Today is my birthday.Does anyone know about Llamas?

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Today is my birthday. I have decided I was going to buy myself a llama for my birthday. I have wanted one for quite sometime. I have located a seller about 250 miles away. I need to know what questions to ask. I am interested in a female. I want to make sure she is breedable. Is there any time one might be unbreedable. (Like cows if there is a female/male set twins the female might be unfertile). I do not what to get one home and not be able to breed it. I would be grateful for any input you may have. Thanks.

-- Toni in Utah (tmevans66@hotmail.com), November 09, 2001

Answers

have no ideas about llama's but birthdays..ah I know plenty about them...lol hope you a happy one.....

-- Lynnda (venusovenus@hotmail.com), November 09, 2001.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,,,,,,,, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUU,,,,,

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 09, 2001.

First, you dont buy 1 llama, you buy 2 or more. Llamas are social animals and need company preferably other llamas. Before you buy a llama or anything else, know what your getting yourself into. I would suggest contacting the Utah llama assn. President: Rita Miller Francis, Utah 84036 (435) 783-2676 rmiller@allwest.net

or Representative Stephen Long PO Box 68240 ark City, UT 84068 (435)647-3671 F(435)647-6371 slong@burgoyne.com

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), November 09, 2001.


Oh....I just love birthday parties....... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TOOOOOOONI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOOO YOOOOOOUUUUUU! Just thought that I would help Stan out in the song! :~)! Have a great day!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), November 09, 2001.

Happy Birthday Toni, great excuse to buy yourself something!! Good luck with your purchase. I bought myself a Dexter heifer for an early birthday gift, then a week later I decided to get a Dexter steer (call it an early Christmas gift) to keep her company!

-- Carol Koller (ckoller@netsync.net), November 09, 2001.


Hi Gary, LLamas are social creatures, not loners. I have heard of a llama being used successfully as a guard animal for a heard of goats/sheep. Seems like it would be a neat animal to have, but your advice about 'knowing what you are getting into' is very sound.

-- ken (steelframeme@yahoo.com), November 09, 2001.

I guess I failed to mention. The llama will have plenty of company. Just not other llamas. I have sheep, goats, horses, cows, pigs, and to many more to name. I just no not know much about llamas. Can I feed them like I do my sheep? When can you breed them? I know it takes them 11 months to have a baby. He has a Brown 1 1/2 year old. Is $75.00 a good deal on a healthy llama?

-- Toni in Utah (tmevans66@hotmail.com), November 09, 2001.

Llamas perfer other llamas for social, but will interact with sheep, goats. Horses and llamas dont always mix. Some horses are real spooked by llaama. As long as you dont have a bossy cow in with the llama you should be ok.

llama are graizers, they are happy eating with the sheep in the field or some low grade hay in a barn. Carefull with high quaily hay, you end up with a fat llama.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), November 09, 2001.


Llamas do very well with sheep or goats. I have had a female with my goats for over a year. I bought her as a baby. I have just added a male & keep him with the bucks. You do not want to bred a female before she is at least 18 months old. Best to wait until they are close to 2 years. I feed the llamas the same grain as my goats. Same hay too, but try to stay away from really pure alfalfa. They do well on a mixed hay. I feed about a pound of grain a day to mine. They need regular feet trimming like goats & should also be sheared in the spring. They can get overheated very easily in the summer. The male I got is 5 & has never been sheared. Really looking forward to that next spring. ;-) Also need to be wormed on a regular basis. I use the same wormer I use on my goats. You can check out this website:

www.smartt.com/~brianp/

a wealth of llama information there. $75.00 is pretty cheap. At least I think so. Even for pet quality. I would really get the info from the seller to make sure there isn't anything wrong with her. Most females are higher than that. Of course there is always the exception. Good luck. If properly socialized, they are very good pets & very loving.

-- Wendy (weiskids@yahoo.com), November 09, 2001.


Speaking as someone who has raised almost every 'farm' critter that can be found,including llamas, and made lots of mistakes in the process, I strongly urge you to do lots of research long before you bring a new, unfamiliar animal to your farm. There are scads of info out there about llamas: books, forums, newsletters, registries. Doing an internet search is an excellent way to get started.

Good luck.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), November 09, 2001.



I have seen them in the paper pet quality for about 250.oo here and I thought that was cheep.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), November 09, 2001.

Our experience with llamas: Excellent for guard animals. Very alert and watchful. Definately didn't like the dogs.

We have sheep, goats, cattle, etc. We enjoy our animals. Didn't like the llamas. Didn't like their smell. (Like wet, old, soda crackers.) Didn't like their personalities and their mannerisms. Go figure.

The milk cow never did get used to them. She wouldn't even come past them to come in to eat and get milked.

Our llamas were GIVEN to us and they had been beloved pets of the former owner. After less than a month, we asked them if they would consider taking them back. (We had promised we would never sell them.)

We just weren't llama people.

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.com), November 09, 2001.


We had a couple of llamas for a while...make sure your fences are high. I'm glad we had them for a while though because my arabian isn't scared of them anymore.:) They definately need to be well socialized. Ours were half wild because one of them belonged to my little brother and it was his job to feed them.:p My brother rode his llama around sometimes...and accidentally jumped a fence on him! Hehe. Every now and then they would make this really strange siren sound...that was kinda cool....:) Our llamas were rude though...whenever I fed my horse grain, they would push their heads into the bucket and then spit soggy, half chewed grain all over his face if he tried to eat again.:(

-- Rebekah in Canada (rebekah_swinden@hotmail.com), November 09, 2001.

Hi Toni!! And happy birthday!!!!! I love getting animals for my own gifts...have done that myself. I sort of researched Llamas about 2 years ago and then decided against them...mostly the horse thing. My old gelding isn't enen fond of dogs and I am quite sure he wouldn't like them.Guess I will stick to the sheep and goats and poultry ..oh and rabbits.. But they sound fun and are sure different. $75 is alot cheaper than they sell for here. I have a book that I would be happy to pass on to you if you would like it. I tend to get books and research things alot...and I am certain I won't be getting any Llamas..its called....Llamas for Love and Money. If you want to send me your regular mail address I would be happy to send it to you. It has alot of information in it. Where in Utah are you?? I have relatives in Manti. We are hoping to maybe move to Utah in the next year or so.

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), November 09, 2001.

$75!!! Thats a BARGAIN. Why so cheap? Even gelded llamas through a llama rescue here are $300. I would try to contact someone in your area who has llamas, go visit and know what to look for when seeing this one you want. We even have a 4-H llama club here in our county.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), November 09, 2001.


$75.00 is dirt cheap for a female or male llama.I could see that price for a male with berserk male syndrome but their pelt would be worth much more than that. I would like to buy about 10 of them at that price. I bought 2 males at $450 a piece and that was cheap at the time I bought them.I hardly think at that price she is fertile but for her fleece you could get that or more with one clip. I like llamas but then I like all animals (and have them). They sing to you. They are reserved (or should be) and are not hard to keep.I believe they can bred again a day or so after birthing.they sit down to be bred. I believe that twins are usually unlikely.Get her and good luck. Terry

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), November 10, 2001.

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