guard llama

i purchased a guard llama and im not sure if he is acting how he should can anyone tell me what he is supposed to do teh first week. He is not with the herd he is way away from them and doesnt really move.Is this what he is supposed to do??

Sounds like you didn't get the "operator's manual" with your purchase!

Did you get the "BEST" kind of guard llama?

what do you mean the best

usually they do better in pairs.depend upon what critters you are tying to guard.
also if you have white tail deer running around your place or where you got it from ,it will not last long as they get a killing disease from deer droppings.
they are very alert and notice everything.

is there a way of telling if it has that diease

Sorry, bd, I was just josh'in 'ya!

The "BEST" is sort of a standing joke around here... everyone wants "The BEST"... the BEST pliers, the BEST newer tractor, the BEST older tractor, blah, blah, blah!!
Example post

not til it shows symptoms. almost drunk acting problem with hind legs no cures.
we lost a bunch of them.did not know about it til to late and even then can"t do nothing about it.
but they are a great animal

Not really a llama knowing person but if they are like the miniature horses I get they are stand offish until they get to trust that you will feed them with out getting hurt. I had one miniature horse that took six months anyway to show any signs of wanting to be at our place. Now he wants me to play with him every mornig and night. When I drive in he runs up to the gate and starts to whinny.

Just a guess.

A lone llama is the best way to go. Llamas have a VERY strong herd instinct, and if there"s another llama present, they"ll bond.

A single llama will bond with the sheep and threat them as his herd. The process takes a while, especially if the llama just came from a place where there were other llamas.

To a certain extent, forcing the sheep and the llama into close proximity will speed the process. Just don"t crowd them too hard and give the llama room to get away from them (especially any rams) until he gets used to them.

Give it a few weeks.

Also, the llama will be on guard even if he"s not standing right next to the sheep. They are hyper-alert and will know what"s going on anywhere around them.

if its a "he" lama make sure its castrated. my HS ag teachers lama had some "risky" encounters with his sheep that resulted in the death of the ewe.

good luck and good day

As the others have said, llama will bond eventually. But in the meantime, I think they are a little like mules, in that they will come running over at first sign of trouble, even if standing away from the herd.

We've had a Llama for about 20 years. He's not guarding any livestock but he sure is on the alert and tells us when anything is lunking out in the woods.

We live on 11.5 acres in the mountains outside Bigfork, MT.

They have a special alert sound they make when something alarms them. It's hard to describe but sort of a grunt repeated quite fast and somewhat resembles a horses whinny but you immediately get the message this is an alarm call.

Ordinarily Llamas just humm.

Our is pretty good letting us know when any black bears, stray dogs, coyotes etc show up. He'll also sound his alarm if he hears noice out in the woods and can't identify it. Usually it's deer. But, interestingly enough, the two times we had Grizzly bears show up he didn't make a sound.

They have a very aggressive body language. They can strike with their front feet to some extent but their but their real defense is spitting. Just saliva if it's a minor threat but if they're really threatened or pi$$ed of they will use stomach fluid. Ours got mad at me once and gave me a blast of that. I responded with the knotted end of a lead rope across the snout. Now when he's upset with me he just fires a "warning shot" across my bow.

We've had stray dogs come around and make a move to chase the Llama. He stands there with a posture that has "Go ahead, make my day!" written all over it. The Dogs will almost always back down apparently not knowing just what this critter is capable of doing.

A lot of ranchers use them to guard sheep or goats.

Hope this helps.

B'duckie
PS - a duck is the ultimate guard animal.

Here is what I know. The neighbor keeps sheep. Something started killing the lambs at night. Found them dead the next morning ripped open from their low belly to the base of the throat. All agreed it did not look like coyote kills , which are quite common here. Neighbor paid dearly for two Llamas. Next day brought two dead Llamas , split tail to throat. "It" killed the Llamas. Other neighbor swears it's a cougar. Neighbor then bought two Great Pyranese Dogs. No problem with sheep since.Killer never was identified or regulated.

I had 4 llamas guarding my goats, I recently lost 2 to old age, but I still have 2. I'm a dairy goat farmer, so I have a lot of goats. The llamas are EXCELLENT guard animals. They will take a little while to bond with the herd, maybe a few weeks, but they will bond. If it is a male, make sure that he's neiutered. or he may try to mate with your females.

When my llamas see something that they think is a threat to the herd, they make what I call their "war cry", it's sort of like a cross between a horce winnie and a bird call, but it's loud and threatening. They the usually charge whatever animal that they think is threatening the herd. Most predators are pretty intelligent, and if they see a large animal like a llama charging them they take off. The llamas will engage a predaotr by kicking with their front feet. Around here (upstate NY) several people have told me that they had a llama kill a coyote by kicking it to death. In my case, my llamas have never had to do anything but charge a predator. I've seen them chase off coyotes and feral dogs. They're also very gentle with the herd.

For me, they're the best guard animals that I can imagine, because they require almost no care, and they are very good a guarding the herd. They'll eat whatever the goats or sheep eat.

We have llamas too to guard our sheep & goats. Didn't realize there were that many llama experts on this board. Don't have much to add that they haven't covered. Ours are North American llamas (Ccara llama). Low maintenance, they eat hay, grass, and grain we feed the sheep. Need to be sheared every second year, and the llama wool is sought after by home spinners, weavers, knitters. We usually blend with our Shetland wool. They are very alert, and we've had no problems with predators. Know we have coyote, dogs, and believe there may be a cougar paassing thru from time to time.