The History and Philosophy of the Patterson Breeding Program
and the Industry It Founded
Kay PattersonOriginally published in Llama Life 31, Autumn 1994
|
|
Nineteen Seventy-three was a banner year for Richard and me. We caravaned 30 llamas and 44 Polish Arabian horses across the country in a six-horse trailer and four commercial 12-horse vans from Richfield, Ohio, to establish a new ranch at the base of the Cascade Mountains in Sisters, Oregon. Little did we know at that time that 1973 also would mark the beginning of the evolution of the llama phenomenon. During these past twenty-one years, we have watched with amazement and awe as an entire industry came into being from a spontaneous creative idea shared by two enthusiastic young people.
This adventure began in 1958 when teenager Richard Patterson acquired several guanacos from a zoo in Virginia as an added attraction for the Arabian horse breeding program he started at Walnut Valley Farms in Ohio in 1954.
We were married in 1965, a journey that lasted 25 years. The first time Richard showed me around his farm, I was baptized (green all over a silk blouse and French twist hairdo) into the wonderful world of camelids by Madam Nhu, adult female member of his small guanaco herd. Richard was most embarrassed.
Llamas, Llamas, Everywhere!
After dealing with guanacos for several years, I asked Richard why we couldn’t have llamas instead of guanacos since llamas came in all colors and had, I thought, better dispositions. Eventually the guanaco herd was sold in its entirety and after much research and many phone calls, we made a trip to Roland Lindeman’s Catskill Game Farm in upper state New York intending to buy two pair of llamas as a starter.
It was late fall of 1972. A bounty of wet, brilliantly colored autumn leaves littered the Catskill llama enclosures. Llamas, llamas everywhere! Over 300 animals of all colors. It was the closest thing to being in a candy store in Disneyland that one could imagine. And there was our warm, smiling host, Mr. Lindeman, telling us we could have our choice of all the weanlings. Lindemann, whose experience with llamas dated back to the 1930’s, told us that the llama had always been his favorite animal for several reasons; first, he loved them; second, they made the most money for him in his petting zoo; third, they sold through good and bad times – even during the Depression.
We had great difficulty trying to agree upon two females, let alone two males to go with them (exotic animals were always sold in pairs). In fact – we could not agree and ended up selecting nine pair to take home because there were too many beautiful ones to choose from. I think I became a “Llamaholic” long before I ever realized it!
No Records at Catskill Game Farm
The popular mythology of the llama industry assumes that William Randolph Hearst’s herd was the beginning of North American llama breeding, but this is not true. Lindemann and Hearst developed their herds independently for several decades, both starting in the early 1930’s. Upon Hearst’s death in 1956, Lindemann purchased the llamas and other hoofed stock at San Simeon in California. (See Llama Life, No. 5, P. 13, “Hearst Herd Smaller Influence Than Believed,” by Eric Hoffman.)
The Catskill llamas were not named or ear-tagged, nor were records kept of birth dates or parents. Lindemann’s breeding theory was to save the best males each year and select from those when they grew up, one or two to use for breeding. He would put a male with a group of females for about a month and then replace him with another male. Thus, genealogies were largely unknown. (This system of rotating males is commonly used in South America even today.) We started our own stud books with the Catskill purchase, naming all animals, writing down the year of birth, sex, and description of each.
Most of the llamas in North America at this time resided in zoos and on game farms. They were classified as exotics, few finding their way into private hands. With rare exceptions all of our early purchases came from private and public zoos. To the Catskill group, we added a number of females from Orla Drum’s game farm in Ohio, including a nice appaloosa male that we named Orly. Orly, because he was older, and not directly from Catskill, was the first male used in the Patterson program. Of the nine males from the Catskill group, two became sires of note. The first was Bask, who still figures prominently in today’s pedigrees. The grand dam of The Fiduciary is a double Bask breeding. The second, Mark Spitz, sired Hyder Llamas Applejack.
