Llamas and Alpacas E-Book

Sue Weaver

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 295

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

There has never been a better time to add a few camelid comrades to your camp—and in Llamas and Alpacas, author and expert Sue Weaver shows you just how to make it happen! With color photos, advice from experienced breeders and farmers, and a comprehensive appendix on common maladies, you'll learn the ins and outs of buying and caring for these remarkable creatures—and delight in what they can do for you in returns!The Hobby Farms livestock care manuals will help both experienced and novice hobby farmers realize their own dreams of life on the farm - for pleasure and profit.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

 

Dedication

Introduction

 

CHAPTER ONE - Meet the Lama

LAMA HISTORY AT A GLANCE

LAMAS 101

THE WILD ONES

EVERYDAY LAMAS

BASIC LAMA PHYSIOLOGY

 

CHAPTER TWO - Buying a Lama and Bringing It Home

FINDING A REPUTABLE SELLER

BUYING FROM BREEDERS NEAR AND FAR

PRODUCTION AND DISPERSAL SALES

INTERNET BUYING

SALE BARNS

REGISTRATION PAPERS

METHODS FOR TRANSPORTING LAMAS

WORKING WITH LIVESTOCK TRANSPORTERS

CHOOSING YOUR OWN CONVEYANCE

MANAGING STRESS

FINDING AND WORKING WITH A VETERINARIAN

VISIT THE CLINIC

SCHEDULE A ROUTINE FARM VISIT

GENERAL ADVICE

 

CHAPTER THREE - Handling Llamas and Alpacas

UNDERSTANDING LAMASPEAK

LAMA VOCALIZATIONS

BODY LANGUAGE

OTHER SIGNIFICANT BEHAVIORS

ABERRANT BEHAVIOR SYNDROME

WHAT CAUSES ABS?

IS IT ABS OR NOT?

CAN AN AGGRESSIVE LAMA BE SAVED?

THE KINDEST CUT—GELDING MALE LAMAS

WORKING WITH LAMAS

HERDING LAMAS

THE LAMA WHISPERERS

 

CHAPTER FOUR - Feeding Llamas and Alpacas

RUMINATE ON THIS

THE ABCS OF FEEDING LAMAS

PASTURE

HAY

CONCENTRATES

MINERALS

COOL, CLEAN WATER

HEY, HAY!

BIG BALES—OR NOT?

WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND GOOD BALED HAY

 

CHAPTER FIVE - Housing Llamas and Alpacas

HOME SWEET (LAMA) HOME

BASIC STRUCTURES

BEDDING

POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND

DINING ACCOMMODATIONS

PLACES TO EAT

PLACES TO DRINK

PASTURE PERFECT

FENCING FOR YOUR LAMAS

WOVEN WIRE FENCING

ELECTRIFIED FENCING

FENCE POSTS

CATCH PENS AND RESTRAINT CHUTES

 

CHAPTER SIX - Llamas and Alpacas in Sickness and in Health

KEEP YOUR LAMAS IN THE PINK

SHEAR HAPPINESS

HAIRSTYLES FOR LLAMAS AND ALPACAS

DO-IT-YOURSELF (OR NOT?)

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

TO BE (OR NOT TO BE) YOUR OWN VET

BUILD A BETTER FIRST AID KIT

CHECKING VITAL SIGNS

WOUND CARE 101

JUST SHOOT ME!

ANTIBIOTIC PROS AND CONS

STOP DISEASE IN ITS TRACKS—VACCI NATE!

USING HEALTH CARE PRODUCTS

THE WORMS GO IN, THE WORMS GO OUT

DEWORMER-RESISTANT WORMS

THE SOLUTION TO DRUG RESISTANCE IS . . . ?

EXTERNAL CREEPY-CRAWLIES

NOSE BOTS

LICE

MITES

OPEN WIDE AND SAY CHEEEEESE

FIGHTING TEETH

OVERGROWN INCISORS

TRIMMING TOOTSIES

THE REST OF THE STORY

 

CHAPTER SEVEN - Breeding Llamas

CHOOSING A MALE

WHERE TO LOOK

A STUD MALE OF YOUR OWN

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES, LAMA STYLE

BEFORE YOU BREED YOUR LLAMAS

PREPARING FOR DELIVERY

A WELL-STOCKED BIRTHING KIT

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIRTH?

STALL, PEN, OR PASTURE?

