Ok I have a cancelled meeting! So I'm going to tell you the llama arrival story (as the sky above the canola fields outside slowly turns apocalyptically orange from wildfires hundreds of km away... here's something lighter.)
So, my friend has had this llama for years. He's been a good guardian for my friend's goats. But my friend sold all his goats last year (farming is really hard, people need breaks). So what to do with the llama?
Eventually, he (jokingly) asked if I wanted a llama. And I jokingly agreed. And then I realized it might not be a terrible idea. That was a few months ago.
With both of our busy schedules (and Saskatchewan winter) we kept delaying the llama transfer.
Finally, on Tuesday, he had a free day and I offered to come help clean out his trailer. And he thought I was offering to get the llama right then. So...I went with it, and helped load up the llama. (Llama was very unhappy about trailer)
My partner and I headed back home to prepare for the llama arrival. Without really knowing what a llama needed, other than good fences. (We have decent fences already since we have goats. But llamas are MUCH taller. Can llamas jump?! I don't really even know).
Then my friend texted - he realized he needed to register the trailer before driving it, and the provincial insurance computer system was completely down. So... llama would have to wait in the trailer for a bit.
We waited. And waited. And finally, the system came up and he got the trailer registered, but had a (actually super important) commitment already, so he wouldn't be able to bring the llama for a few hours. I felt bad for the llama, and offered to have my partner go pick him up. We did that, and my partner brought the trailer to our place.
We opened the door to the trailer.
And the llama just sat there. Didn't get up. Didn't make any move toward the door.
We gave him a few minutes. Then tried to gently encourage him with a bucket of grain, and finally gentle pushes on the backside. Nothing.
So we got the goat guardian dog, Jack. Jack was REALLY EXCITED but also REALLY NERVOUS about this giant thing. He sniffed cautiously, and the llama cautiously sniffed back.
This weird love/hate triangle continued on for most of the afternoon.
The llama wanted to be friends with the goats, the goats wanted nothing to do with the llama. The horses wanted to be friends with the llama, but the llama shunned them. And the dog kept periodically giving his big scare-away-big-predators bark to the llama, just to make it all more fun.
Finally, I gave up for the night and put the goats in the barn, as I always do (so they are easy to milk in the morning), and I put the horses into a smaller pen for the night.
I really wanted to get the llama into the smaller pen, too. How to do it?
I spent a good half hour trying to get the llama to follow me with grain, with a rope, and I even tried putting a halter on him (even though he's not halter trained).
Then, my partner came by with the 2 livestock guardian dogs on their evening walk. Jack was fine, but the other dog, Sadie, hadn't seen the llama at all until this point.
Sadie decided the llama was a deer, and completely lost her shit.
She ran back and forth along the edge of the electronet fence, chasing the llama, despite both of us screaming at her.
Then one corner of the electronet came down. I stood at a pinch point (yes, still holding a goat on a leash), ready to block the llama.
Have you ever seen a llama run at full speed? It is bizarre. Their giant fluffy bodies just sort of glide along over their super-long legs, at incredibly high speed.
The llama did not slow down at all. And I decided it was probably a bad idea to try to grab it, while also still holding a goat. I jumped out of the way.
And the llama went over the downed fence, without slowing down, Sadie the dog in hot pursuit, and my partner running after both of them.
I stood there stupidly, holding the goat lead, while I watched the llama, the dog, and my partner all crest the hill in the hay field and disappear. Then I ran back into the barn, hopped in the truck, and drove off in the direction they headed.
I passed my partner (who had one of the 2 dogs and was taking him back to the barn), then picked him up, and we drove off in the direction they were heading. It's about 9pm at this point, but still light out.
About 2 miles up the road (yes miles, everything in Sask makes more sense in miles), we saw 2 weird lumps up ahead on the road. It was them! They were following the highway back toward my friend's house!
The stupid dog had a big clump of llama fur in her mouth, but the llama was unharmed (just annoyed), and the dog hopped in the car when we called her.
The llama was going to be another matter.
So this is how I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of a farm truck, slowly idling up a highway with the hazards on, following a llama in the growing twilight.
We called our friend, who was coming to help us (he's a good friend!)
After another mile or so, the llama headed into the ditch, so I bailed out of the car, running after him. I walked/jogged behind him along the edge of a canola field, then through the middle of a wheat field (carefully trying to stay between the rows of wheat).
Then he found a fence! And he had to turn back toward the road. At the same time, my friend arrived, and we cornered him!
@sundogplanets As a farm veterinarian, none of this is surprising but all highly amusing. I have had cows with milk fever go from virtually comatose, unable to stand, to running off across a field in the dark.....but goats and llamas are another level of silly 😜
So, we had the llama up against a fence, and he finally let us grab on to him. Both me and my friend had forgotten any sort of rope, so I took off my sweatshirt and used it to make a little harness around the llama's neck.
(Yeah, I cropped my friend out of the selfie - he's not on here and I won't post without permission)
My partner then drove back to our farm to get some fence panels. And my friend and I slowly maneuvered the llama toward the road. And then it started raining.
My partner came back, set up the fence panels, and we carefully maneuvered the llama in to a tiny, 4-fence-panel pen. Then my friend left to go get his trailer again, while we stood with the llama in the rain.
I was really dreading getting him back in the trailer. It took a good half hour the first time.
Fortunately, the rain helped! My friend backed up the trailer to the pen, we very carefully opened the pen, the llama walked right in, and we quickly closed and latched the door.
It was fully dark and everyone was soaking wet at this point. So my friend took the trailer back to his house for the night, and we unloaded the llama at our farm the next day.
This time, we put him in a smaller pen, where he has TWO layers of fence between him and the rest of the farm. And he and the goats can slowly get used to each other.
This is what we should have done at first, I feel really bad for all the mistakes I made here. I'm so glad no one got hurt.
Thanks for reading and enjoying the story, I learned a lot and now the llama has a better home for him (since he's got goats and horses rather than nobody). Looking forward to him getting used to us, and me learning more about llama body language, they are really different than goats!
P.S. the gosling who was hatched by the turkey mama is still doing great
@sundogplanets this was such a great story, thanks for sharing! I'm glad the llama has a new home with some goat buddies. Hopefully he won't jump any more fences 😄
@sundogplanets Thanks for sharing your story. While it probably had some dreadful moments for you, it was quite delightful to read from a continent distance away. Like a good movie.
@sundogplanets Anyone who has had to wrangle any kind of livestock totally understands and relates to this story! Good on you for persisting! Lucky llama that one is :-)
@sundogplanets It's much too late to say this, but my understanding is when you bring home a new ani,al it's best to quarantine them in a pen or barn section & let all slowly get acquainted with a barrier between them.
You're going to want to go back to the top and read the whole thread, but I invite you to consider that this description of an inexorably accelerating llama made me immediately recall the GSV Sleeper Service from Banks's "Excession": "It was making engines."
Thanks for the lovely story! @sundogplanets
You might want to watch/revisit "Shaun the Sheep in The Farmer's Llamas" https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3k7122
Perhaps there is some useful advice for future problems handling the llama.
🙂
Thanks for sharing this #llama story. It would make a great (animated) short film. However, I have a feeling that seeing it playing out with real animals and your family and your friend was not always funny while it happened.
Glad that now all animals are getting a chance to get to know each other in a more relaxed manner, hopefully.
@sundogplanets Llama and Alpaca are herd animals. They don’t do well without a companion. Maybe you need to get another Llama or if you don’t already have one the Llama needs a paddock mate.
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