Berman and Via Herds
Not long after we moved to Oregon, Richard announced one evening, “We’re going to have 100 llamas!” I replied, “You’re crazy! Whatever will we do with 100 llamas?” So far we had made no effort to sell them. I thought we better find out if we could. We ran an ad in the Bend newspaper and within three days we had sold the three pair available into private hands for $1,250 a pair – the same price we paid at Catskill. Reinforced with the ease of this success, Richard, a zoo buff for years, learned from zoo contacts about two herds of llamas in Southern California. The first stop was Jerry Berman’s. Jerry sold guns, ammunition, cars, and exotic animals. It was a cold, rainy day. He had close to 100 animals. Some were guanaco phenotype and/or looked like crosses although he said all were llamas. We sorted through the wet bedraggled herd eliminating those we did not want. On that day in early 1974 we bought 87 llamas. The best males from the Berman herd were Montezuma and his son Othello (out of Lady McBeth) whose name was somehow later transposed into “Old Fellow.” Neither of these males were used in our program but made names for themselves over the years. A few of the many females of note were: Cleopatra, Fortune Cookie, Rosalind Russell, the Gabor sisters (including Lopez’s dam), Apricot (still alive and producing at Richard’s), Mary Poppins (still alive at Hinterland), and Elka (dam of Eclipse PL.)
Our second stop was Harold Via’s. we purchased his entire herd of nine females and one male, which we named Poncho Via (a play on words with the outlaw’s name). Poncho Via became the first major sire of the Patterson program with 202 registered offspring to his credit.
Via and Berman were great competitors. Often when Via sold animals, Berman would track them down and buy them. It is probable that there were more Via animals in Berman’s herd than we purchased from Via. The origins of these animals we believed to be independent of the Catskill animals. The Via llamas were phenotypically different from the Catskill. Via insisted until the time that he died that his animals came across our southern border ‘at night” from where, he would not say. Otherwise, he was very closed-mouthed about his llamas. In essence, we have no idea of their true origins.
Our Early Breeding Goals
Via animals were longer in the body, sometimes had prominent withers (higher than their backs, more old-fashioned camel-shaped heads and more stretch than the Catskill. The Catskill herd had its own look (phenotype). The bodies were generally more compact and shorter backed, and the faces prettier.
The best of all the early animals we purchased had good fiber coverage of neck and back – no pantaloons – and little or no facial or ear wool. We put into practice the same principles we used in our Arabian horse breeding program. Since no past genotype information was available, we bred for phenotype. Poncho Via was an outcross to the Catskill stock, so he was bred to many of them over the years. He would become the first known foundation sire of the breed.
First and foremost we wanted to breed well balanced, well-conformed animals. Llamas are fiber-bearing animals so wool was also part of the whole package. We never bred for one trait to the exclusion of all else. The goal in our mind’s eye was a large, elegant animal with a strong back, good bone and wool coverage, and pleasing ears (we were Arabian horse breeders after all!) It was amazing how fast we were able to improve the overall quality through selective breeding practices, good nutrition, and culling.
Doolittle, Sitting Bull, and Zorro PL
Patterson Llamas received an extra shower of blessings in 1975. Three special males were born on the ranch – males that would change the history, look, and direction of llama breeding in North America – each would become a major foundation sire of North American llamas.
The most famous of the three was Dr. Doolittle, born June 8, 1975, who died February 14, 1983. Dr. Doolittle came in utero from the Catskill Game Farm and was, therefore, bred by Roland Lindemann. We never knew who his sire was; Mr. Lindemann called most of his male breeders “Harold,” the name of his grounds keeper. This was an in-house joke. Fluffy, his dam was very large, with excellent bone, heavy wool (no facial or ear wool), a heavy milker who produced 10 babies for us. She was all white. Doolittle looked white but was what is now called a very dilute appaloosa. He had “Dagwood Bumstead” sprouts of wool over his eyes, on top of his head, and fringe on his ears. The most prepotent sire of all and kingpin of the breed, Doolittle put wool on all of his 311 offspring. Chief Sitting Bull was born May 27, 1975, and also came in utero from the Catskill Game Farm and was bred by Mr. Lindemann. His sire is also unknown. Dam Senta Berger was white with a brown tail and butt and had two spots on her right side. Sitting Bull is white with a large black/gray blanket, back of the neck, tail, eyes, cheeks, nose and shoes. He is still alive, fertile, and in excellent health at Hinterland. Chief Sitting Bull has 301 registered offspring all bred by the Pattersons. His last offspring is a superlative silver male named The Didjeridu, born in 1992 out of a full sisters to Zorro PL.
Zorro PL was born on October 25, 1975. His sire, Poncho via, was white with a black/gray blanket. Dam Auntie Mame was dark brown with a white ring around her neck and one of the nine females we had purchased from Harold Via. Thus, solid dark mouse/brown Zorro with a bit of white over his left eye, on his nose and chin, was all Via line. His super ears, carriage, and presence made him a standout from the beginning. Compared to Doolittle and Sitting Bull, he had medium heavy wool but the fiber was quite fine. He died November 25, 1991, after siring 178 registered get – all bred by Patterson Llamas.