ARE WE THERE YET?

WHEN YOU MUST HELP

POSTBIRTHING PROCEDURES

COLOSTRUM

DON’T FORGET THE PLACENTA

TAKING CARE OF BABY

MECONIUM HAPPENS

KEEPING BABY WARM AND DRY

GETTING ALONG WITH MAMA

 

CHAPTER EIGHT - More Great Lama Activities

ADOPT A LAMA

WHAT RESCUE IS AND ISN’T

ADOPTING LLAMAS

FOSTER CARE

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP

GO LLAMA PACKING

WHY PACK WITH LLAMAS?

COMPETITION PACK LLAMAS

DRIVE YOUR LAMAS

SHOWING LLAMAS AND ALPACAS

GET A LLAMA TO GUARD YOUR GOATS, SHEEP, OR ALPACAS

SELL OR SPIN YOUR LAMA’S FIBER

 

CHAPTER NINE - Making Money with Llamas and Alpacas

BREEDING STOCK FOR SALE

ESSENTIAL STEPS

BUSINESS CONTRACTS 101

MORE GREAT WAYS TO EARN MONEY WITH LAMAS

MARKET FIBER OR PRODUCTS CREATED WITH LAMA FIBER

MARKET LAMA POOP

MAN A SHEARING AND TOENAIL-TRIMMING SERVICE

LAMA FARM SIT

OFFER LLAMA TRIPS

BECOME A LAMA WHISPERER

TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS

CHOOSE A MEMORABLE BUSINESS NAME

PROMOTE !

 

Acknowledgments

Appendix: Lama Maladies at a Glance

Glossary

Resources

Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Copyright Page

This book is for Barbara Kimmel and Jarelle S. Stein—thank you, ladies, for your encouragement and endless patience—and for Deb Logan and Tina Cochran, whose love of lamas shines in “Advice from the Farm.”

INTRODUCTION

Why Lamas?

There has never been a better time than now to add llamas or fiber alpacas to your hobby farm menagerie. While top breeders still command impressive prices for the crème de la crème of the llama and alpaca world, it’s becoming easier to buy correct, registered llamas and alpaca geldings at pet, performance, and fiberowner prices.

Lamas (as llamas and alpacas are collectively called by those in the know) are fun to have around the farm. Their sweet, enchanting ways are sure to steal your heart. They cost little to feed and they’re easy to handle, even by folk who have never kept livestock before. However, this is not to say they don’t have specialized needs: feed, appropriate shelter, proper fences, and quality veterinary care head the list.

And that’s what this book is about: the ins and outs of buying, understanding, caring for, and enjoying hobby farm llamas and alpacas. Read on, and consider the facts before deciding if lamas fit your lifestyle. If so, do your homework, prepare your farm, and then go lama shopping—and welcome winsome, wonderful llamas and alpacas to your farm and into your heart!

CHAPTER ONE

Meet the Lama

The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat,With an indolent expression and an undulating throatLike an unsuccessful literary man.

—Hilaire Belloc, More Beasts for Worse Children (London, 1897)

 

Llamas, alpacas, and their wild cousins, guanacos and vicuñas, are collectively known as South American camelids or simply lamas. Most people associate llamas and alpacas with South America’s indigenous tribes, such as the ancient Incas, but few realize that the ancestors of these long-necked denizens of the Andes evolved in North America.

LAMA HISTORY AT A GLANCE

The oldest known protocamelid, a rabbit-sized, forest-dwelling creature known as Protylopus, appeared 40 to 50 million years ago during North America’s Eocene era. The first true camelids evolved 12 to 24 million years ago. These included the genus Paracamelus, the ancestors of today’s Old World camels. Paracamelus migrated north across the frozen Bering Strait about 3 million years ago and evolved into one-humped dromedaries and two-humped Bactrian camels. Some 2 million years ago, two more genera began migrating south through Central America into the South American Andes Mountains: Paleolama (which later became extinct) and Lama. Lama eventually evolved into two modern species: Lama guanicoe (the guanaco) and Vicugna vicugna (the vicuña).

Then, when referring to Pleistocene glacial epoch 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, a cataclysmic event occurred in North America that wiped out the remaining camelids there. Scores of other Ice Age mammals, such as the woolly mammoth and the saber-toothed tiger, also disappeared.

