Incoming Llama
I've written about llama's before, as I've had one or more since the very beginning of raising sheep. First came Four-Wheeler, who was a wonderful animal. I doubt I will ever have as many stories about another llama as I had about Wheeler. But he died, suddenly. And I was left without a guard for my sheep, and I live in coyote land.
At that same time I had another llama, Cocoa. He'd been given me by someone who had purchased cattle from me. The llama was unwanted and the owner really didn't know what to do with him. He was fairly desperate and I had an empty paddock and took Cocoa.
If one wants a llama for a guard one wants only one llama. If you have a pair they either buddy up, or if it is a pair of males they may just spend the time fighting with each other. A male/female pair is obviously not a good choice unless you want crias. At any rate, multiple llamas do not make sheep guards, and why have one if it doesn't do the job?
So I took Cocoa on because I couldn't say 'no'. Cocoa lived with other creatures and had a good enough life until he needed to become the new guard llama upon Wheeler's death. Cocoa and Wheeler had entirely different personalities and I knew he would not be the guard that Wheeler had been, but I was needy and he was available.
Nope, Cocoa was his own kind of guard. And he did well. To the best of my knowledge I have never in 17 years lost a lamb to a coyote, and that says it all I guess. Cocoa was friendly, affable, liked sheep and spent many years with them. He aged fairly gracefully and I thought about the eventual need to replace him. But then he took a downhill turn and within 3 months died. I wasn't really prepared for this, however he was close to 20 and that is a good age for a llama. I think he had a good life here, and the end came quickly. We need to put him down one Sunday morning and we buried him in the cow cairn just before a major storm spread it with a thick quilt of snow. I haven't been up there since he was buried, but I will go. I've already said goodbye.
And that left me with a void. What to do? I had, still have, another llama. He's a pretty boy named DC, which is short for Damn Cute. It was one of the first things I thought of when I met him. He was cute, and personable. A character and often charming. On the other hand he was often obnoxious and sometimes prone to temper tantrums. At 4 years old he held a personality that I sometimes liked, sometimes hated, self-centered, persnickety. However the saying 'needs must' was working here. It is lambing time, there are coyotes here-the tracks are all over the farm in the fresh snow, and the sheep needed him. I was just not sure what DC needed. I never have been.
So I walked into his pen and he came up to visit. I started talking to him, explaining the situation. I know that many people believe that animals don't/can't understand us. I know differently. They may not understand every word I say, but they get the message. So when I started talking in a serious voice, not in the usual friendly way I often have with him, he started to watch my face, listen to my voice. His banana ears would flick around as if he was trying to hear what I wasn't saying.
I explained to him about Cocoa's death. I talked about life changes, about stepping up to the plate, about growing up, becoming responsible, living for something more than pleasure. He watched me throughout this dialog, a couple of times his face would come close to mine, and once he touched his nose to mine. When I was done I just stood there watching him. I knew he understood that this was serious, I just didn't know how he would react. Ears still moving, head cocked, he came close and nuzzled my cheek. I continued to stand there. Finally he made up his mind and reached his long neck down so that I could clip the lead onto his halter. Apparently he had made up his mind.
As we walked toward the barn he started dancing. He loves the big barn, loves the life that happens there. He has been in the big barn several times, mostly when the weather was turning bad. I would take him from a smaller shelter area and keep him in a stall where he had maximum cover during large storms.
As he grew up it had also given him maximum exposure to the sheep and to Cocoa. The last time I had placed him in the barn for several days he and Cocoa had continually lunged at each other, separated only by a very large and heavy gate. Idiots. Two castrated males who wanted nothing more than to fight each other. I have trouble understanding the male psyche sometimes.
After arriving at the sheep area, I let him loose from the lead and he ran for the door to the sheep yard. Obviously looking for his arch nemesis. But Cocoa was already in the ground. He spent the day among the sheep walking around, a bit lost. He was now in a paddock he had never entered before. He'd only seen it from the other side of the fence. There was no Cocoa to challenge, just these silly sheep and lambs. He spent several days sort of wandering around, confused, trying to find his place, trying to figure out what he was doing in there. Whenever I entered the barn he'd run to the gate that separated us, his mobile face filled with expression. He so wanted to 'talk'. 'What do you want?', 'Why and I here?', 'Where is Cocoa?', 'Why do these sheep follow me?' were continuously running through the air in the barn.
I had no expectations for him at all. He was a pretty playboy with a temper and little patience if things didn't go his way. He was not above picking his feed dish off the rail and flinging it, often filled with grain, at me when displeased.
It's been 3 weeks and I'm starting to see a different DC emerge from the spoiled-llama shell. He worries about the two little bottle lambs, Prima and Dona, who follow me about the barn whenever I'm there. I let them out with me in the hay area where they frolic and play, but where the other animals are not allowed. He worries until they are back on 'his' side of the barn. He seems concerned when strangers come to visit, running to the gate to check them out. 'Who are you, what do you want, there are sheep here, do you have an appointment?' seems to fill him at those times.
