Managing Llamas

One llama

It's not really a great idea to have just one llama. Despite their lack of social grooming, they are intensely social animals. Having another llama keeps them on an even llama keel and also is more interesting, as it is fun to see llama-llama interactions.

In a pinch, you can make sure that a single llama has the companionship of other animals, especially other domestic livestock, such as sheep, goats, horses, or cows. This is the way we started out (with one llama, that we kept with our two mares), but we were really surprised how much things changed once we got more llamas. For example, we thought llamas only made one sort of sound, the one I think of as "editorial comment", and others call "humming". In fact, between llamas, there is quite a concert of different sounds.

Two or more male llamas

This is a way to really enjoy llamas, with a relatively low overhead. They can either both be geldings, both intact, or mixed. (I have not put down a (male/female) pair of llamas here under two or more because, nature taking its course, it will soon be more than two, and then you move into the llama breeding farm scenario.) It is usually better to get two llamas of more or less the same age. Being the same size is pretty unimportant, but being the same age is fairly important for llamas under the age of four. These guys will aggravate each other, play with each other, do nifty llama things together, and generally keep happy and mentally sound.

A llama breeding farm

Assuming you have at least one stud and one or more females, it is a good idea NOT to keep them together. Certainly, you can keep the llamas close with just a fence between them, but don't keep them in the same pasture. This can lead to all kinds of management problems:
  • Some males will breed very immature females if left in the field with them. Young female llamas should not be bred until they are probably about 2 years old. (Yet one of the first females we bought, was bred in the field at the age of 4 months of age -- and got pregnant, too. It was a big surprise to us and to the person who sold her to us when she produced a cria at the age of 14 months!) If you are leaving a male in a field with mamas and babies, then you are asking for trouble.
  • Some males become intensely territorial when kept in a field with "their" females, which can be a real problem if you enter the field to remove young llamas for weaning, a female to be medicated, etc. This doesn't happen if the male is kept separate. Actually, all of our males become extremely agitated when they see us moving females and babies around. Since they are in another pasture, however, tt means that they aren't getting in our way or possibly challenging us.
  • It is difficult to determine breeding dates if a stud is kept in the same field with females.
  • You also will tend to lose track of estimated breeding dates because if a female slips a pregnancy, he will rebreed her. You might be waiting for that baby to appear in May, but it may not show up until months later.
  • You should not keep a stud in a field with females that have been bred to another stud, in case she slips the pregnancy and gets rebred by him (necessitating blood tests, etc, after the cria is born).
  • You cannot tell nearly as quickly if a female has developed a reproductive problem, if you are letting the male direct all the breedings. That is, you will be slow to realize that a female is not ovulating, or resorbing her fetuses, etc.
  • Some males are just not interested in some females, and so you might end up realizing that the reason "Miss Llama" isn't pregnant, is that "Mr Fuzzy" left her alone. If you were directing the breedings, it would have been immediately obvious.
  • The level of libido of some males drops off sharply if they are kept in the same field with females, and they just won't be as interested in breeding as they should be. Males kept separately almost never have this problem.

The "bachelor herd"

When you can, get another male as a companion for your stud. We do not recommend keeping adult males with females, and they prefer llama companionship. The bachelor herd is made up of males 18 months of age and older. It is not a good idea to match older males and very young ones.

We keep 5 - 9 studs together in the same field, which mimics the normal situation for llamas (and also guanacoes in the wild) -- that is, a "bachelor herd". They run each other around enough to keep in shape, their libido is great, and they have normal llama-llama interactions. It also reduces management problems in the sense that we can keep a largish number of studs without having to maintain a number of different pastures. In addition, if the males are separated in different pastures, there could be showing off and aggressive behavior over the fence. It's analogous to a situation with dogs where two male dogs each on a leash bark and froth to have at each other, but if released, will more often than not, just walk around stiff legged for awhile and perhaps even make friends, kind of. Llamas will annoy each other over a fence, rear up, scream at each other, and generally look pretty ferocious. You put them together, and in some cases, after a 5 minute chase, they leave each other alone. We have found that with particularly aggressive studs, it works out better to keep 3 or more llamas together, rather than 2.

One maintenance issue with keeping studs together is that they occasionally can injure each other, usually slightly. You need to keep an eye on their "fighting teeth" and remove them before they become long enough to do damage.

Issues with other types of herds

Mamas and crias
In this situation, you need low watering troughs, so the babies can get to water. In addition, the best pasture (and the most secure in terms of fences) should be given to this group. Lactating females may also need a little higher level of feeding.
Mamas whose crias have been weaned
These females can have their feed cut back, and be kept on more marginal pasture. This helps them drop some weight, if they have gained in the previous months.
Weanlings up to 9 months
It is a good idea to keep these youngsters in their own pasture, or else make sure that they have good access to a "creep feeder", so that they don't have to fight adult llamas for feed.
Females prior to two years and male weanlings up to 9 months
No male llama over the age of 9 months should be kept with female llamas, but young females and all the weanlings can be kept together, as an alternative to the weanlings-only method.
Young males between 9 months and 18 months
A sort of juvenile version of the bachelor herd. They learn male-male interactions, have companionship, and yet are safe from being picked on or having food stolen.