[Jacob-list] Gaurd Animals

[Meg Steensland]

Before I even put my first 2 sheep and lambs out to pasture, I bought 2 guard lamas and put THEM is the pasture first - then I sneaked in first one sheep and her lamb and then the second with her twins.  The lamas accepted them immediately and the sheep likewise blended in.  That was summer 2003.
 
In August 2005 I had a coyote incident that I would not have known about except a lama got hurt going over the fence after the predator.  I wrote this up and ILReport published it in the Oct issue available at www.lamaregistry.com - do not need to be a member to read their newsletter and get info from their site.
 
You need to get a gelding who has experience as a guard or a female that has experience with her own young at least.  Sometimes it is easier to find an adult female with a male cria that people want to sell for some reason  - moving, downsizing, etc.  I got my first such pair that way because the dam was a bitch toward some of the other lamas in her herd and the people needed to get rid of her.  AS I did not have any other lamas, this was not a handicap for me.  That bitchy lama has turned out to be a super nice girl for me esp after she had her 2nd cria and she got lots of individual attention. When Crystal's femal cria was about 6 months old, I bought 2 female friends for her - Alpha & Omega, one 4 days older, one 2 wks younger and Crystal treats them all as her girls!  
 
My friend Wina has a single adult female lama with her sheep and goats and the lama patrols very well alone and brings in the stock if a dog hangs out at the fence "too long".  If you have a big area, you need a pair of lamas at least because a single lama might not fare well with a pack of canines.
 
One advantage of lamas over some other guards is that they eat the same diet as sheep do.
 
Suggest you visit several lama farms and ask lots of questions.   You want to know the reasons they are selling certain stiock to avoid buying a problem animal they may be trying to unload.    Good luck. 

Christopher Brantley <labradorridgejacobs at yahoo.com> wrote:
I know many of the folks on this list ustilze GP as defenders of their flock. Recently, I was asked about taking on a couple of llamas that are not of show quality, but with great dispositons and not good breeder material. Has anyone used llamas and what are the drawbacks and advantages of llamas with Jacobs?
 
-Christopher

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