I'm not sure he will ever be a real 'guard llama', and I never expect him to become the guard that Wheeler was. On the other hand, he's changing, growing up. I suspect that if he keeps up his current behavior I can safely say he really is stepping up to the plate.
At that same time I had another llama, Cocoa. He'd been given me by someone who had purchased cattle from me. The llama was unwanted and the owner really didn't know what to do with him. He was fairly desperate and I had an empty paddock and took Cocoa.
If one wants a llama for a guard one wants only one llama. If you have a pair they either buddy up, or if it is a pair of males they may just spend the time fighting with each other. A male/female pair is obviously not a good choice unless you want crias. At any rate, multiple llamas do not make sheep guards, and why have one if it doesn't do the job?
So I took Cocoa on because I couldn't say 'no'. Cocoa lived with other creatures and had a good enough life until he needed to become the new guard llama upon Wheeler's death. Cocoa and Wheeler had entirely different personalities and I knew he would not be the guard that Wheeler had been, but I was needy and he was available.
Nope, Cocoa was his own kind of guard. And he did well. To the best of my knowledge I have never in 17 years lost a lamb to a coyote, and that says it all I guess. Cocoa was friendly, affable, liked sheep and spent many years with them. He aged fairly gracefully and I thought about the eventual need to replace him. But then he took a downhill turn and within 3 months died. I wasn't really prepared for this, however he was close to 20 and that is a good age for a llama. I think he had a good life here, and the end came quickly. We need to put him down one Sunday morning and we buried him in the cow cairn just before a major storm spread it with a thick quilt of snow. I haven't been up there since he was buried, but I will go. I've already said goodbye.
And that left me with a void. What to do? I had, still have, another llama. He's a pretty boy named DC, which is short for Damn Cute. It was one of the first things I thought of when I met him. He was cute, and personable. A character and often charming. On the other hand he was often obnoxious and sometimes prone to temper tantrums. At 4 years old he held a personality that I sometimes liked, sometimes hated, self-centered, persnickety. However the saying 'needs must' was working here. It is lambing time, there are coyotes here-the tracks are all over the farm in the fresh snow, and the sheep needed him. I was just not sure what DC needed. I never have been.
So I walked into his pen and he came up to visit. I started talking to him, explaining the situation. I know that many people believe that animals don't/can't understand us. I know differently. They may not understand every word I say, but they get the message. So when I started talking in a serious voice, not in the usual friendly way I often have with him, he started to watch my face, listen to my voice. His banana ears would flick around as if he was trying to hear what I wasn't saying.
I explained to him about Cocoa's death. I talked about life changes, about stepping up to the plate, about growing up, becoming responsible, living for something more than pleasure. He watched me throughout this dialog, a couple of times his face would come close to mine, and once he touched his nose to mine. When I was done I just stood there watching him. I knew he understood that this was serious, I just didn't know how he would react. Ears still moving, head cocked, he came close and nuzzled my cheek. I continued to stand there. Finally he made up his mind and reached his long neck down so that I could clip the lead onto his halter. Apparently he had made up his mind.
As we walked toward the barn he started dancing. He loves the big barn, loves the life that happens there. He has been in the big barn several times, mostly when the weather was turning bad. I would take him from a smaller shelter area and keep him in a stall where he had maximum cover during large storms.
As he grew up it had also given him maximum exposure to the sheep and to Cocoa. The last time I had placed him in the barn for several days he and Cocoa had continually lunged at each other, separated only by a very large and heavy gate. Idiots. Two castrated males who wanted nothing more than to fight each other. I have trouble understanding the male psyche sometimes.
After arriving at the sheep area, I let him loose from the lead and he ran for the door to the sheep yard. Obviously looking for his arch nemesis. But Cocoa was already in the ground. He spent the day among the sheep walking around, a bit lost. He was now in a paddock he had never entered before. He'd only seen it from the other side of the fence. There was no Cocoa to challenge, just these silly sheep and lambs. He spent several days sort of wandering around, confused, trying to find his place, trying to figure out what he was doing in there. Whenever I entered the barn he'd run to the gate that separated us, his mobile face filled with expression. He so wanted to 'talk'. 'What do you want?', 'Why and I here?', 'Where is Cocoa?', 'Why do these sheep follow me?' were continuously running through the air in the barn.
I had no expectations for him at all. He was a pretty playboy with a temper and little patience if things didn't go his way. He was not above picking his feed dish off the rail and flinging it, often filled with grain, at me when displeased.
It's been 3 weeks and I'm starting to see a different DC emerge from the spoiled-llama shell. He worries about the two little bottle lambs, Prima and Dona, who follow me about the barn whenever I'm there. I let them out with me in the hay area where they frolic and play, but where the other animals are not allowed. He worries until they are back on 'his' side of the barn. He seems concerned when strangers come to visit, running to the gate to check them out. 'Who are you, what do you want, there are sheep here, do you have an appointment?' seems to fill him at those times.
I'm not sure he will ever be a real 'guard llama', and I never expect him to become the guard that Wheeler was. On the other hand, he's changing, growing up. I suspect that if he keeps up his current behavior I can safely say he really is stepping up to the plate.