Archaeological evidence suggests that about 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, South American natives began domesticating wild camelids in the Altiplano (high plains) region of the central Andes Mountains, in areas now comprising southeast Peru, eastern Bolivia, and northern Chile and Argentina. The species that evolved there had to be tough and adaptable. A typical summer day in the Altiplano, which has an average altitude of 11,000 feet, may reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit, while nighttime temperatures may fall to 20 degrees or below. Between November and March, 90 to 95 percent of the year’s 10 to 28 inches of rain falls; the rest of the year is very dry indeed.

Did You Know?

There were no wild llamas or alpacas. According to DNA studies conducted by American archaeozoologist Jane Wheeler and her colleagues, llamas are the domesticated descendants of wild guanacos, and alpacas are descended from wild vicuñas.

As bison were to North America’s plains tribes, so lamas were to South America’s early indigenous people—vital to survival. Llamas and alpacas supplied draft power, meat, fiber, grease, fertilizer, fuel, and leather. They were also precious for religious reasons, as evidenced by the many lama-shaped stone fetishes and conopas found at archaeological sites. Conopas, protective household figurines, had cavities in their backs that worshippers filled with offerings of intu (rendered fat from the chest of a llama) and coca leaves. So important did these symbols continue to be in native life that Spanish priests, seeking to convert the people by force in the seventeenth century, seized the conopas. Between 1617 and 1618, in the archbishopric of Lima alone, Spanish priests confiscated 3,418 conopas.

 

These llama-shaped bronze buttons follow the design of ancient effigies excavated at South American burial sites.

A Fortunate Foundation

Throughout prehistoric South America, llamas and alpacas were interred in human burials and buried en masse in important places. For instance, in the forecourt of the Chimú capital city of Chan Chan in Peru’s Moche Valley (occupied from AD 1000 to 1400), priests interred hundreds of sacrificial llamas. Today, dried llama fetuses called sullus are buried under building foundations to bring good fortune, particularly in Bolivia, where an estimated 90 percent of families have at least one sullus buried beneath their homes. Construction workers refuse to work a job if there has not been a cha’lla(blessing ceremony) held before work begins and a sullus buried underground at the work site. Sullus can be purchased for a small fee from stands at La Paz’s famous Witches’ Market.Eachcomesblessedbyawitch and is wrapped in lana de llama, a multicolored llama wool fabric.

Naturally, lamas played an integral role in the lives of the great Incas, who flourished from the thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth century. By the end of the fifteenth century, the Incas controlled a 440,000-square-mile empire (covering much of present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile as well as parts of Colombia and Argentina) composed of more than 10 million people. Because sheep didn’t come until much later, with the Spanish conquerors, everyone from the Sapa Inca (the divine ruler) to the littlest peasant child wore clothing woven of camelid fiber. The peasant had garments made of everyday llama fiber. The nobility dressed in garments of campi, an ultrasoft fabric woven of vicuña fiber; no one else was allowed to wear it on pain of death. High-ranking officials wore garments crafted of gami, cloth woven of highest-quality alpaca fiber.

 

Llamas and alpacas are featured in an impressive array of South American craft items. This hand-carved stone llama is only 1 inch tall.

Lamas in Myth and History

Lamas were an important element in Incan religion. Black llamas, for instance, were considered rain bringers. In 1615, Spaniard Guaman Poma de Ayala wrote that at the beginning of the rainy season, the Incas tied black male llamas in the main plaza at Cuzco and left them without water so that they would cry out to Viracocha (the Incan creator god) for rain. Each day, a llama was sacrificed to the sun god, Inti, at sunrise, its head held toward the sun; the body was then burned in a special brazier.

The mythology of the Quechuas (a people of South America) tells of a celestial black llama called Yacana. In the middle of the night, Yacana drinks all the water out of the ocean. Should he ever fail to do so, the waters will drown the world. Yacana and Wiraqochan, the white alpaca, are responsible for nourishing the universe. Yacana appears in the night sky as a dark lane stretching from Scorpius to Centaurus in the Mayu (Milky Way). Another constellation in the Mayu is Uñallamacha, said to be a cria (a baby lama) attached to its dam (mother) by its umbilical cord.

