PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Our program for selecting, training, and placing guard llamas is just beginning, however we will share what we have done and what has worked or failed to work for us. Our main goal is to breed and train pack llamas, but not all llamas are physically or psychologically suited to commercial packing. Those that are not are evaluated for other uses, i.e. wool, pets, driving, or guards.
Our llamas are kept with a few sheep and goats and most of them guard quite naturally without any help. We bring our dogs with us to tend to the chores. One dog is a husky-shepherd cross who looks like a wolf and moves like a coyote. She is definitely interested in pursuing the sheep and goats, and circles the pastures and paddocks in a menacing manner. The behaviors we look for in the llamas in order of guard capability are :
1) watching the dog
2) alarm calling
3) placing themselves between the dog and the sheep and goats
4) pursuing the dog slowly
5) charging at the dog
6) leading the goats and sheep to the barn and then pursuing the dog.
We think that some llamas may have guard potential yet not display it due to being immature, or due to having a low position in the pecking order of the herd. If we think a llama could be a guard, but is not displaying these behaviors for these reasons, we try to encourage and evaluate further in the following way. We place the llama with the sheep and an experienced guard to serve as a role model. Within a week he should begin to show guarding behaviors. The absence of other guards who are "taking care of it" encourages the apprentice llama to take a stronger lead. The apprentice llama will sometimes take the role of herding the sheep into the barn, working in tandem with the other who goes after the dog. The next step is to remove the role model llama, and place the apprentice in a smaller paddock (approximately 300 square feet) to encourage more bonding with the sheep. If the paddock is too small, the llama may become frightened of the sheep running into his legs (we have seen this happen in a smaller catch pen). The llama should become more aggressive toward the dog, who is encouraged to circle outside the paddock. If the llama progresses to approaching the dog, the dog is brought into the paddock. Here there are several options including having both the dog and the llama on lead and rewarding the llama for following after the dog. The dog is muzzled as an extra safety feature. Ultimately, we like to see the llama get in between the sheep and the dog, lead the sheep to the barn, and chase the dog under the fence. The area is small enough that we are able to intervene at any time, but we have not had to since we trained the dog to come to an athletic whistle. If the llama does not do his job, and the sheep begin to run, the whistle is very effective in interupting her "chase" focus and bringing her back to us. We haven't had a llama become too aggressive to the dog. This dog, however, respects the llamas, and retreats as soon as they show assertiveness (much like coyotes are reported to do.) We think the worst part of this program is the stress that the sheep endure, just seeing the dog around as well as potentially being threatened by her. We have a large Tunis ram though,who is not as frightened of the dog as the ewes are but will also permit some chase in a somewhat playful fashion. He has been and will maybe be a better choice in these efforts. We would like to emphasize that the PERSONALITIES of all the training animals involved (dog, experienced guard, sheep, goats, etc.) are crucial in avoiding undue stress to the animals.
In our placement of guard llamas , we offer a money back guarantee if the llama in question does not bond with the sheep or fails to guard. Llamas have myriad uses and if one unfit for heavy work does not show guard potential, it can be trained to be a pet or performance show animal. In our sales contract, we state that llamas cannot defend themselves against dog packs or cougars and may be killed. We stress this verbally also.
Some people believe they want a young llama and can train it themselves. This very well may be true, but we recommend to a new llama owner or one that is less familiar with animals to buy a trained gelding. We say this for three reasons: 1. a trained llama will be a useful llama and one easy to take care of, 2.a useful llama is good for the llama industry, 3. a trained, useful llama will not be returned.
Our efforts at East Fork Llamas from a breeding standpoint are to provide affordable, trained llamas that are as conformationally correct as possible and place them in situations for which they are suited and will be happy and healthy as well as providing their new owners with an animal that they can successfully take care of and feel comfortable with.
HOW TO KEEP LLAMAS
The most effective method of keeping llamas is not selling them. In the past year and a half we have developed foolproof methods of not selling our llamas. With my tongue fully in my cheek and with no interest in offending any one, I offer these bits of information. The key is to be candid. We offer a year1s money-back guarantee, even and including if the llama eats your grandmother or breeds her as the case may be. We explain that there is a purpose for every llama and a llama for every purpose (turn, turn, turn). This may very well include your purchase replacing the half tire planters in your front yard, guarding your Chihuahuas, or packing your groceries from the carport into the kitchen. We say that llamas are gentle, workable animals yet occasionally they develop a condition known as aberrant behavior syndrome whereby they might confuse you for a llama even after three years of seemingly uneventful daily activity of gently bumping into you, making funny noises around you, and following along behind you stepping on your heels. And then your grandmother may be in real jeopardy. This condition, of course, only occurs in a small percentage of animals. We explain about meningeal worm, that pesky guy who likes to migrate up the spinal cord to the llama1s brain and live there. But , of course, we vaccinate against that. We refer potential owners to pages 132-162 of Medicine and Surgery of S.A.Camelids where pictures of known parasites are shown and encourage them to peruse the other pages where pictures of obscure conditions are displayed in relative graphic detail. We offer a free critique of your farm in reference to fencing, water, shelter, etc. and how these things impact llamas. We won1t sell a llama and send it to a farm that does not meet our standards. We won1t sell a lone animal, we insist on at least a pair going to a farm without another llama or some goats or sheep. This, of course, raises the price, even though we are currently having a buy-one-get-one-free sale. We only sell trained llamas, ones that can be worked with and consequently ones that we have more time and money in even though we don1t charge for our time. We will barter for anything- food, drugs, time share condos. We offer interest free payment plans, halters and lead ropes, feed, salt, Caring for Llamas, a health maintenance plan, free board for thirty days, free coffee, pens, llama poop, scads of information, complimentary farm tours, key rings, our first born,etc. with each sale. We sell guard llamas that1ll guard anything, your refrigerator, your ICBM site, flower beds, anything. We don1t although sell intact guard llamas to owners of goats or sheep so as to not add to the increasing flocks of lloats and lleep (or is that ggamas and sshamas, I always forget) that are currently at large in the countryside. Nor do we sell to camel owners or for that matter to iguana owners for obvious reasons. All in all, we are somewhat picky. The key, as I have indicated, is to be candid and we are always looking for new and exciting ways to be more so. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and we shall include them in any further articles. Oh, I forgot to mention the controversy over llama training methods and how the most popular methods can be seen as mutually exclusive by the untrained eye; and probably some other issues that are generally swept under the barn.