Doolittle, Chief Sitting Bull, and Zorro became the cornerstones of our breeding program. Offspring from crossing these males on each other’s get began producing llamas with more facial and ear wool and extension of fiber further down the legs.
From 30 to 500 Llamas in Three Years
Between 1973 and 1976, the size of our herd increased dramatically. We wanted to continue introducing new llamas from different parts of the country, even if they originally came from the same stock, because after animals are bred in one area for even 10-15 years, the passage of a number of generations tends to take you several steps away from any source gene pool.
Through acquisition and production, our herd grew from 30 llamas to 500 llamas. We were known, by name at least, to every animal dealer and to most of the zoo directors in the country. Word spread rapidly about the crazy Pattersons and what suckers they were; you could sell them anything that looked like a llama. Not true! We knew very well what a guanaco looked like (which most of them did not), and there were no huarizos or breeding alpacas in the U.S. yet to complicate the picture.
By the end of 1977 we were producing an average of 200 babies a year. From horse breeding, we knew the importance of using a number of different phenotypes. You seldom get that “something special” when you continue breeding the same type to the same type generation after generation. Every now and then, we found it necessary to really mix things up.
Other Acquisitions
In 1988, we added another important ingredient when we purchased “Flashman” from the Don Rick herd dispersal. He was 100% North American, bred in Canada with no Patterson blood that we could trace. We renamed him The Canadian. He had a very different phenotype - tall with a long, long neck, extremely long heavy legs, perfect ears, and a medium heavy black coat with white trim, and a camel-type Roman nose. People dubiously asked, “Why did you buy him?” We bought The Canadian to breed to our heavy wooled Doolittle, Sitting Bull, Zorro, and Eclipse daughters hoping to “Get It All.” He did just that, producing long-necked, long-legged, heavy wooled, super-eared, elegant offspring over 75% of the time. That is high percentage.
Acquisitions of North American breeding stock were made over the years by purchases from Alma Jett, Carol and Ross Reynolds, Leon Leopard, Mack Gordon, Dean Drake (many), Orla Drum, Skunk Irving (his entire herd), Charlie Hume, The Baltimore Zoo, Central Park Zoo, David Southwick, Jungle Habitat, Karl Mogensen, B.J. Doorly Zoo, Clifty Acres Zoo Farm, Tennessee Game Farm, Cincinnati Zoo, Wayne Cruickshank, Utica Zoo, Fay Forward, Eve Bernstein, Toronto Zoo, Six Flag Park, Terry Lou Zoo, Mariposa Farms, Ken Safley, Andy Tillman, and Chris and Susan Hauge.
The multiple purchases from Catskill over a 12-year period cannot, however, be overemphasized. Had it not been for the Lindemanns’ total generosity of spirit in allowing us to take our choice of animals each time we walked into their magnificent herd, the Patterson Llama program would have been delayed years. We have many warm memories of Catskill, The Lindemanns, and Mr. Lindemann’s business acumen in particular. On one trip, we selected 18 fabulous females. Lindemann knew what we had in the group and upped the ante. Instead of one male for every female, he made us buy two. We came home with 36 male llamas! Among them was a llama we first named Clyde, which we sold with a female, named Bonnie. Later we repurchased Clyde and renamed him Wellington. He was used and then resold, became the sire of The Fiduciary, and eventually found his way to Oak Hill Ranch, where he was registered as Oak Hill Clyde. I always thought Wellington a much better name.
Early Principles of Making a Market and Keeping It Strong
From the beginning, because we loved the llamas and wanted them to remain a fun thing, we used this approach in our advertising and related sales practices. In 1974, I designed a small ad which we ran in Sunset Magazine every month for 10 years: the ad simply said “Llamas Are Fun.” This became the Patterson Llama’s slogan. Prices stared at $500 for males. I still always have pet quality males available for $500. We finally canceled the ad because our waiting list was over a year in length and there was no way we could accommodate people.
Knowing some of the pitfalls of horse and pony markets, the basics Richard and I came up with to keep llamas fun and the market good were:
1. Sell animals in pairs only (male/female or male/male.) This deals with the surplus male problem common in all livestock. Llamas are social animals and are happiest in the company of another llama.
