[bare]

I'm seeing more and more free or low cost llamas in area papers. I'm curious to know what the meat tastes like. I can't stand sheep but love goat. What do you suppose a llama weighs?

::bare, going: 'smack, smack'::

 

[westbrook]

and now I am going "smack : smack" I love goat and lamb...Llama? mmmmm!!!

when it the BBQ? and are we all invited?

 

[mysticokra]

I might be interested in one as a sheep companion. What part of the country are you in and where did you see the ads?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I give it some serious thought every time one gets outside the fence, but without the llamas who is going to watch my sheep? I think they are consumed on a regular basis in South America and they probably taste just like chicken. My weigh in at just under 400lbs but they are on the big side as llamas go. A more realistic weight would be about 300-350lbs.

 

[bare]

I'm in North Idaho, along the Canadian border. Besides our tiny local paper, we can get The Spokesman Review and the Nickle paper for the whole area.

A couple years ago, I was going to manage a house for a gal who was moving out of state and she was going to give me a whole herd of llamas that she couldn't sell. As it turned out the place sold immediately and the new owners wanted to keep the critters. Worked good for everyone but me... She wasn't real excited about my eating them anyway.

There are a lot of llamas locally. Like most of those "exotic" animals raised as pets and sold for phenomenal sums of money, it turned out to be a pyramid scheme. The folks who got in early made some money but others further down the line are just stuck buying hay. With another tight hay year, folks are just looking to get rid of them.

As an aside, how would one go about castrating one of those big males? They look like they could kick the livin' tar out of you.

 

[Guest]

Llamas are pretty timid creatures (unless you are a member of the K9 family) and the main attack is a face full of spit. If that does not work then the will give the kick and bite routine a try, but they do not kick like a horse. It is usually more like a stomp. Big males have special fighting teeth designed for combat with other males. These things are usually removed for safety reasons. Llamas have little use for humans with the notable exception of the grain bucket. With head in the grain bucket you can pretty much do what you want to the rest of the animal. If that fails, utilize the restraining chute just like a bull.

 

[Cara]

We haven't (we only have one guard) but one of the 4H families have. The teenage daughter said it is good, lean meat but a little on the tough side. Try it and let us know!

 

[mygrayfarm]

We have alpacas, but we won't be eating them!

I understand that down in South America, the animals are "harvested" after they're about six years old. The hides are used for rugs and stuffed toys and the meat is made into jerky. There's not a lot of meat on an alpaca - there would be more on a llama - but I hear from people that have tried the jerky that it's tough and doesn't taste very good.

Although we don't butcher them in this country, you can't fault the residents of a poorer economy who use everything they can!

 

[Alex]

What, you mean you kill them? They seem so nice to look at.

 

[bare]

We have alpacas, but we won't be eating them.

Although we don't butcher them in this country, you can't fault the residents of a poorer economy who use everything they can!

I take it you are unfamiliar with the North Idaho economy?
:waa:

I tell folks the same thing about elk... it's tough, wild tasting and makes you burp loudly. Don't have to share so much of it that way!

 

[mygrayfarm]

I take it you are unfamiliar with the North Idaho economy?
:waa:

I tell folks the same thing about elk... it's tough, wild tasting and makes you burp loudly. Don't have to share so much of it that way!

Sorry about your economy! I live in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, where the economy is realtively stable. It probably will remain so as long as we have the Federal Government nearby to suck away our money - um, ah, that is, provide us with needed services...

 

[bare]

Sorry about your economy! I live in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, where the economy is realtively stable. It probably will remain so as long as we have the Federal Government nearby to suck away our money - um, ah, that is, provide us with needed services...

Awww, I wasn't complainin', keeps the riff-raff out.

::North Idhao- no money, no work, FIFTEEN FEET OF SNOW every year, -40 degree temperatures in the the winter, moose breed with the skeeters, no hope! Economy so bad we eye our neighbors starving llamas wistfully::

 

[mygrayfarm]

Awww, I wasn't complainin', keeps the riff-raff out.

::North Idhao- no money, no work, FIFTEEN FEET OF SNOW every year, -40 degree temperatures in the the winter, moose breed with the skeeters, no hope! Economy so bad we eye our neighbors starving llamas wistfully::

We get a new set of riff-raff every four or eight years...

 

[Shepherdess]

I wish you were closer. i would love some llamas and alpacas. I want guard animals and wool. Here is what some raw fiber went for today on ebay

ALPACA FIBER 3.5 lbs, white, crimp, luster
C $80.94 6 5h 07m
ALPACA FIBER 13/4 lb, very fine, brown, NICE
C $54.40 3 5h 17m
ALPACA FIBER 1lb 7oz red/brown, cria, nice
C $47.77 4 5h 29m

Llama is worth alittle less. you can sometimes get a deal on ebay but never in the fiber stores
Ann

 

[bare]

Mebbe so...

Here's the price of hay locally 110 to 150 a ton.

 

[mygrayfarm]

Mebbe so...

Here's the price of hay locally 110 to 150 a ton.

I can't speak about the llamas, but our ten alpacas will overwinter nicely on 50 rectangular bales - and that's if we have a hard winter with lots of snow cover (like last year.) The grain to feed them from now until April will probably run us about $50.00. They're pretty cheap to keep, and you can sell the fiber. There's a good market for it. The market for llama fiber is not so good, but it's there if you market for it. I can make more money selling the fleece than I can save by eating them. However, if I was in a Donner Party-type situation, who knows...

 

[mygrayfarm]

I wish you were closer. i would love some llamas and alpacas. I want guard animals and wool. Here is what some raw fiber went for today on ebay

ALPACA FIBER 3.5 lbs, white, crimp, luster
C $80.94 6 5h 07m
ALPACA FIBER 13/4 lb, very fine, brown, NICE
C $54.40 3 5h 17m
ALPACA FIBER 1lb 7oz red/brown, cria, nice
C $47.77 4 5h 29m

Llama is worth alittle less. you can sometimes get a deal on ebay but never in the fiber stores
Ann

Ann,

I will be meeting up with some other breeders tonight - I can ask them if they have any fleeces for sale. They usually will ship. Are you interested?

Ours either went to the co-op or the high quality ones were enterd as show fleeces (every fleece so far has won a ribbon - most of them blue!)

Do you have any fiber animals now? Sheep? Goats?

 

[Explorer]

It looks and tastes like grass feed beef. I have eaten llama stew made with black beans in Peru and while in the interior of Brazil in ferijoada. A local rancher raised them and sold the meat cheaper than beef to the power company where I was working. Usually the really good ferijoada contained black beans and a variety of off-cuts of meat, particularly pork ears, tails and feet that the masters deemed inedible. Americans got an inferior dish made with pork sausage, beef and/or llama.

 

[Shepherdess]

I would love some fiber but I am up in Canada. Paying to get fiber over the boarder is not economical. The fiber in the US is cheaper usualy but they tag me for $30 when it crosses.
Thanks anyway
Ann

 

[JAS]

Hi, just found this thread.

I got into "llamas" last April. I "friend" of my husband's had moved and left 11 llamas behind with no success in selling them. We agreed to "take" them, thinking we could sell / trade some--wrong. I am down to seven--one died from heat stroke (the nicest male of course), one I gave away because he was trouble, the other two I did trade to my vet for services and two goats. I don't think we will eat any, I hear it is like goat or sheep? I love their fiber and have taught myself to spin but have little time to enjoy it.

If anyone wants to barter for one, let me know! I live in South Dakota.