Anyway, our ideas on the keeping of llamas are an ongoing process and we are assuredly updating them as new situations arise. Oh, I forgot, short wool on the front legs, we insist on that, shows you the extent of the llama1s crookedness. Short wool period, though, as we are packers here and find better things to do than locating that one cocklebur in eight inches of matted llama wool. And speaking of wool, we throw that away. Those llama wool jackets are kinda itchy, don1t you think. We prefer the petrochemical based fabric in garments here on our farm. Actually we don1t throw it away, we mix it up with the other organic matter we rake up in the barn and it eventually goes toward a better head of broccoli. Oh and training, did I mention training, we train all of our llamas to do such exotic feats of magic as pick up their feet so that their toenails can be trimmed, stand in a catch pen without a halter or lead rope and accept a quick monthly shot sub-cu, be haltered without being hog tied to the barn door. Our one identifiable downfall in this process of keeping llamas is that we don1t recommend the buying of a chute (an added expense) because we believe that most procedures on our trained llamas can be done without the use of one. And finally (probably not), we make outrageous and baseless judgments about potential buyers of llamas that would certainly seem to border on prejudice and employ this objectivity to steer them into more horticultural endeavors or at least out of our driveway.
Berserk Conference Caps Off Merger: No Halter Spitoff This Year
The first annual conference of Benign Ruminants Seeking Rightful Care (BRSRC) was held in Lima last month for the express purpose of unifying the two major factions in the llama community. The long-standing and illustrious National Organization of Haltering And Leading, Training, and Rheumatoid Arthritis (NOHALTR) and the recently formed Society for Protection In Training Of Four Footed Friends (SPITOFF) came together for the first time to discuss the issues each had in common. Representatives from the newly collaborated organizations of Bolivian Llamas Association of Canada and Llamas Eat Gumballs (BLACLEG) and the International Llama Affiliates and Hummers (I-LASH) also attended. There were also associates from, as well as attendees representing, the many and varied peripheral organizations such as We are Alpacas Not Goats (WANG) and Disaffected Union of Non-woolbearing Geldings (DUNG) .
Dr. DoesLittle addressed the opening ceremonies with a call for unification amongst all the warring parties amidst some preliminary neck bumping over rules of order. The proposed merger had come at the behest of The Altogether Intelligent Llamas Steering As a Group (TAILSAG), a rather ad hoc committee that met in a field last fall. The doctor turned the reins (oops) over to its leader, Used To Be A Macho Man for a Q&A session. Various hums and calls came from the floor in accusation of this group not fulfilling its charter and flip-flopping on the issue of where most of the grain should go. With that in mind, the entire gathering bolted for lunch..
The afternoon session consisted of two workshops, one devoted to the issue of poodle cuts and the other limited to the various methods of training owners. The shearing workshop was not well attended and was fraught with demonstrations by some recognizable names with bows in their guard hair. The training workshop, on the other hand, was a real rodeo(oops) and attendance had to be limited. A group from Camelid Advocates of Palatable Paste-wormer (CAPP) presented the most recent research in the field. The training workshop was split into two sessions along the lines of the two major banks of wisdom--The Gentle Method and The More Gentle Method. Proponents of The Gentle Method recommended the I-Lead at all times as differing from the J-Lead in its degree of tension. The acclaimed video,The First 24 Weeks, was shown and for those unfamiliar, this method involves the herd ganging up on everyone on the farm as soon as a cria is born , thus letting no humans near it for twenty-four weeks. The More Gentle Method, a not altogether an opposing viewpoint, had participants form a circle around a haybale representing a human (in more ways than one, it was joked) and trot in a clockwise fashion around and around (ostensibly to the point where the haybale got so relaxed from dizziness that it passed outand forgot about doining anything to llamas); this is known as the MCHAMMER touch. The WHITE BOY touch was demonstrated as well as the HURRIED HOUSEWIFE lead and the RUDE REDNECK lead. The International Menagerie Of Normal Offspring and Halter driving Offends Ruminants, Etc. (IMNOHORSE) conducted a short session on buying a used car for less than the price of a cart and a driving harness.
All votable issues were left for the dinner feeding. A motion was made to merge SPITOFF and NOHALTR and seconded with the results being: Ho-Hum 100%. With that the conference adjourned.
