$ to take care of, vet bills are the only things that might bite once in awhile. Have to be wormed once a month, sheared once a year, hooves trimmed about every 3 months here . . .and just enjoyed the rest of the time. I have 9 right now, hope to add three babies next year.

You can make money with their fleece, costs about $35 to shear them, and you have to have someone who knows what they are doing or it won't be able to be used to its full capacity. You can send it to a mill to be made into yarn, or sell it raw. Takes awhile to see any returns, but I hope to get mine spun this year and a friend is making the clothes out of the yarn and I probably will go on Etsy and word of mouth to sell them.

 

[girlychick]

OKay this is a joke with me and one of my other website friends but...
Alpaca's are evil llama impersonators!

JK!
Alpaca's are so much like llama's its insane!

 

[Whispering Winds]

Actually, Alpacas are 74% related to the Llama. They are of the camel family, and looking at them you can see the resemblance. I have a friend who has a big Alpaca farm and she had to get rid of the Llama male she had, as well as the female. They are harder to breed, have to be older than Alpacas, and usually the male will be violent toward the male alpacas, has to have separate fencing and good strong ones. I saw him take down part of a fence post just jumping toward the male Alpacas, just to show them who was boss, or so he thought. Alpacas aren't ones to go to any lengths to escape, they are sweet and gentle and they hum. I prefer them 10 to 1 over a Llama.

 

[chickenzoo]

I have 3 llamas ( Zubee, Saferia, Tuxie) and a male Alpaca (Paco). Both my older males get along. My other male is a baby still. I don't make money off them, I do sell sometimes their fiber but during these times it is hard. I have them as pets mostly. They are too small framed to ride, but you can teach them to pull a cart. My female is the friendliest and you can pet her, the others aren't keen on it but will eat from your hand.

Tuxie when he was first born..............

 

[girlychick]

Quote:
I saw this and in the weirdest voice ever said
"Someone has llama's!"
xD I was just shocked cute llama's tell them I said hello from the crazy llama person!

 

[chickenmum]

Hi!
I know how you feel with the whole llama thing. I'm obsessed with alpacas(I know I know; you just can't find a llama person! lol) and nobody takes them seriously. Hardly anybody knows what they are before I tell them. A couple people have been like, "Is that like an emu?" Hahahah
But anyway, I don't want to put down your love for llamas, but here is why I personally prefer alpacas:
Alpaca fair is finer and more luxurious, and very sought after and expensive. In the ancient Incan culture the peasants were allowed to have llama or guanaco fleece, the lords and nobility were allowed alpaca, and the very highest like the emperor got vicuna(an alpaca relative)
Alpacas are smaller and gentle. It might be just me, but I find a ten foot tall llama a bit intimidating. When my alpaca males are fighting, I'm not very scared to go and try to break it up. With a llama I think I would be pretty traumatized. 0_0
I think alpacas are cuter.

I'm don't want to discourage you or put you down or anything, it was just a thread about llamas and alpacas are very similar, soo...
I started out wanting alpacas, then I was convinced llamas were more friendly, then I preferred alpacas. lol
Now for info on alpaca care, I don't know how much this will help since you want llamas, but I will have tried.

I feed my alpacas a cup full of alpaca feed, a teaspoon of alpaca minerals, and a fourth cup of alpaca fiber nutrients each, once a day. The feed that I get is either in the $teens or $20s, and the minerals and fiber nutrients I think are about $60. It sounds really expensive, but it really depends on how many you have and how much you are making off of them. If you are selling three skeins of yarn a week for 20 bucks a skein(that is how much for alpaca, really!) then I don't think there would be much problem.

I only need to buy feed around every month and a half, fiber nutrients every several months, and minerals several months or so. But I only have three males, so they don't use much.

If you get llamas it would be a good idea to ask the feed store a week before hand to order some feed, since they might not have it on hand at the moment and you don't want to have to not feed the poor fellers for several days till it gets in.
My friend (who has about 30 something quality alpacas) does not worm preventively. I guess you could, but you would have to ask a llama person.

I do not think that llama backs are good to ride on. You can certainly train them to pack, (that is what the Incans bred them for) but I don't think that the back is the right shape like a horse. A little kid is fine.

Yeah, I think that llamas are pettable. Whether my alpacas like it or not, I hold on to them sometimes and pet and hug em. Not obnoxiously though; I don't want to freak them out,lol. One gives me kisses.

Haha I do not know any with those names. Cool names though.

So before you get llamas you need to talk to a llama person and research llamas, and probably visit a good farm. I just wanted to give you a sample of alpaca care that I think is pretty similar to llama, but don't take my word for it.

Whenever I say that phrase I think of "Reading Rainbow."

 

[chickenmum]

Here are some pics of Sundance, Good Luck, and Bullet:

I love how expressive their faces are!

 

[PintoPasoFino]

I have two llamas here on the farm and they have a job to do. I chose llamas because of their guardian abilities. One of them is the sheep/goat guardian, and the other watches over any horse I have with a baby. I had a llama before, but when my first mare was pregnant many years ago my vet recommended that I get another llama to put out with her because a llama will fight off the coyote, or anything else preditory-like.

I have very small llamas. You can find them small if you look around, if you don't want the larger ones. I get them professionally sheared and my horse farrier is a gem and helps with their feet. My vet gives them a tetnus shot, and we de-worm them consistantly. One lives in the sheep barn and the other lives in a stall with a mini horse. They are best buds and will play together outside.

 

[EggSpudition]

OOOhh they are so sweet.

Someday-- someday I will have some acreage in the appalachian mountains and get me some.