It’s all about the Llamas

There is not much missing from our life on our Llama Farm, but there has been something that I haven’t been able to put my finger on. It’s been bugging me since we first moved to the farm in June last year. It was on the long list of jobs in my head that needed to be done, but has always been forgotten when pen and paper are handy. I do love a good to do list!

The llamas have settled in wonderfully in the 6 months since they arrived, the area that they have, has steadily grown as we have bought more gates and extended the fencing. They started with the field they share with the chickens and the area behind the barn where they poop, then we soon added the end of the potager so they could have a dust bath, followed by the field that overlooks our garden, and they have now pretty much taken over and have the top field with the Ancient Nouzillard Chestnut Trees, the middle field and the bottom fields where they have created a sand spa, known as “The Spa”

They really have created a spa and even queue up to use it! “The Spa” is a disused stable, its a bit small for our herd and quite a distance from a tap and where the hay is delivered, it has a floor of sand. We first realised what the llamas where up to, when we were out walking the dogs and heard banging. It sounded like building type banging. Puzzled by what was causing the noise we went to investigate, well. The llamas had formed an orderly queue outside the stable, I kid you not, llamas are exceptional at queuing, and were then taking it in turns to use the sand floor as a dust bath, “taking it in turns” was not quite so orderly and I have video evidence of Portia spitting at Orion because he thought it was his turn, silly boy! However, Llamas are not silly you know, “The Spa” is undercover so stays dusty in winter whereas the potager is now a bit muddy from the rain… adapt and survive! – let me know if you want to see the video, I think it’s hilarious.   

Anyway, I digress. Last week, whilst looking through the many sites I follow relating to llamas, I realised what has been missing from the llamas list of must haves. A mound, a hill, something for these majestic creatures to stand on whilst they survey their kingdom. Everyone knows llamas need a mound!

As luck would have it, we have a natural mound that is behind the old presse, covered in brambles, but nonetheless a mound. Following a few days hard graft, the mound is now a prickle free zone and the llamas really love it. We can see that the llamas love it from their stance, look at the photos and see why these beautiful creatures are always refereed to as majestic.

From their new viewpoint the herd can see any approaching visitors coming up the drive, they can watch Nigel at work in the garage, and being the highest point of the farm they can now survey their entire kingdom.  Perfect!