Incan herders worshipped Urcuchillay, a multicolored llama who watched over their animals; his star is in the constellation modern astronomers call Lyra. According to Inge Bolin’s 1998 book, Rituals of Respect: The Secret of Survival in the High Peruvian Andes, high-altitude herders still refer to llamas and alpacas as “our ancestors.” When a llama becomes barren or its working days are over, it is slaughtered in an ancient ritual meant to speed the animal’s spirit to Apu Illapu, god of thunder, who makes certain it is reborn to the same corral. The meat of the sacrificed llama is eaten, and the bones buried in the corral.

Although no exact figures exist, historians estimate the preconquest South American llama and alpaca population to have been as high as 50 million. Over the next hundred years, Spanish administrative documents indicate approximately a 90 percent reduction in numbers. Lamas were cleared in staggering numbers to make way for European species such as sheep, cattle, and goats. The people, too, perished in tragic numbers, from European diseases and overwork; thousands of South American people and African slaves died in the mines each year. Fortunately, some natives and their llamas and alpacas fled to the high country of the Andes, where they survived through modern times. However, ancient lama husbandry practices were lost, and a great deal of crossbreeding between llamas and alpacas occurred after the fall of the Incan Empire.

In the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s, private animal collectors and zoos both here and abroad began importing llamas. In the early 1900s, Californian William Randolph Hearst brought twelve llamas to his San Simeon estate, the largest North American importation up to that date. Then, during the 1980s, llamas became the exotic “critter du jour.” Interest skyrocketed, and prices with it, until supply exceeded demand. Nowadays, high-end llamas still command impressive figures, but there are everyday llamas priced for the rest of us, too.

What’s in a Name?

• The word alpaca is a derivative of the Spanish term el paco, which in turn comes from the Aymara word allpacu.

• In Spanish,llama can be roughly translated as “what is it called?” Legend claims that the Spaniards, having never seen llamas before, kept asking the Incas what they were called. (“¿Llama ?”) So the Incas thought that was the Spanish name for the animals.

• In Spanish-speaking countries, llama is pronounced YAH-ma instead of LAH-ma.

• In many countries, male alpacas are called machos and female alpacas, hembras.

• Names for lama hybrids include: cama (dromedary sire/guanaco or llama dam),huarizo(llama sire/alpaca dam), misti (alpaca sire/llama dam), paco-vicuña (vicuñasire/alpacadam),llamo-vicuña (vicuña sire/llama dam), llamo-guanaco or llanaco (guanaco sire/llama dam), and paco-guanaco (alpaca sire/guanaco dam).

 

As bison were to Native Americans, lamas are to the Aymaran and Quechuan peoples.

Fiber Basics

Camelid fiber is hollow, so it is technically hair, not “wool,” although it’s commonly referred to as such. Fiber is measured in microns; a micron is 1/1,000 of a millimeter, or 1/25,000 of an inch. Alpaca fiber measures less than 20 microns (the standard grading system calls this “royal alpaca”) to more than 35 microns (classification: “very coarse”), while llama undercoat generally grades from 20 to 40 microns. For comparison, vicuña runs 10 to 11.5 microns; guanaco, 14 to 18 microns; Angora rabbit fiber, 12 to 16 microns; and fine Merino sheep wool, 18 to 22 microns. The lower the count, the finer the fiber. Yarn containing more than 5 percent fiber measuring 22 microns or greater is generally too coarse and itchy to wear next to human skin.

 

Alpacas

Fiberwise, there are two types of alpacas: huacaya and suri. Huacaya (h’wha-k’EYE-ya) alpacas have crimped, plush fleece and cute, teddy bear faces. Because they’re more common than suris, huacaya alpacas generally cost less to buy. If you want fiber to knit or crochet with, huacaya fiber is more economical and warmer than sheep’s wool.

 

Alpacas coat types: huacayas (left) and suris (right)

Suri (SIR-ee) alpacas’ fiber falls in long, lustrous locks that separate into individual ringlets. The relative rarity of suris accords them extra value. Suri fiber is used for weaving “worsted” items such as the fabric used to craft fine suits and overcoats, where drape is important and elasticity isn’t an asset. It can also be knitted into sumptuous lace with a silklike sheen.

 

Llamas

Some types of llamas are double-coated, and others aren’t. The fiber of double-coated llamas is composed of up to 20 percent guard hair, which must be removed before the undercoat is processed into yarn; otherwise, the resulting yarn is bristly and itchy. Dehairing sheared or clipped fiber is usually done by hand. Because it’s a slow, painstaking process, spinners should avoid llamas with overly abundant guard hair.

