Taking Care of your Llamas in Winter - Ep.43 - Llama Life

There are many factors to proper animal husbandry. Today we review just a few of the basics that have helped our llama herd stay healthy during the winter.
It takes a great deal of effort and time to do what you think is best for your livestock. We are always learning and progressing towards better keep and care of our llamas. In this video we focus on the different needs of our llamas and go into a few details on how to, feed, water, bed, administer mineral and house your llamas in the winter.
Feeding your llamas: For our pregnant and growing llamas (shown in the video) we feed them free choice hay almost year round. During the summer months they have plenty of grass to eat but still have the opportunity for some hay. In our area, it is very hard to find the right hay for our llamas. This year and the last few years it has been much easier. For the momma llamas and growing babies we try and feed a mixture of grass and alf alfa hay. Ideally protein would be 12%-16%, and the RFV would be from 140-165. RFV= Relative feed value. We have our hay, soil and (some) of our llamas tested every year so that we know what our llamas lack and need, what the soil lacks and needs and what the nutritional value of the hay is for that crop of hay.
Every year changes a little bit and every crop of hay is different. Doing your best and trying to figure out what your llama needs is all you can do. Many times due to drought, or economic down turn it can be find to hard the right hay unless you grow it yourself. Free choice feeding helps a great deal in the winter to keep your llamas warm.
It is probably worth noting: we found hay nutritional values drop from the time you test it as a fresh crop to the time you feed it (for us this is 3-4 month time span). Usually the first few months it drops the most but then stabilizes.
Water: Ideally it is best if the water is clean, tanks and water troughs are clean and the water temperature is between 40-60 degrees. We have found that quality water at the right temperature makes a major difference in the health of your herd.
Bedding: This helps your llamas stay warm and conserve energy during the fall, winter and spring months. We like to use straw for bedding vs grass hay, saw dust, chips, or hay. The main reason is that straw repels water and everything else absorbs it. Additionally the llamas will eat the straw in small amounts and simply by digesting the straw they stay warmer. We prefer oat straw if you can find it, second choice is barley straw and lastly wheat straw.
Shelters- 3 sided shelters that are at least 8 feet tall have been great for us. We usually build them 12 feet wide and 24 or 36 feet long. Cost on a shelter with wood sheeting on the top and inside and metal on the outside usually run around $3,500.00 each, depending on material cost, location and size of structure.
Mineral- Free choice vitamins & mineral fed in some type of feeder or box helps your llamas in many ways. Mineral is integral to every part of a llama. For proper digestion, healthy bones, red blood cells, water balance, muscle contraction, helps them deal with hot weather and stress, and the list goes on.
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Come join us on our journey that we call the llama life. Were we worked the better part of a decade to save up enough money that we would quit our jobs and begin living our American dream.
We will take you along on all of the good days and on some of the bad days. We will focus on different aspects of our llama life such as: what it takes to be a llama rancher and outfitter, different backcountry tips and tactics we have learned over the years, how to keep and take proper care of your llamas, the changing environment of working on public land and the preservation of public lands, raising a family in today's society and even some backcountry hunting and fishing. Well maybe a lot of hunting and fishing.
Please watch: Gearing up! Episode 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMpbg...

[@daviddole5912]

Another great video. Love the fact on how in depth you go with your feeding program and the reasons why you feed what you do for your geographic area. Great stuff.

[@jeniferspurling6050]

Loving all the info!!

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Very glad to hear that Jenifer.

[@mandjgatlin5801]

Great stuff!

[@Crashbangable]

Glad to see you guys taking time to make more videos that was full of great information. I vote for no music while your talking thanks again.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Thank you for the comment. We are learning as we go as you can see. Thank you for the suggestion. Stay tuned another fun episode coming tomorrow.

[@simplyoutdoors1321]

Love it, good info.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Hey thanks Guy. We never know what folks will think. We just try to share some llama life insight and hope it helps. thanks for watching.

[@simplyoutdoors1321]

@@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971 You guys are doing a really good job. Judging by the comments below, it is a success and I know it is, I am wanting to get Lamas now...Just joking...I love your hunting and trekking adventures too.

