Llamas

Llamas often make excellent pets and are a great source of wooly fiber (their wool can be spun into yarn). Llamas are being kept more and more by people in the United States as companion animals, sources of fiber, pack and light plow animals, therapy animals for the elderly, “guards” for other backyard animals, and good educational tools for children. Llamas have an even temperament and are very intelligent. Their intelligence and gentle nature make them easy to train, and their hardiness allows them to thrive well in both cold and warmer climates (although they can have heat stress in extremely hot and humid parts of the country).

Before you decide to purchase a llama or two for your yard, check your state requirements regarding livestock. In some places your property must also be zoned for livestock.

Llamas come in many different colors and sizes. The average adult llama is between 5½ and 6 feet tall and weighs between 250 and 450 pounds. Llamas, being herd animals, like the company of other llamas, so it is advisable that you raise a pair to keep each other company. If you only want to care for one llama, then it would be best to also have a sheep, goat, or other animal that can be penned with the llama for camaraderie. Although llamas can be led well on a harness and lead, never tie one up as it could potential break its own neck trying to break free.

Llamas tend to make their own communal dung heap in a particular part of their pen. This is quite convenient for cleanup and allows you to collect the manure, compost it, and use it as a fertilizer for your garden.

Feeding Llamas

Llamas can subsist fairly well on grass, hay (an adult male will eat about one bale per week), shrubs, and trees, much like sheep and goats. If they are not receiving enough nutrients, they may be fed a mixture of rolled corn, oats, and barley, especially during the winter season when grazing is not necessarily available. Make sure not to overfeed your llamas, though, or they will become overweight and constipated. You can occasionally give cornstalks to your llamas as an added source of fiber, and you may add mineral supplements to the feed mixture or hay if you want. Salt blocks are also acceptable to have in your llama pen, and a constant supply of fresh water is necessary. Nursing female llamas should receive a grain mixture until the cria (baby) is weaned.

Be sure to keep feed and hay off the ground. This will help ward off parasites that establish themselves in the feed and are then ingested by the llamas.

Housing Your Llamas

Llamas may be sheltered in a small stable or even a converted garage. There should be enough room to store feed and hay, and the shelter should be able to be closed off during wet, windy, and cold weather. Llamas prefer light, open spaces in which to live, so make sure your shed or shelter has large doors and/or big windows. The feeders for the hay and grain mixture should be raised above the ground. Adding a place where a llama can be safely restrained for toenail clippings and vet checkups will help facilitate these processes but is not absolutely necessary.

The llamas should be able to enter and exit the shelter easily and it is a good idea to build a fence or pen around the shelter so they do not wander off. A fence about four feet tall should be enough to keep your llamas safe and enclosed. If you happen to have both a male and female llama, it is necessary to have separate enclosures for them to stave off unwanted pregnancies.

Toenail Trimming

Llamas need their toenails to be trimmed so they do not twist and fold under the toe, making it difficult for the llama to move around. Laying gravel in the area where your llamas frequently walk will help to keep the toenails naturally trimmed, but if you need to cut them, be careful not to cut too deeply or you may cause the tip of the toe to bleed and this could lead to an infection in the toe. Use shears designed for this purpose to cut the nails. Use one hand to hold the llama’s “ankle” just above where the foot bends. Hold the clippers in your other hand, cutting away from the foot toward the tip of the nail. The nail’s are easiest to clip in the early morning or after a rain, since the wetness of the ground will soften them.

Shearing

It is important to groom and shear your llama, especially during hot weather. Brushing the llama’s coat to remove dirt and keep it from matting will not only make your llamas look clean and healthy but it will improve the quality of their coats. If you want to save the fibers for spinning into yarn, it is best to brush, comb, and use a hair dryer to remove any dust and debris from the llama’s coat before you begin shearing.

Shearing is not necessarily difficult, but if you are a first-time llama owner, you should ask another llama farmer to teach you how to properly shear your llama. In order to shear your llama, you can purchase battery-operated shears to remove the fibers for sale or use. Different llamas will respond in different ways to shearing. Try holding the llama with a halter and lead in a smaller area to begin the shearing process. Do not completely remove the llama from any other llamas you have, though, as their presence will help calm the llama you are shearing. It is best to have another person with you to aid in the shearing (to hold the llama, give it treats, and offer any other help). When shearing a llama, don’t shear all the way down to the skin. Allowing a thin coating of hair to cover the llama’s body will help protect it from the sun and from being scratched when it rolls in the dirt.

Start by shearing a flat top the length of the llama’s back. Next, taking the shears in one hand, move them in a downward position to remove the coat. Shear a strip the length of the neck from the chin to the front legs about 3 inches wide to help cool the llama. Shearing can take a long time, so it may be necessary for both you and the llama to take a break. Take the llama for a quiet walk and allow it to go to the bathroom so it will not become antsy during the rest of the shearing process.

Collect the sheared fibers in a container and make sure you are working on a clean floor so you can collect any excess fibers and use them for spinning. Do not store the fiber in a plastic bag, as moisture can easily accumulate, ruining the fiber and making it unusable for spinning.