 

Suri llama fiber

Suri llama fiber resembles suri alpaca fiber and is used in the same manner. The Suri Llama Association and Registry actively promotes these rare and regal beasts. Apart from suris, llamas fall into one of two basic categories : classic or woolly-coated. Many people simply call them short-, medium-, or long-wooled llamas; others use the following terminology.

Classic llamas, also called ccara (CAR-uh) or ccara sullo (CAR-uh SOOYOH) llamas, have relatively short, double coats. The amount and length of a ccara llama’s guard hair varies greatly from individual to individual but usually accounts for 15 percent or more of its overall fleece. Ccaras have soft, semicrimpy undercoats topped by coarser guard hairs and shorter hair on their heads and legs, especially below the knees. Ccaras shed their undercoats, so they needn’t be sheared or clipped. It’s easy to harvest ccara fiber by grooming its wearer and removing shed hair from the grooming tools. Ccara llamas yield about 1 to 3 pounds of fiber per year. Ccara coats don’t pick up debris the way the coats of longer-wooled llamas do, and they’re easy to keep clean. This makes them the preferred type of llama for packing (a job they were historically developed todo) and public relations work. They are sometimes referred to as “zoo llamas” because most early imports were ccara llamas.

 

Suri llamas are rare and in high demand.

Medium-wooled curaca (cur-AH-cah) llamas resemble their ccara kin but have less guard hair (3 to 15 percent on average) and longer wool on their bodies, necks, and legs. Like ccaras, curacas have hair instead of wool below their knees and hocks. Curaca llamas partially shed, but most require clipping or shearing every few years.

 

Most llamas have guard hair to some degree.

Tapada (tah-PA-dah) llamas are woolly llamas with medium to long coats that are dense, sometimes silky, sometimes crimpy, often loosely wavy coats. They also have wool (not hair) on their heads and below their knees. They have less than 1 percent guard hair and are considered single-coated. Longer-coated tapadas are frequently confused with lanuda (la-NOO-dah) llamas. Lanudas are single-coated, silky-woolly, long-coated llamas with wool-fringed ears and tails, well-wooled faces, and abundant fiber all the way down their legs to their feet. Tapada and lanuda llamas don’t shed; they require full body shearing every year or so and need considerable grooming in between. They yield the most (and usually the best) fiber.

 

This llama’s guard hair is longer than its undercoat.

Alpacas are another story. Although groups were imported to the United States in 1821 and 1857, these failed to thrive. Then in the 1980s, alpaca fever took root here. Large-scale alpaca importations into the United States occurred between 1984 and 1998. In 1998, the Alpaca Registry, Inc., (ARI) closed its herd book to imported alpacas. Since then, all alpacas recorded in the official herd book must have two ARI-registered parents and be born and bred in the United States. At this writing, demand far exceeds supply, and top-quality females and stud males command astounding prices. However, the market for males that are not up to stud male standards is becoming saturated, making fiber geldings (castrated males) a viable choice as pets and for hobby farm fiber producers.

 

This handsome suri alpaca’s topknot hides his face.

Did You Know?

• The Inca were known to raise pure white, black, and brown alpacas. The weaving of alpaca fiber textiles dates to at least 500 BC.

• Authorities believe llamas and alpacas were developed from guanacos and vicuñas long before their Old World cousins, dromedaries and Bactrian camels, were domesticated (around 3000 BC in South Arabia and Iran, respectively).

LAMAS 101

South American camelids belong to the taxonomic order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates), suborder Tylopoda (pad-footed ungulates), and family Camelidae. There are four species: the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), llama (Lama glama), and alpaca (formerly Lama pacos, now reclassified as Vicugna pacos).

THE WILD ONES

Wild vicuñas and guanacos still roam the Andes, as they have for thousands upon thousands of years. Vicuñas are considered a threatened species. Because they can’t legally be exported from South America, you cannot buy vicuñas to stock your hobby farm. However, a limited number of domestic guanacos are bred in North America, so they are an option should you want some.

Vicuñas

Vicuñas are the wild ancestors of alpacas. They are the smallest and daintiest of the South American camelids, standing about 3 feet tall at their shoulders and weighing 100 to 120 pounds. Vicuñas are exceedingly shy and can flee at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, aided by a heart almost 50 percent larger than the average weight for mammals of similar size. They are svelte and streamlined, having long, skinny legs and necks and small wedge-shaped heads.