[@hannahthurmond8507]

Awesome and informative videos! I appreciate how "to-the-point" you guys are and the overall quality of the video. Usually channels like this I have to do a lot of fast forwarding to get to the point and it's hard to follow. We live in Alaska and are trying to get ourselves set up for Llamas in hope to start training them to pack. I have been watching a ton of your videos the last couple of days and have learned more than the last month of research! We are especially interested, and having a hard time finding information, about keeping llamas warm and happy in the winter, especially since it gets as cold as -50F here. We are trying to find a way to build a barn without completely breaking the bank. Kind of wondering what you would recommend as far as amount of space each llama should have inside of a shelter. We are hoping to purchase 3 llamas this summer and want to be completely set up before we pick them up!

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Hey Hannah- That is very exciting for you guys. Thank you for sharing with us and for watching the channel. It is great to hear that some of the things we are are helpful. It can be tough to keep your llamas warm in the winter. The type, style, and dimension of a Shelters is also a tough decision. For 3 llamas I would recommend a 12 foot wide by 12 foot long and 8 feet high at the low end. I think a 3 sided loafing shed would be ideal. If you can face it into the morning sun and also try to keep the back of the shelter faced towards where the predominately wind blows, that would be ideal. We have 4 foot wings on one of our old barns. This is to help when the wind change directions. Bedding heavy with straw if you find it, good shelter, water temp of 40-60 degrees, daily grain supplement, free choice feed of high quality hay, and then a blanket over your llamas when it is really cold is what we would do when temps got below -10 for long periods. Feel free to call or email us anytime. We will try to help if we can and if not we can just talk llamas. Have a great rest of the week.

[@hannahthurmond8507]

Awesome, thanks for the advice! It’s a relief we might not have to build a completely enclosed or huge barn since we have to deal with permafrost here. We are stoked to get started and try our best to train some pack llamas to take hunting up here in AK! Definitely going to be a learning curve haha

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

@@hannahthurmond8507 You guys will do great. I look back at my starting years with fondness. Man the crazy things we did, saw and learned. They all add up to be great life moments. You are going to do great. The permafrost is something we have never seen or dealt with. I am sure you will find a way around it. Good luck and enjoy the journey.

[@l.r.samons8590]

looks like ya'll do a real good job Bo proud of you keep it up I wish I could have a llama but I don't know how to take them along here in Arkansas so they're look like real good animals

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

L.R. We sure do love our llamas. It is fun taking care of them and seeing them enjoying their life. Thank you for the vote of confidence.

[@outsidevid]

I'd love to hear more about why you do things they way you do, and the process that got you there. "We tried this based on X, but found Y, so we decided to try Z..." Also interested in your business goals and structure.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Hey Aiyana- Thank you for another good comment. In two weeks we will release our first videocast where we go into more detail about the questions that you have. You can always reach out on our website or send us a direct email as well.

[@outsidevid]

@@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971 thanks, I am trying to learn everything I can. I only mentioned those here because you have asked in the videos what we would like to hear about and see.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Your comments and suggestions are very helpful. Thank you very much. Our list of videos and information seems endless. We will for sure try to get to some of your ideas and questions this month or next.

[@michaelnelson1911]

Thought that was Kip driving.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Well I did learn from him🤣

[@geanitsucuneli4791]

For how much you sale Llama.? When I will move in Az I want to have 2 or 3 llamas.

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

We are going to release a video in March that talks about the price of llamas.

[@geanitsucuneli4791]

I jusst talk to you on the Phone.Too much money for a llama $3K . I do not want to get in to this buss. I want them just for protection,around of my 14 Ac of land in AZ state. I want you to have good luck.

[@lizsutter161]

Y’all are so cool 😎 love the llama life 🦙

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Now we are blushing Liz. Great job!

[@ginawaldon2110]

We rescued a llama doomed to be put down and rely on your videos, since we have no previous experience. Thanks!

[@wildernessridgetrailllamas6971]

Gina- That is amazing. Great job on the rescue. Keep up the good work. We really appreciate you watching and for your kind comment.