2. We had “one price per pair” although we always recognized there were differences in quality. Our prices started at $1,250 per pair. Soon we had to start a waiting list. A $100/pair 100% refundable deposit gave you a place chronologically on the waiting list. Any time the backlog reached six months or more, we increased the price per pair by a small amount like. Prices slowly increased to $1,500, $1,750, $2,000, $2,500, etc., until by 1984 the adult pairs sold for $6,500 and babies for $4,500.
3. Sell llamas for cash only – no time payments. That keeps the market honest.
4. Sell to private parties only, not to zoos, investors, partnerships or syndicates – try to keep speculators out.
Due to the fact that we had the largest herd in North America by the late 1970’s, it became rule of thumb for those around the country to call us to check on current prices and length of our waiting list…a true “stock” exchange.
Two-Tier Market Began
Nineteen Eighty-four, more than any year to date, was instrumental in shaping the future of a budding industry. I see the following events as being responsible for major changes. We knew that the development of a two-tier price structured market was only a matter of time. Actually, it was remarkable that one-tier prices had held for the 12 years. The market had great stability due to this. Demand continued to out last supply. It was totally a seller’s market. Llamas in the Patterson Stud Books numbered over 2,500. Two national associations were formed in 1981 – Llama Association of North America (LANA) first; International Llama Association (ILA) about six months later. The Registry had not yet been “put together.” Neither shows nor ALSA yet existed.
Into this arena entered a man whose influence had already been felt, Andy Tillman. He had come to our ranch and bought llamas in 1977 and covered thousands of miles looking, buying, and researching. He wrote the first modern book on llamas entitled Speechless Brothers. He started a newsletter and was on of the early presidents of ILA. Andy decided the time had come to pursue quality. He offered us $20,000 for Inca Gold, a wonderful red Dr. Doolittle son out of one of our two best foundation females, Inca Legend. We were overwhelmed and sold on the condition that we would have first refusal at the same price if Andy ever wanted to sell him. (When Andy sold all of his llamas in 1986, we bought him back and Inca Gold is happily living out his life at Hinterland.)
Several months later, Jergen Schulz, Lindemann’s son-in-law, contacted Richard about a yearling black and white male which he made another trip to the Catskill Game Farm to see. Richard called and told me, “He’s really beautiful. We need him for our program.” I said, “That’s fine, buy him.” He answered, “That’s a problem. Jurgen wants $35,000 and won’t take less,” a surprise – since Richard has always been a good negotiator. I okayed it even knowing exotic animals never have a breeding guarantee. Richard called later to say, “Jurgen is delighted. He’s named him Jackpot because he said he hit the jackpot this time!” Jackpot was probably the only animal sold from Catskill with a name up until that time. Jackpot has been worth his weight in gold; he is still one of my chief sires, and 100% North American. This purchase confirmed the emergence of a two-tiered llama market which, from then on, was fueled by buyers with wonderful vision, among them, Paul and Sally Taylor, Jim and Beula Williams, the Leonard Salomon family, Maggie Schuler, Ben and Doris Huff, and John and Kathy Hughes.
Two Significant Events in 1984
The Tillman and Patterson high dollar purchases were coupled with two other significant events. Event one was the 1984 Chilean importation by Camelids of Delaware, the first importation of llamas from South America since the 1930’s. Actually there were two importations in 1984 totaling several hundred llamas and alpacas. These animals were sold at the current support price of $6,000. They, however, would have a dramatic impact on prices in the future.
The second major event of 1984 was the first auction of “llamas only” by Fred Hartman who had been carefully monitoring the llama market. He purchased a group from us in 1983 saying at the time, that he wanted them for breeding. I told Richard then that he would probably just resell them because he was an animal dealer. Richard didn’t think so. In 1984, Fred had the first llama auction, and it was a great success. Having watched the effects of auctions on the horse market, we held our breath in trepidation. I have yet to attend a Hartman auction, but Richard went to several and even purchased some animals. The Harman and other sales have affected both positively and negatively the llama world and industry. In 1984 “The goose that laid the golden egg” was still alive and well but “Greed,” the predator, was stalking close behind.