Wild vicuñas roam the Andes mountain range of Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, at elevations of 12,000 to 19,500 feet. They are Peru’s national heritage species; hunting them is strictly forbidden, but natives, who were granted ownership of the nation’s vicuñas in 1987, are allowed to capture, shear, and release wild vicuñas every two years.

Typical coat colors range from yellowish ochre to reddish brown, always with dirty white underparts and a white mane of 8-to-12-inch silky hairs at the base of the neck. Each vicuña produces about 12 to 16 ounces of 10–12 micron fiber with a staple length of 1–1.5 inches per semiannual shearing. Because vicuña is the ultimate luxury fiber, a vicuña scarf may sell for $800 and a finely tailored vicuña suit for up to $20,000.

The Inca never killed vicuñas because they were the sole property of the Sapa Inca. They trapped vicuñas in los chacos, a massive ceremony held every three to five years in which hundreds of people formed a human chain to herd the animals into temporary corrals where they were shorn. Vicuñas are still gathered in the same manner.

 

In preconquest South America, all vicuñas belonged to the Sapa Inca. Even today, the Peruvian government prohibits exportation of live vicuñas.

Lamas by the Numbers

• Peru is the world’s largest producer of alpaca fiber at 4,000 tons per year and vicuña fiber at 3 tons per year, while Bolivia is the largest producer of llama fiber at 600 tons per year.

• According to an International Camelid Quarterly survey conducted in 2004, 66.9 percent of alpaca and llama farms keep fewer than 25 lamas, and 60 percent are only 1 to 20 acres in size.

• There are roughly 3 million alpacas worldwide; 98 percent of the world’s alpacas are in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Of these, 90 percent are huacayas; the rest are suris.

• Only 3 percent of America’s registered llamas are imported from South America.

Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Sapa Inca owned an estimated 2 million wild vicuñas. However, the Spaniards slaughtered more than 80,000 vicuñas annually, partially to clear the way to graze sheep and cattle and partially for their meat, fiber, and hides. In 1825, when Peru gained its independence from Spain, vicuñas became a national symbol. However, by 1974, when an inventory was taken, only 6,000 wild vicuñas remained. Now the Peruvian vicuña population is rebounding, growing 8 percent a year, and the species is no longer in danger of extinction. There are 149,000 vicuñas in Peru and 15,000 in Bolivia; experts say that if recovery proceeds at the present rate, by 2021 there should be 1 million vicuñas in Peru alone.

 

Guanacos, native to South America, are bred in North America, too. If you want some, they’re out there!

 

Llamas can easily be trained to pull carts. This one is working at the London Zoo in days gone by.

Although you can’t buy purebred vicuñas in North America, enterprising lama entrepreneurs are breeding pacovicuñas (alpacas with vicuña DNA and physical characteristics) and Pacuñas (true vicuña and alpaca hybrids) in an effort to produce vicuña-quality fiber in greater volume than true vicuñas grow each year. See the Resources section for the organizations that register and promote these interesting creatures.

Guanacos

Guanacos are the wild ancestors of llamas. Like llamas, they have a double coat consisting of coarse guard hair covering a soft undercoat even finer than alpaca fiber. Guanacos resemble vicuñas in many ways, being swift, wary, and slender, with long legs and necks, small heads, and pointed ears. But they are taller and somewhat heavier, standing 3 to 4 feet at their shoulders and weighing in at 220 to 275 pounds. Guanaco colors range from light honey brown to dark cinnamon, always with dirty white underpinnings.

Prior to the Spanish conquest, an estimated 30 to 35 million guanacos lived in South America; the current wild population numbers roughly 500,000. They’re found from sea level at Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of Argentina to the high Andes of northern Chile and Peru.

Guanaco undercoat averages 14 to 18 microns in diameter with a staple length of 1.5 to 2.2 inches; a typical guanaco produces 350 to 600 grams of fiber per shearing.

Guanaco fiber is highly prized by handspinners and, with considerable early handling, guanacos make nice pets. To locate breeders do an online search using the keywords guanacos for sale. The International Lama Registry (see Resources) maintains a herd book for registered guanacos.

Llamas and Alpacas at a Glance

Typical adult height measured at the shoulder

Llamas: 4–4.5 feet

Alpacas: 3 feet

 

Typical adult weight

Llamas: 250–500 pounds

Alpacas: 120–225 pounds

 

Colors

Llamas: white to black and many shades of brown and gray in solids, spots, and a wide variety of patterns. Alpacas: in North America there are 22 recognized colors ranging from white to red to black and many shades in between; 52 colors are recognized in South America.

