Border Llamas
- Our Llamas
We have been breeding, rearing and training llamas for
just over 9 years now and could not imagine our lives without them.
Llamas are very inquisitive animals and will often follow us around the fields to
check
what we are doing. If the dogs are walking with us, the llamas will ensure
that the dogs do not stray to close to the young cria in the fields. They
communicate by humming gently to each other and should something warrant
attention they will sound an alarm call to alert the whole herd.
At Border Llamas we have a
very simple, quite logical and time proven approach to our llama breeding
program. We have always used top quality stud males to consistently produce
high quality classic style llamas with short to medium coats that have the right
temperament and qualities for trekking and packing. We do not alter our
breeding program to follow any fads or current fashion trends, we do not
practice in-breeding or cross breeding, we are good at what we do and we stick
with it because it works and has stood the test of time and the satisfaction of
our customers is a testament that this approach works best for us and our
llamas.
Many breeders will tell you
that their breeding program and method is the best and produces the best
llamas. What they should really be saying is that their particular method works
best for them and delivers the best type of llama they want to produce for their
chosen market.
At Border Llamas we do not
try and impress with technical jargon and neither do we claim to have the very best llamas in the
whole world.
We let our llamas do our talking for us when visitors come and meet and interact
with them.
All our llamas have all been individually
selected for their good conformation and sound temperament. Their
bloodlines originate from Wales, France and Belgium. At Border Llamas, we
do not practice or condone the use of in-breeding or line-breeding in order to
achieve specific style of llama.
All our llamas birth easily and extremely rarely
is any assistance and intervention necessary, although Mike has had to assist a
llama that was having a small problem when
giving birth to her first cria and a vet was not available.
At the time it was a little nerve racking but the experience was good and both
mother and baby were just fine at the end of it all. We always keep a watchful
eye on the new born until they are up on their feet and suckling which normally
occurs within 20
minutes to 1 hour of the cria being born.
We also get a an enormous amount of pleasure from
just sitting and watching the llamas go about their daily routines. It is
lovely to watch when the cria are a couple of days old and suddenly realise they
can run and so every now and again the simply run all over the fields at full
pelt just for the fun of it, or when the slightly older cria decide they want to
play with the adults and so jump up at them as they are grazing and tease them
mercilessly until they play with them which can result in the whole herd simply
running round the fields enjoying themselves. Or, when the sun starts to
go down over the horizon and the young cria all cush (sit) down next to their
mums and all hum softly to each other to provide reassurance that all is ok with
their world.
Apart from being an enjoyable and relaxing
pastime, spending a lot of time watching the llamas also provides us with a
wealth of invaluable information as to the state of the herd as a whole, any changes in
behavioural patterns of any individuals, the status of individual males and
females within the herd, and very importantly it also allows us to spot any
potential health issues and injuries very quickly.
Like all
animals, individual llamas will differ slightly in conformation and behavioural
characteristics. We watch
our llamas very carefully and note the development of their individual characteristics which may
make them more suited to a particular task such as trekking or guarding
etc.
All our llamas are of the Ccara and Curaca type
(commonly know as Classic llamas) and have
short or medium length coats. Whilst many people see long and/or heavily
fibred coats of the Tampada and Lanuda type as desirable, long and
heavily fibred coats can take an enormous amount of time to maintain and keep in good
condition and in most cases unless shorn this means that the llama can be more prone to overheating
in the hot summer months and particularly if being used for trekking with a pack
(due to the pack and restraining straps compacting the fibre against the llamas
body and not allowing the loose fibres and air to create a natural barrier
against the heat), so do be
careful if you are considering purchasing a very heavily fibred llamas for
trekking unless you intend to shear them.
A lot of people ask us how we cope emotionally
with watching an individual llama being born, care for it daily, watch it
grow, spend many months training it and then see it go to a new home.
Seeing any of our llamas leave us is never easy and whenever any of our llamas
leaves us for a new home, there are always some tears shed and emotional
distress, but this is softened by the fact that we vet new owners quite closely
and check the conditions that the llamas will be kept in at their new homes.
So we know that they will be well cared for and loved.
We also know that the new owners will be able to enjoy all of the experiences of
interacting with and getting to know their new llamas, watching the births,
watching them play and hopefully training them themselves. This all
helps to soften the blow of watching a llama, that we have come to love and who
has come to trust us implicitly, leave us and move on to new pastures.
Although llama breeding and training is a
professional business for us, we will never just sell a
llama to anyone. It is extremely important to us to ensure that the llamas
we sell go to the right people and homes. Because of our philosophy and
beliefs, we have on occasion turned down people who have come to us to buy
llamas as we believed that they will not provide adequate care, love and
attention to the llamas once they have them in their care.
Our Females
GENEVIEVE (Registered with the British Llama
Society)
CHLOE (Registered with
the British Llama Society)
EMILE (Registered with the British Llama
Society)
LATITIA (Registered
with the British Llama Society)
LALIQUE (Registered
with the British Llama Society)
MARINE (Registered
with the British Llama Society)
Our Males
YODA (STUD MALE) (Registered with the
British Llama Society)
Yoda is an extremely powerful and well built Stud Male
with a gentle but protective (of his females and cria) temperament. His
coat is fine pure white fibre and he has a lovely flowing mane. Born in
Wales, Yoda is a highly successful stud male llama and has sired over 50 healthy cria for us and various customers over the years.
FELIX (Registered with the British Llama Society)
Will be Trek and Pack Trained
CASPER (Registered with LAREU)
PHILIPPE (Registered with LAREU)
Will be Trek and Pack Trained
TOSCA
Born 14/02/2010 (pictured above with mother
GENEVIEVE.
These
are pictures of our llamas, past and present, enjoying themselves.
Please click on a picture to view a
larger image below.
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Alert and on Guard
This picture shows the natural guarding instinct displayed by llamas when a potential threat is detected. Single adult females to the front, young babies guarded closely by their mothers at the rear. Note the alert stance, body erect, ears forward and pointed towards the direction of the threat. The threat was simply a herd of cattle being let into an adjacent field but could just as easily have been a fox on the prowl. Their first instinct is to divert the threat away from the herd and if this fails then to mount an attack against the threat, which then can do with amazing speed and power. Llamas can display an amazing burst of speed when they want to.
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A nice place to shelter, under the body of a Clydesdale colt foal.
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