1984 Chilean Imports and the Patterson Program
As soon as the 1984 Chilean imports were out of quarantine, Richard and our nephew, Jack Kelleher, trekked back to Catskilll to have first choice of both groups. We purchased a total of 46 females and one male. The females were shorn, very think and quite rag-tag looking. When I first saw them I was shocked at their size and condition. We gave them names which we thought best fit their motley appearance, and often, the better the llama, the worse the name; i.e., *Chili Reano, *Diet Rite, *Low Fat, *Rump Roast, *Gravy Train, *Chile Dog, Rib Eye, Dexatrim, etc. They were all registered with these same names a few years later. Hard to believe isn’t it? The beautiful yearling black male purchased with this group was originally nicknamed “Webster.” Soon after his arrival at the ranch it was changed to *Macho Camacho. (I fear the llama world would never have been the same with a “Webster.”) We had no idea that *Macho Camacho would be the sire he became. Richard saw a certain type, and look that was different. His fiber was excellent. His parents were unknown. He was just the one male that looked special to Richard. He also looked special to Ben Huff. We were not breeding the winter of 1985 and Ben (who was always persuasive) talked Richard into leasing him for the winter breeding season at $500 per breeding. Ben’s Macho babies came before ours. We knew we had a new chief sire. *Macho Camacho has proven to be the most prepotent of any of the imported sires and also has the most registered offspring, 217. He is an extremely aggressive breeder, a trait he passes on to all of his offspring.
We kept our Chileans intact as a breeding group for many years. In 1985, we added two more imported males *Aureliano from Andy Tillman and *Senior Santiago from Irv Kessling. Knowing llamas have a high incidence of heritable, congenital defects than many other domesticated animals, and not having any breeding history of these animals, I wanted to monitor a few generations for assessment. In our particular group of imports, we did see a higher incidence of heritable defects than what we were seeing from the North American bloodlines. These defects are found in all llamas – so no fingers are being pointed.
Other Factors That Have Affected the Market and Industry
December 19, 1987 – A day that may live in infamy in the annals of superior marketing. It was Hartman’s sale of Bolivian imports. (See Llama Life No 5, P.1.) I call it the “Cornfield Fracas.” Animals stood in pens marked $100,000; $75,000; $50,000; $25,000, and buyers could not get to the office fast enough to hand in the ear-tag numbers and checks for the animals they wanted. In my opinion, this event blew the lid off the market and was motivated entirely by greed. We were part of it, I am sad to say. Richard and Don Linkem were among the first to Hartmans’ office with $100,000 while I stayed home hosting our farm family Christmas party and okaying the insanity. Llama breeders flocked to the sale simply to find something new and different. This was the first sale of Bolivian imports and perhaps it would be the last. If they did not buy a Bolivian now, breeders felt they would be left behind in a market that was expanding price wise by leaps and bounds, a market everyone saw extending forward indefinitely. The sale’s results were unfortunate for the llama industry. The impetus for the sale’s success was fueled – oddly enough – by academia and our industry’s veterinarian gurus, who had just been preaching “outcross breeding.”
The message of Drs. Murray Fowler and LaRue Johnson, justly or unjustly, was distilled by the llama community into one idea: buy imports because then you can be sure you are doing the de rigor “outcross breeding.”
Another regrettable reinforcement of the same message came from the 1989 ILA Conference in Salt Lake City: the “vivisection conference.” It would have been difficult for any newcomer attending the conference to leave with any enthusiasm for llamas. The dominant messages were 1) how hard they were to breed; (2) how many heritable congenital defects they had; (3) the necessity of breeder responsibility to clean up the gene pool by merciless culling, defined as euthanasia. Dr. Fowler again presented his horror show on heritable defects. This was reinforced by Dr. Horst Leipold’s presentation on genetic abnormalities in other livestock and denouncement of line breeding (a form of inbreeding) and inbreeding.
I had been privileged to attend all the llama veterinary conferences by invitation since I organized the first one at the Patterson Ranch in 1981. In 1990, the last I had an invitation to as a lay person, I shared my experiences with our 1984 Chilean imports and commented that there was no good reason to tell people to avoid known, established bloodlines in favor of unproved unknowns. I also commented that since heritable congenital defects were found in all blood lines from my experience, culling by euthanasia was a bit harsh for many reasons, the foremost being that if this process were inclusive of all relatives of defective or defect-producing animals, there would not be many llamas left, let alone a market. This in turn would affect funds donated for research and fees paid for conference speaking and veterinary seminars. The comments made sense to the group and were well received.
But the message, “Outcross with anything,” and “Even linebreeding is dangerous” had been heard. Poor quality imports and huarizos began selling for high prices. The market is just now beginning to react logically and swing back to the realization of the strength and value that established North American bloodlines and half-South American crosses will ultimately have on North American breeding programs.