 

Primary reason for development

Llamas: as pack animals

Alpacas: for fiber

 

Annual growth rate of fiber

Llamas: varies widely

Alpacas: 5–10 inches

 

Weight of a typical adult fleece

Llamas: varies widely

Alpacas: 3–8 pounds

 

Fiber measurement in microns

Llama: 20–40 microns

Alpaca: 15–28 microns

 

Life span

15–25 years

 

Length of a typical gestation

Llamas: 350 days

Alpacas: 345 days

 

Weight at birth

Llamas: 18–35 pounds

Alpacas: 12–18 pounds

 

Shape of ears

 

Llamas: long and banana-shaped

 

Alpacas: shorter and spear-shaped

Shape of back in profile

Llamas: straight

Alpacas: somewhat rounded

 

Rectal temperature

99.5–102 degrees Fahrenheit

 

Heart rate

60–90 beats per minute

 

Respiration

15–30 breaths per minute

EVERYDAY LAMAS

Few of us will ever own a guanaco or see vicuñas running wild. However, the wild ones gave us the lamas we know and love: regal llamas and cute woolly alpacas.

Llamas

According to International Camelid Quarterly statistics gathered in December 2004, there were 170,000 llamas and 635 guanacos and lama hybrids registered in International Lama Registry herd books at that time; an additional 5,768 llamas were registered in 2005. In addition, the International Lama Registry estimates that at least 10 percent of the American llama population is unregistered. Clearly, llamas are popular indeed!

Americans use their llamas for a wide range of activities, ranging from serving as elegant pasture pets and livestock guardians to 4-H activities, cart driving, packing, and public relations work such as visiting shut-ins and children’s hospitals. They can be shown in a wide array of halter events (also called conformation or in-hand classes) as well as a long list of performance classes, including costume, packing, and agility. Most llamas produce lovely fiber as well.

 

Lamas—like this cute alpaca cria—are curious to a fault.

Alpacas

The same International Camelid Quarterly study determined that the ARI had registered 67,608 alpacas by the close of 2004. That, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Alpacas have become so popular in the past few years that the organization registered 19,755 new alpacas in 2007 alone, for a grand total of 136,075 alpacas registered through December 2007.

 

Lamas’ toes are topped with strong, sturdy toenails.

Although alpacas are largely fiber producers, they can do most of the things their larger cousins can do. They especially shine as public relations lamas (what shut-in isn’t cheered by an alpaca’s endearing face ?). And alpacas have their own array of halter and performance classes at llama and alpaca shows; showing is a great way to further enjoy your fiber geldings.

BASIC LAMA PHYSIOLOGY

Lamas of all kinds share features that make the South American camelids truly unique. They are all ruminants (they chew their cud), but they have three-compartmented stomachs instead of the usual four found in sheep, goats, cattle, and deer. Their two-toed feet have broad, doglike leathery pads on the bottom of each toe, with down-curved nails in front and a scent gland between the toes. The oblong bare patches on the side of each rear leg are metatarsal scent glands associated with the production of alarm pheromones.

All lamas have a hard upper dental palate and no upper teeth in front; upper and lower molars in back; and a split, prehensile upper lip for grasping forage in unison with the lower incisors. Mature males grow long, curved fanglike “fighting teeth.”

 

Young males, like these handsome youngsters at Klein Himmel Llamas, enjoy engaging in play fighting games.

TERMS USED TO DESIGNATE SUPERFICIAL AREAS OF THE BODY OF AN ALPACA

Advice from the Farm

Why Lamas?

The experts offer a few good reasons for welcoming lamas to the farm:

 

Inexpensive Perfection

“Right from the beginning, it was clear that alpacas were the perfect livestock for us. They are cute and soft, quiet, don’t take up much room, and best of all, they all poop in the same place! We heard they were only for the rich, but we had to see them in person anyway. Once we met our first alpaca, there was no question; we wanted some. But was it possible to start our alpaca farm without spending our entire life savings? Yes! Our solution: we keep only herd sires and provide mobile breeding services at our customers’ farms. It’s possible to afford great alpacas if you think outside the box.”

