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  "Guard Llamas for Livestock"

In these past few months, we have seen and heard of many more dog attacks on alpacas. Much of what we have seen and heard has come from our position insuring so many of the alpacas across the nation. The rest we have heard about as we travel to shows and sales across the nation.

This has caused us to decide it is time to write an article that hopefully will help those alpaca owners out there who still do not know what to do in the case of dog attack or do not even know this is a possibility.

The number one thing we all must begin to recognize is that dogs are a #1 enemy of alpacas. Not, because dogs are mean, but instead because alpacas are very timid and tend to run away when predators or dogs do frighten them. A dog, just playing at first and having fun chasing the alpaca, means no harm. But, we must keep in mind that it is a dogs nature to chase livestock or rabbits or anything that will run from them. It really isnt their fault; they were designed by their creator to be that way. That is how they have fun!

We have seen stray dogs running in packs attacking, owners own dogs (even trained ones) joining in with other dogs in the attacks, visitors dogs attacking them, or the next door neighbor's dog getting lose and attacking them.

Now that we realize that, we can truly address the problem of losing alpacas from dog attacks. Many have encouraged having "guard dogs". Where this works very well for many people, it can often times fail. Guard dogs do take special training, and lets face it, not all of us are very good at taking the time to make certain this gets accomplished. For one thing we often fall in love with these cute puppies, and have difficulty leaving them alone with the alpacas.

On the other hand, llamas do not have to be trained to be a guard llama. Their natural instinct is to go after predators or dogs. They will chase them away. If they do not turn and run, the llama will pounce on them with their front feet and keep pounding on them until they run away. This does not mean llamas are mean. They are only this way towards predators and dogs.

It is important however, that you obtain a llama that has been worked with, so it is easy for you to handle and catch and work with. Llamas will blend in with your alpacas, and eat the same thing your alpacas eat and their care is the same as well. Of course a gelded llama usually works the best as he can go into any pasture. If you have several pastures, you would want, if you can, one llama per pasture. You can purchase llamas anywhere from $200 to $1,000 for this purpose.

If we do not address this problem, we will have trouble getting insurance companies to insure for dog attack without charging additional premiums. It is also so devastating to the owners, as often more than one animal is maimed or killed, before they discover what has happened. Even if they are insured, the emotional trauma that the owner goes through is not worth it.

This article is not to put down "guard dogs" or good fencing. However, we are missing the mark, by not realizing how beneficial, easy, and cost effective owning "guard llamas" is. We must do everything we possibly can to try to offset the losses we are seeing occur to our alpacas.