Llama prepping

[lak2004]

I've been interested in getting some pack llamas for a while now, good resources for getting going? I live on property but it is mostly forested, no pasture and no irrigation/well water available. Can I fence in a few acres and build them a structure and call it good? How much water would 2-4 llamas require per month if known? Guessing they can browse the vegetation I have and I will need to supplement with other feed, what kind of hay? I've never had stock, but willing to learn before I pull the trigger. Thanks!

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[BCSojourner]

Have been raising llamas and packing for over 20 years now. I currently have 11 llamas on non-irrigated property, but it is open hill side that produces some mountain brome. I have about 3 1/2 acres of it fenced and turn them out about mid-May every year for about 8 weeks, sometimes a little longer. I can get almost 2 days out of 1 bale of hay for all of them. I haul my water in a 200 gal tank about every 3-4 weeks because of CO water law, although I can stretch it further now by using rain barrels. I supplement hay in the winter with some grain and heat the two 100-gal tanks with a 750 watt heater in each tank. They love the grain and it makes for easy haltering when you want to put them to work. You could probably get by with a 50 gal tank for just 2-3 llamas. I fence with electric rope and treated posts. They are incredibly easy animals to care for and will make your back-country adventures a lot more enjoyable (nice camp, easy meat hauling, etc.). They can't hurt you and are easy to keep in camp. You can figure everything is a fraction of what you would need for horses (smaller trailer, 20% of hay volume, smaller tack, etc.). You can haul from 60-90 lbs on them depending on their conditioning and terrain. They need to be at least 4 years old to handle these types of loads. I have hauled up to 100 lbs a couple of times and you can easily haul 90 lbs per animal of boned-out meat if they are in decent shape. You will need to trim their feet every few months. Hope this helps! Bill Redwood (Redwood Llamas) and Charlie Hackbarth (Sopris Llama Gear) would both be great sources for you here in CO. Beau Baty of Wilderness Ridge Llamas in Idaho Falls, ID has a You Tube channel (Llama Life) with lots of great videos on every aspect of owning and caring for llamas. They are all great sources.

 

[lak2004]

Have been raising llamas and packing for over 20 years now. I currently have 11 llamas on non-irrigated property, but it is open hill side that produces some mountain brome. I have about 3 1/2 acres of it fenced and turn them out about mid-May every year for about 8 weeks, sometimes a little longer. I can get almost 2 days out of 1 bale of hay for all of them. I haul my water in a 200 gal tank about every 3-4 weeks because of CO water law, although I can stretch it further now by using rain barrels. I supplement hay in the winter with some grain and heat the two 100-gal tanks with a 750 watt heater in each tank. They love the grain and it makes for easy haltering when you want to put them to work. You could probably get by with a 50 gal tank for just 2-3 llamas. I fence with electric rope and treated posts. They are incredibly easy animals to care for and will make your back-country adventures a lot more enjoyable (nice camp, easy meat hauling, etc.). They can't hurt you and are easy to keep in camp. You can figure everything is a fraction of what you would need for horses (smaller trailer, 20% of hay volume, smaller tack, etc.). You can haul from 60-90 lbs on them depending on their conditioning and terrain. They need to be at least 4 years old to handle these types of loads. I have hauled up to 100 lbs a couple of times and you can easily haul 90 lbs per animal of boned-out meat if they are in decent shape. You will need to trim their feet every few months. Hope this helps! Bill Redwood (Redwood Llamas) and Charlie Hackbarth (Sopris Llama Gear) would both be great sources for you here in CO. Beau Baty of Wilderness Ridge Llamas in Idaho Falls, ID has a You Tube channel (Llama Life) with lots of great videos on every aspect of owning and caring for llamas. They are all great sources.

Thanks for that information, I'll start looking into it. We get a decent amount of snow occasionally, this year probably no more than 20" per storm and about 3' accumulated; last year much more, but I would say this year was more average. Do they need much in the way of winter shelter? When you don't have them pastured, do you just have them in a corral. I have access to about 105 acres, but some of it is barren PJ woodland, other is decent forage. There are cows on it some of the summer, but I would fence them out of my prime areas if I got the llamas.

Thanks again!

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[BCSojourner]

Your snow accumulation looks similar to ours-usually about 3' on ground here at 8300' elevation from late December through March. They stay pretty close to the barn and don't move around much in the winter. They will put on a little weight. I have been getting them out and walking them over the past month-about 3.5 miles at a clip. Will get them into the back-country with loads several times before September. My barn is 3-sided which gives them plenty of shelter and I keep their water tanks in enclosed insulated boxes with an insulated hatch that I close at night. The 750 watt heaters (1 each tank) will keep 100 gals de-iced throughout the winter. I can keep pretty close tabs on them in my pasture area-their natural predator is mountain lion and that is the only one that I worry about. Have had encounters with bears and in every instance the bears vacated the area very quickly. It doesn't take much to keep them and they earn their worth whenever I head for the back-country. There are home-made saddle designs out there but if you are thinking about making one I would talk with Charlie Hackbarth at Sopris Llama Gear first. Sopris has been designing and building saddles for about 40 years and Charlie knows how they should fit to carry a load and avoid hurting the llama's spine.