Caring for the Cria

Baby llamas, called cria, require some additional care in their first few days of life. It is important for the cria to receive the colostrum milk from their mothers, but you may need to aid in this process. Approach the mother llama and pull gently on each teat to remove the waxy plugs covering the milk holes. Sometimes, you may need to guide the cria into position under its mother in order for it to start nursing.

Weigh the cria often (at least for the first month) to see that it’s gaining weight and growing strong and healthy. A bathroom scale, hanging scale, or larger grain scale can be used for this.

If the cria seems to need extra nourishment, goat or cow milk can be substituted during times when the mother llama cannot produce enough milk for the cria. Feed this additional milk to the cria in small doses, several times a day, from a milking bottle.

Diseases

Llamas are prone to getting worms and should be checked often to make sure they do not have any of these parasites. There is special worming paste that can be mixed in with their food to prevent worms from infecting them. You should also establish a relationship with a good veterinarian who knows about caring for llamas and can determine if there are any other vaccinations necessary in order to keep your llamas healthy. Other diseases and pests that can affect llamas are tuberculosis, tetanus, ticks, mites, and lice.

Using Llama Fibers

Llama fiber is unique from other animal fibers, such as sheep’s wool. It does not contain any lanolin (an oil found in sheep’s wool); thus, it is hypoallergenic and not as greasy. How often you can shear your llama will depend on the variety of llama, its health, and environmental conditions. Typically, though, every year llamas grow a fleece that is 4 to 6 inches long and that weighs between 3 and 7 pounds. Llama fiber can be used like any other animal fiber or wool, making it the perfect substitute for all of your fabric and spinning needs.

Llama fiber is made up of two parts: the undercoat (which provides warmth for the llama) and the guard hair (which protects the llama from rain and snow). The undercoat is the most desirable part to use due to its soft, downy texture, while the coarser guard hair is usually discarded.

Gathering llama hair is easy. To harvest the fiber, you must shear the llama. However, the steps involved in shearing when you are gathering the fiber are slightly different than when you are simply shearing to keep the llama cooler in the summer months. To shear a llama for fiber collection:

1. Clean the llama by blowing and brushing until the coat is free from dirt and debris.
2. Wash the llama. Be sure to rinse out all of the soap from the hair and let the llama air-dry.
3. You can use scissors or commercial clippers to shear the llama. Start at the top of the back, behind the head and neck and work backwards. If using clippers, sheer with long sweeping motions, not short jerky ones. If using scissors, always point them downward. Leave about an inch of wool on the llama for protection against the sun and insect bites. You can sheer just the area around the back and belly (in front of the hind legs and behind the front legs) if your main purpose is to offer the llama relief from the heat. Or you can sheer the entire llama—from just below the head, down to the tail—to get the most wool. Once the shearing is complete, skirt the fleece by removing any little pieces or belly hair from the shorn fleece.

The fiber can be hand-processed or sent to a mill (though sending the fibers to a mill is much more expensive and is not necessary if you have only one or two llamas). Processing the fiber by hand is definitely more cost-effective but you will initially need to invest in some equipment (such as a spinning wheel, drop spindle, or felting needle).

To process the fiber by hand:

1. Pick out any remaining debris and unwanted (coarse) fibers.
2. Card the fiber. This helps to separate the fiber and will make spinning much easier. To card the fiber, put a bit of fiber on one end of the cards (standard wool cards do the trick nicely) and gently brush it until it separates. This will produce a rolag (log) of fiber.
3. Once the fiber is carded, you can use it in a few different ways:
   1. Wet felting: To wet felt, lay the fiber out in a design between two pieces of material and soak it in hot, soapy water. Then, agitate the fiber by rubbing or rolling it. This will cause it to stick together. Rinse the fiber in cold water. When it dries, you will have produced a strong piece of felt that can be used in many crafting projects.
   2. Needle felting: For this type of manipulation, you will need a felting needle (available at your local arts and crafts or fabric store). Lay out a piece of any material you want over a pillow or Styrofoam piece. Place the fiber on top of the material in any design of your choosing. Push the needle through the fiber and the bottom material and then gently draw it back out. Continue this process until the fiber stays on the material of its own accord. This is a great way to make table runners or hanging cloths using your llama fiber.
   3. Spinning: Spinning is a great way to turn your llama fiber into yarn. Spinning can be accomplished by using either a spinning wheel or drop spindle, and a piece of fiber that is either in a batt, rolag, or roving. A spinning wheel, while larger and more expensive, will easily help you to turn the fiber into yarn. A drop spindle is convenient because it is smaller and easier to transport, and if you have time and patience, it will do just as good a job as the spinning wheel. To make yarn, twist two or more pieces of spun wool together.
   4. Other uses: Carded wool can also be used to weave, knit, or crochet.

If you become very comfortable using llama fiber to make clothing or other craft items, you may want to try to sell these crafts (or your llama fiber directly) to consumers. Fiber crafts may be particularly successful if sold at local craft markets or even at farmers’ markets alongside your garden produce.