   
My Llama Journey
When I first got into alpacas I didn't pay much attention to the thought of having llamas, after all there was so much information and so many people breeding alpacas whereas I didn't come across any information for llamas, except in the US and I didn't pay much attention to the US sites.
It was only after several years of alpaca ownership, whilst researching health and husbandry information to keep up to date with alpaca care that I actually read and absorbed the information on the US sites about llamas. From what I read it seemed these much larger yet elegant and beautiful creatures were more people orientated. It made sense as over many generations in their native South America they had been bred to work with people as beasts of burden, whereas alpacas had been kept in herds to provide fleece, no interaction with people was necessary. It therefore followed that selective breeding for llamas would include their tractability and willingness to work with people.
Well they sounded much more inclined to want to develop rewarding relationships with people, which is what I had always wanted and to some degree achieved with my alpacas. Anyway I was hooked and then the search was on. Step One was to find out as much information about llamas in Australia as possible. Step two was to join the
Llama Association.
Step three (and the most exciting one) was to source my foundation herd. Step four was to finally become a llama breeder. I am currently up to step three and waiting not so patiently for step four.
My Foundation Herd
My two foundation girls came from
Lama World. I was lucky as I was able to take what I had learnt about selecting alpacas with me whilst choosing my first llama girls. I knew I wanted girls that were halter trained, easy to handle, willing to interact with people, had sound conformation and came from lines with good mothering ability, and a history of easy conception and birthing. Llamas also come in several different fleece types (short, medium on long wooled) but fleece really wasn't an issue for me so I didn't factor it into my selection.
On September 27th, with my parents farm sitting the alpacas and other critters, Ken and I made our way to Shoalhaven Heads to meet Berry and Liz Carter and their llamas. Berry and Liz were the first people to introduce camelids into Australia, they are a wealth of knowledge and experience and wonderful mentors to share our llama adventure. (I firmly believe that who you buy your first animals from is even more important than the animals you buy). After meeting and haltering many lovely llama girls, I decided on two beautiful ladies, Clover and Nicolette. These girls were chosen because they were nice and quiet, easy to halter and willing to interact with us.
Both girls had beautiful female crias in autumn 06. Clover's cria, Lady Bridget
is pure white, and Nicky's cria Rhapsody is a creamy colour with spots.
In autumn 06 I added Machismo and Zorro
to the family, these two well trained wethers, were purchased from Nerida Aldred
in Victoria. These lovely boys are the farms PR animals. I also purchased my
first stud male, Llovley Banks Elijah and his
current girl friend Lavender and Llama Liberty. Including Clover and Nicky's beautiful
little girls, (Lady Bridget and Rhapsody) I had my perfect foundation llama
herd.
Unfortunately I lost Liberty
in August 06 due to complications form a difficult birth of a deformed cria. It
was my first on farm loss and I was devastated. I still tear up when I think
about dear Liberty and her poor cria. Losing an animal is so awful, and I did
question if I wanted to continue breeding llamas, but with the love and support
of my family I carried on.
In summer of 2007 I decided
that I was very serious about breeding llamas so I decided to invest more money
in some new stock. I bought four girls (2 dams and their female crias) from El
Prado Alpacas. April Showers, Jacinta, Mascara and Chiquita soon settled into the
Braecroft herd.
On 26th March 2007 Clover had
her second cria, this time to Elijah. Together they produced a very cute and
adorable young boy I called Merlin.
In Feb 08 I added a second
stud male to the breeding program, a really beautiful (in looks and personality)
reverse appaloosa boy called Ulonga Chilli (bred by Nerida Aldred and purchased
from a friend). About the same time Cchissy and Zorro were sold to a lovely home
where they are being spoilt and getting lots of attention. Chilli and
Merlin have taken over the PR role for the farm.
In April 08 Mascara had a
stunning grey cria to Elijah, we called him Platinum. He is a cheeky boy that
drives the girls to distraction.
In Jun 08 as I was putting
together my end of financial year paperwork I was disappointed to discover that
yet again I had made a significant loss. My accountant looked at the figures and
gently explained that it was unlikely I would ever run my llama business at a
profit and that I would be better off shutting it down.
I spent several weeks weighing
up what I should do (I couldn't help shake the feeling that is I closed the
business I had failed) , however after discussing things with Ken we decided to
cancel our ABN and stop running the business.
So now most of my llamas and
some of my equipment is up for sale. I will be keeping three of my females (Lady
Bridget, Chiquita and Juanita) and two of my boys (Chilli and Merlin). These are
the animals that have totally captured my heart and I couldn't imagine parting
with them. So the llama journey continues it is just heading down a new path.
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