—Tina Cochran

Wicked Smart

“Llamas have a certain grace and gentle elegance that attracts me. I am drawn to the fact that I must earn their trust in order to interact with them. They are ‘wicked smart,’ responsive, and so very kind and gentle. To be sitting amongst them is akin to being surrounded by unicorns.”

—Deb Logan

Elegant Guardian

“I adopted Alex, my llama, to guard my sheep. We have close neighbors, so we can’t keep a livestock guardian dog that barks all night, and my husband is afraid of donkeys (silly but true), so a llama seemed to be our best choice. Alex is elegant and quiet, he’s affectionate without being pushy, and he loves my sheep. You should see how gentle he is with newborn lambs!”

—Jan Johnson

Yummy Fiber

“As a longtime handspinner, I thought it would be fun to keep llamas to grow my own fiber. Then I saw an ad for unregistered male alpacas at surprisingly low prices. I called and made an appointment, and when I saw the alpacas I was blown away! They were just babies but so cute and so soft. I bought two and named them Cash and Cary. Their fiber is yummy, and they are wonderful pets. I’m going to have Cash and Cary gelded when they’re old enough and buy two more when this year’s crias are weaned. I’m going to process their fiber and sell it on eBay—but I get to keep what I want for me!”

—Mary Collins

 

Lamas rest in this kushed position, with their legs tucked under their bodies.

Lamas rarely touch one another and, unless habituated to it, prefer not to have humans touch them, either. Because when males fight, they try to pull their adversary’s legs out from beneath him, untrained lamas vigorously resist having their legs picked up. Although lamas sometimes lie on their sides or backs, they usually rest in the kush (or cush) position with their legs tucked under their bodies.

Mating occurs in this position, with the male orgling (emitting a matingspecific vocalization) and grasping the female’s sides with his front legs. Males are dribble ejaculators, so a typical mating takes twenty minutes or longer. Female lamas are induced ovulators, meaning they have no heat or estrus cycle. Instead, the act of breeding causes the female to ovulate about a day and a half after mating.

Although they generally produce single young (called crias), female lamas, like cows, have four teats. Crias are nearly always born during daylight hours and from a standing or squatting position rather than lying down. Because lamas have attached tongues, they don’t lick their newborns in the manner of many other species. Twinning is a rare occurrence.

Lamas communicate in body language and through a variety of vocalizations ranging from a gentle hum to loud shrieks. And they spit—generally only at one another but occasionally at humans, too.

Lamas instinctively eliminate on community dung piles instead of randomly wherever they are. When one eliminates, usually all of the lamas in a group will stand in line to do so as well.

 

Ultra-tidy animals, lamas deposit their dry, formed droppings (also known as lama beans) on community dung piles.

CHAPTER TWO

Buying a Lama and Bringing It Home

L lamas and alpacas are fun to own and relatively easy to care for. However, when you buy or adopt one, you’re taking on a good deal of responsibility. As with all animals, they will need to be tended to every day, whether you feel like it or not. Your lamas will depend on you for their very lives. Think it over carefully before you commit. And while llamas or alpacas fare well on smaller rural properties, make certain you can legally keep them; check into local zoning laws before you bring some home.

If after doing your research and considering all the factors, you’re certain you’re ready to buy your lamas and know which kind you want (see chapter one) , the next step is for you to find the right seller. And once you’ve made your purchase, you’ll need to find a safe way to get your new lama home and make sure that you are prepared to receive it properly, including lining up a lama-savvy veterinarian beforehand.

FINDING A REPUTABLE SELLER

No matter what you’re looking for—show or fancy fiber alpacas, pack llamas, or a nice guard llama to protect your sheep or goats—it’s important to locate reputable sellers of healthy stock. To do so, consider these approaches.

Visit the Web sites for the International Lama Registry (if you’re looking for llamas, guanacos, vicuñas, or crosses thereof), the Suri Llama Association and Registry (suri llamas), the American Miniature Llama Association (miniature llamas), or the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (alpacas), and peruse member-breeder directories there. Phone or e-mail organizations for additional information.

New Owner’s Checklist

So you’ve thought it over and are sure you want lamas in your life. But are you ready to bring some home? You will need:

• Safe shelters, bedding, feed, proper fencing, feeders, water containers, and a clean, consistent water source. Read about these items in chapters four and five.

• Halters, leads, toenail trimmers, and shearing necessities.

• A first aid kit.

• Appropriate tack, if you plan to pack or drive your llamas.