 

[RickH]

Sent you a pm

 

[BCSojourner]

Sent you a pm

I don't think that I got your PM.

 

[lak2004]

I don't think that I got your PM.

It was a PM to me.

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[Mattphillips18]

To hijack, but also to find newbie llama owner answers, how should one go about catching their llama that isn’t interested in being caught for halter training?


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[weatherbow21]

The way it was showed to me on catching llamas is to get them into a smaller catch area. When I built my llama barn I built a run to kind of funnel them in then once inside the barn I close the door. Work them into a corner slowly and calmly. They tend to give up once they know they are caught. You might search youtube on it. Mine are far from trained right now, but catching them gets easier and easier

 

[Mattphillips18]

Good to know! So far my three girls will eat from my hand, but no other touching is allowed. I need to figure a good place and way to bottleneck them in the pasture...


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[weatherbow21]

Yes I think a small catch pen area is key.

 

[idelkslayer]

One way I have found is to tie a thick rope to a fence post near a corner in the pasture. I attract the llamas to the corner with some pellets or treats and then using a swinging door motion I use the rope to close them in and catch them. If they try to duck under the rope you can lower it to stop them.

 

[BCSojourner]

To hijack, but also to find newbie llama owner answers, how should one go about catching their llama that isn’t interested in being caught for halter training?


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Get them coming to grain in a smaller enclosed area (I use the barn stall area, about 12x20') and close a gate behind them. I have used many tricks to try and herd them into a corner-can be very frustrating. The grain trick always works and allows me to pick the llama I want to halter with no chasing or herding.

 

[alexanderg23]

If you’re close to Beau just rent them. Or start cutting down trees.

 

[gordonka12]

I also use grain or pellets to lure them into an enclosed shelter that I built. It is 12x24. Once inside there they are easy to train and halter. I have one llama that I cant lure in with food though so if I want to catch her I tie a long rope to one corner of the barn and walk a circle around her holding the rope about 5 feet of the ground. This forces her in the shelter.

 

[Flatlanderintherockies]

The way it was showed to me on catching llamas is to get them into a smaller catch area. When I built my llama barn I built a run to kind of funnel them in then once inside the barn I close the door. Work them into a corner slowly and calmly. They tend to give up once they know they are caught. You might search youtube on it. Mine are far from trained right now, but catching them gets easier and easier

Yes small catch area is key

 

[Flatlanderintherockies]

Have been raising llamas and packing for over 20 years now. I currently have 11 llamas on non-irrigated property, but it is open hill side that produces some mountain brome. I have about 3 1/2 acres of it fenced and turn them out about mid-May every year for about 8 weeks, sometimes a little longer. I can get almost 2 days out of 1 bale of hay for all of them. I haul my water in a 200 gal tank about every 3-4 weeks because of CO water law, although I can stretch it further now by using rain barrels. I supplement hay in the winter with some grain and heat the two 100-gal tanks with a 750 watt heater in each tank. They love the grain and it makes for easy haltering when you want to put them to work. You could probably get by with a 50 gal tank for just 2-3 llamas. I fence with electric rope and treated posts. They are incredibly easy animals to care for and will make your back-country adventures a lot more enjoyable (nice camp, easy meat hauling, etc.). They can't hurt you and are easy to keep in camp. You can figure everything is a fraction of what you would need for horses (smaller trailer, 20% of hay volume, smaller tack, etc.). You can haul from 60-90 lbs on them depending on their conditioning and terrain. They need to be at least 4 years old to handle these types of loads. I have hauled up to 100 lbs a couple of times and you can easily haul 90 lbs per animal of boned-out meat if they are in decent shape. You will need to trim their feet every few months. Hope this helps! Bill Redwood (Redwood Llamas) and Charlie Hackbarth (Sopris Llama Gear) would both be great sources for you here in CO. Beau Baty of Wilderness Ridge Llamas in Idaho Falls, ID has a You Tube channel (Llama Life) with lots of great videos on every aspect of owning and caring for llamas. They are all great sources.

My 4 llamas dont use more than 75 gallons in a month.

 

[406]

"can I just fence a couple acres and build a shelter?"
That's pretty much what I did.
Figure, with no real browse, 1/8th bail of hay and 1/2-1gal water a day water for each llama. That seems to be about right after 4 years with my 4 llamas.
They get most of their water from their food, so they seem to go through more in winter I figure because the grass hay is pretty dry by then here.

 

[406]

Really think about your design when building, progressively smaller corners are your friend.

 

[dukkhnter]

I don't know what your wooded area is, but one thing I don't like is mine rolling under pine trees in my pasture, they tend to get lots of needles and pine twigs in their wool. I second the small funnel area catch pen too!