I feel totally comfortable using North American stock without infusion of imported bloodlines. However, I will continue to introduce new imported blood into my program for a number of reasons. As a breeder, I know that in order to market my animals, I must have several different products on the shelf – so to speak. Using new blood is always a challenge. It is easier for a large breeder than a small one to take the risk of trying and rejecting what does not work. It takes, capital, time, and a “heart as cold as a well driller’s kneecap,” as Richard used to say, to be a breeder. There are answers other than euthanasia for culled animals: research; guard llamas; companion animals for packers, handicapped, and geriatrics (what other animal will walk with a person at any pace – from a slow grandmother’s shuffle to an athlete’s all out run for miles on end? None!); friends for spinners and weavers; gymkhana animals; and 4-H projects.
Producing Consistently High Quality
I prefer the North American phenotype. The more generations of selective breeding you have for phenotype in your program, the greater your chances are for producing consistently high quality. Patterson Llamas built its program on excellence of the females. The dams of young sires used in the program had to be beautiful, sound, and good milkers. The use of good males is taken for granted. As in horse breeding, females were the most important component of the program. South American animals, with few exceptions, have a much shorter breeding history (as far as continuity and consistency of selective breeding programs go) than do North Americans. The only way to fix type in any breed is through line breeding, and this is done by breeding the best to the best. Best is not necessarily defined as “the most beautiful,” “the most exotic,” or “most costly.” There are barns full of National champion horses which have never sired or produced offspring of quality equal to themselves. It is a proven fact that the better the individual, the harder it is to maintain or improve the quality of the next generation. An excellent male can easily upgrade a group of medium or poor females. He becomes a sire of merit only when he can hold or improve upon the quality of great females led into his field.
Where Are We Today & What About the Future?
From 1987 forward, prices escalated until the limits of greed, tax law changes and the state of the economy dictated retrenchment. What goes up too high too fast must come down. Thousands of people were cut out of the market for years because of high prices. Now they can afford a llama.
We still do not have many llamas in this country – perhaps 65,000 alive versus over five million horses. A market is only as strong as the confidence level of those who make the market. That’s us. You and me. When you lose confidence in anything, even if it is backed dollar for dollar by gold, what you think and believe becomes reality.
Friends, I truly believe there are at least a million people in the U.S. today who want to own llamas whether they know it yet or not. We were spoiled for many years by having people come down our driveways and knock on the door to get on a waiting list. This is not the reality of any other businesses.
Today we are in transition in our industry. WE must choose whether we want to raise llamas for fun (enjoying any profit that might come our way) or if we want to be in the business of raising llamas and still have fun along the way. There is a big difference between the two. If it’s business, then let’s work at it like any other business and accept the losses the same way we accept the gains or profits.
End Use Products – Wool and Meat
There are points that can now be addressed – some of which are end use products. I strongly believe in shearing and have been doing so for the past four years. First, it is good herd health management, easier for breeding, birthing, and heat stress. Second, we need to support the cottage fiber industry. Llamas, after all, are fiber-bearing animals. (Supporting the fiber industry does not necessarily mean breeding for fiber to the exclusion of all else.)
Some time in the future we are going to have to accept meat as an end use product of llamas. At Hinterland my wonderful old geriatrics, male and female, are buried on the ranch. If, however, we lose a llama that is young and has not been medicated, the entire animal – hide and meat – is utilized by my farm family. Llama meat is of high quality and low fat. I don’t think the Good Lord wants us to waste when there is so much want in this world.
Promoting Use of Llamas
Our industry needs the show ring to promote the use of our animals. National show circuits have worked for other breeds. Futurity sales are not common to other animal industries. I think futurities belong with shows rather than auctions. Family oriented events, including shows, would appear to be a better way to market llamas at this time than so many auctions. The market will eventually dictate these things. Private treaty and farm sales seem to be coming back into vogue for obvious reasons; they certainly are less stressful on the llamas.
Llamas are unique! They have been and continue to be an absolute blessing. Let’s treat them as such. The door is open. It is up to each one of us to make the llama industry whatever we want. There are no nicer people in the world than llama owners. Do you suppose it has anything to do with the nature of the beast? I am more excited now about breeding llamas than I have ever been. I’ve spent my entire life raising livestock. There is no other animal like a llama! The health and welfare of “the goose that laid the golden egg” is in our hands.
|
|