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DON'T BREED!
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Llamas as guardians
Although we have helped to successfully
place a number of guard llamas, we do not raise or sell guard
llamas ourselves. Ideal traits for a guard llama are counter
to ideal companion, packing, and driving traits, and thus can't
be effectively (or ethically!) combined into single individuals.
Because our time is finite, we can't breed good guardian llamas
-- in fact, we can't possibly maintain any other separate breeding
herds in addition to the small breeding herd of high-caliber
performance llamas that we already have.
If you are interested in acquiring a guardian
llama, please contact your local llama breeders (remember to
be a smart consumer and get the guarantees you'll need). Also,
Llama RescueNet sometimes
receives llamas suitable for guarding, but be aware that most
are taken quickly -- you need to fill out and send in an adoption
application so that your name will be on file.
Llamas are territorial by nature and are instinctively
suspicious of canines. Their guanaco ancestors effectively defended
their young from wolves, and a number of llamas retain those
instincts to pursue and strike at small predators. These llamas
can be used to guard sheep, goats, alpacas, mini-horses and mini-donkeys,
and occasionally horses or cattle and calves from coyotes and
the occasional lone domestic dog.
Unlike livestock guarding dogs, llamas can
guard for many years (15 to 20 with good care), usually respect
standard fencing, and do not normally require any special feeding.
Llamas are also much more easily accepted by dog-fearing livestock.
Most guard llamas consider the flock to be
their charges and will also herd the sheep out of danger or stand
guard at births. Some guard llamas do not appear to bond to the
sheep, but instead defend the general area; such llamas are less
effective in larger, open areas. Some llamas do not bond until
lambing, kidding, or calving. Most livestock seem to be comfortable
with their guard llamas from the outset.
Llamas are capable of making loud noises,
but only some individuals give audible warning of dangers they
cannot repel. The primary means of defense is to face down, charge,
and strike at or stomp on small predators. Larger animals and
humans may be charged and either knocked down or kept cornered.
A single guard llama will have difficulty deterring a dog pack
or coyotes that team up. It is a myth that a guard llama uses
his or her canines to repel predators. Fighting teeth on guard
llamas should still be removed for safety!
Many guard llamas can learn to work with livestock
guardian dogs and to tolerate household pets as long as the pets
do not threaten the llama's charges. Some allow herding dogs
to work sheep; others do not. Occasionally, guard llamas can
be so aggressive that they will not allow other people near their
charges. This may be inconvenient or even dangerous if children
frequent the area. Most guard llamas must be confined prior to
undertaking any activities that may upset their herd.
A single llama usually works best. Two or
more llamas may abandon the other animals in favor of each other's
company, although there are reports of good working pairs. Some
sheep ranchers prefer white llamas that blend in with the sheep;
others don't care whether there is some color on the llama. If
errant hunters are a problem in the area, a white or mostly-white
llama will be less easily mistaken for game. A classic llama
must not be shorn, but instead should be combed out at least
once a year. A woolly llama can be shorn at the same time as
sheep or angora goats, and its fleece can sold to handspinners
if the fiber quality and cleanliness are good.
Although males are most territorial by nature,
the maternal instincts of female llamas make them equally good
guarding prospects. Geldings do retain the territorial patterning
of the intact male.
Intact male llamas often injure ewes by attempting
to breed them -- the scent of ewe-in-heat is much too similar
to the scent of female llama. For this reason, intact males,
males gelded later than 15-18 months, and geldings previously
used for breeding (and geldings who are just sexually experienced)
are unsuitable as sheep guards, or at least for guarding ewes.
Some extremely unusual late geldings will be exceptions to this
caution, but no llama should be considered for guarding sheep
until it has been proven safe with ewes. The sexual odors of
goats and other species apparently are different enough from
llamas that they are not at risk from the average, well-behaved
late gelding. Be aware, too, that some individual llamas do not
discriminate among possible sexual "partners" and can't
be trusted to guard any sex or species of animal.
Not all llamas are suitable guardians. Some
llamas ignore dogs; others run from dogs and are vulnerable to
attack themselves. Guarding (and flight reactions) are inborn
behavioral tendencies -- not things that a llama can be trained
to acquire or overcome. Immature llamas do not have the confidence
or physical ability to guard successfully. Finally, a guard llama
needs to be on duty at all times to be effective, and so cannot
double as a pet, or as a pack, driving, or show animal.
* * * Important * * *
If someone tries
to sell you a gelding or intact male as a guard with a female
llama "so he won't bother the sheep/goats/whatever,"
DO NOT BUY that "guard"! Such an animal may not confine
his attentions to the female llama, and in any case, the eventual
physical damage to the female llama is both massive and unconscionable
. . . and often lethal.
Desirable Attributes
for Guard Llama prospects
- At least eighteen months old
- Respectful of humans
- Halters and leads; allows examination of
body and feet
- Allows grooming (if classic type) or shearing
(if woolly type)
- Aggressive toward strange dogs
- Physically sound without self-damaging conformational
faults
- Canines blunted or removed (if applicable)
- If male, castrated between 12 and 18 months
(preferrably by 15 months); has been castrated for at least 6
months; if to be used for guarding sheep, can be kept with familiar
and unfamiliar open female llamas without showing any sexual
interest in them.
- Guarantee of both guarding ability and absence
of stud (breeding) behavior
Meet Rusty,
a rehabilitated llama who found his niche as a sheep guard on
a small farm.
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Llamas home page
Questions about guard llamas? Email us
at lostcreekllamas@att.net
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