Guard Llamas

[Donna]

I will be bringing my alpacas home soon (hopefully December) and I am planning on purchasing two guard llamas, one for the boys and one for the girls. I was wondering if I should bring the Llamas home first and then bring the alpacas, or should I do it the same day? I have not yet purchased my llamas, but expect to do so soon.

Thanks for any input.

Donna

[Marty McGee Bennett]

I haven't had this question before and don't have any actual experience with bringing home the animals in any particular order... my intuition says that if you could choose I would get the llamas first and then introduce the alpacas but I don't think it will make a huge difference one way or the other. I suspect most people get the alpacas first.

[JWW]

I too have a Guard Llama question. Does the size of the llama matter as far as effectiveness as a guardian? My husband seems to think we should only consider big llamas, but I think that other considerations may be more important, such as "guardy-ness" and ease to work with. Can you please let us know what you think so we don't make a mistake? Thanks, Jeanne

[Marty McGee Bennett]

ohhhh boy I hate to have to arbitrate a marital moment! I am going to ride the middle of this one. All things being equal a bigger llama is better.... BUT I would absolutely look for a vigilant personality and buy a llama from someone who is handling them in a way that makes it easy for you to handle the animals. When you are using Camelidynamics and you are not using muscle and force it absolutely doesn't matter how big the animal, is so size and ease of handling are not AT ALL correlated. I also think it is important when buying or acquiring animals to reward people who are doing a good job by doing business with them. My advice is to shop very carefully and to buy a llama from someone who impresses you with the way their animals are taken care of... and handled then rely on that person (who knows their animals) to give you some good advice about who might be the best guarder. My advice is that you should see the person herd, pen, catch and halter the llama and then you should be able to do it too, it probably won't be as easy for you as the owner but you should be able to do it. If you arrive and the animal is already wearing a halter that may be a red flag. Good luck.

[docdennis]

Jeanne,
As a general rule I would say that women should always listen to their husbands :) However, in this case I would have to agree with you. I'll take a 300-350 lb llama with strong guardian instincts over a 400 lb mush any day. The size difference is unlikely to matter much in terms of the llama's ability to fight off a predator. A small or large llama should be able to handle a single predator up to coyote size. No size llama is likely to survive a battle with a mountain lion or a pack of dogs/coyotes/wolves.

In your husband's defense, the added size may be a bit of a visual deterrent to a potential predator. While I'm not likely to pick a fight with anyone, I'm more likely going to do so with a 140 lb guy versus a 300 lb guy.

Dennis Thibeault, DVM

[Nancy Woodward]

LLamas, like people, are not measured by size. Big hearts can come in small packages. My best guardian llama is a rather small pinto female who was given to me because she was so untameable. I wasn't so sure I could do anything with her, either--I know my limits--but I agreed to take her on because even if she never became tame, she might be worth her care as a guardian.

I turned her loose with my alpaca ladies, most of whom like me alot, and it really didn't take her long to agree with them. Her former owner was amazed and wanted o know what I did. The truthful and very useful answer is, absolutely nothing.

By the time I had to do something--clip toes, do wormings, she was easy.

She knew who the west coast distributor of all goodies was. LLamas are easier than alpacas. I speak as a person who has rescued both from truly lousy circumstances.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

It would make sense given what they have been selected for llama as beasts of burden and bigger had to be selected for temperament. It is my experience also that llamas are in general easier to handle. Of course both species respond to the way they are handled. I too have had the same experience with putting nervous animals in with more confident ones. I remember years ago getting a very nervous female in for breeding. When I would come into the barn she would jump up and run for the door. The rest of my animals would remain kushed and look at her as if to say "What is wrong with you!" After a couple of weeks she was confident enough to let me come in walk very near her to do my barn chores just like the others. You are so right it is really more about what you DON'T do than what you do. DON'T chase, grab, wrestle, and frighten your animals and everything changes.

[Nancy Woodward]

I'd like you to know that having cheated a bit for the sake of expediency, I am now fully cognizant of the value of "don't chase, don't wrestle, don't bully."

As that eminently quotable horseman, Pat Parelli put it so well, "Take the time it takes, so it takes less time."

He also said, "If your horse is recreation for you, can you learn to be fun for your horse?" That definitely applies to our camelid friends!

To be clear, I absolutely do need a catch pen and the techniques I have learned to do my job, even with my best trained alpacas and llamas. They don't act like cocker spaniels, they act like camelids.

If I didn't love that, I'd raise spaniels... what's so cool about the camelids is, they are highly intelligent critturs whose choice to go along with your program feels like an accolade from them I am susceptible to such flattery.

We have fun. I was asked if all 60 or so of my alpacas perform as my p.r. alpacas do. They are amenable to it, assuming that their next owners train themselves. As we learn in the seminars with Marty, it's less about training them than it is about learning handling skills and thereby earning their trust.

They want a leader they can trust, and enjoy.

I'm not an expert. I am in fact a person who has cheated and been forgiven,
then richly rewarded for just trying Marty's ways--more carefully, more accurately, with less rush. These gentle critturs have both adventurousness and a love of fun in their hearts; and have given me far more than I ever expected, again and again.

You should have seen my Jo picking pockets at the church! She was there to help raise money for the Heifer Project, and she sure seemed to know where to look! Laughter and all, I'm told the church raised close to ten thousand dollars. I'm proud that my alpacas could be part of that.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

you go Nancy!