At the end of April, I drove down to Rogue River, Oregon to pick up Buddy, a gelded llama I adopted from my friend Ronda. The slide show has a few pictures of him, but here's one of my favorites:
When he first arrived at Rosie Borders, I housed Buddy in a 10' x 10' shed in our north pasture so he and the alpacas could get to know each other through the fence for a while. After about a week I could see Buddy was adjusting well, so I introduced him to the boys, and he began sharing their barn. At the time, our two-year-old, Marco Polo, was still intact, and I suppose it was inevitable that he would eventually decide to "check out" this tall, dark, and handsome newcomer. I happened to be working at the other end of the pasture when the fateful day arrived.
Evidently, Marco's investigation must have gotten him a bit too close to a critical area when Buddy informed him, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to keep a respectful distance, as in "out of spitting range." Of course, Marco let out a yell of protest, and when I looked up to see what was happening, Charles and Coco Puff had come to "rescue" their little brother. A great deal of indignant screaming followed. I scooted down to the gate where the fracas was occurring, and shunted the three alpacas into the barnyard.
After spending a few more days alone in his pasture, Buddy was delighted when I let "the ladies" into the pasture adjacent to his. The interest was mutual, and knowing he had been a gelding for many years, I decided to try letting the girls into his pen. They all got along just fine, and have been together ever since. He moved right into the girls' barn, and he seems to very much enjoy overseeing his harem. He is an "older gentleman," and our little yearling, Starla Jo, has taken a real shine to him. She follows him everywhere, and if she gets to be a pest he has a gentle way of letting her know it's time to let "Grandpa" alone for a while. He and Flo Jo had a discussion over food fairly early in the game, so I bought Buddy a special feeder that hangs on the fence. At meal time, he heads right out of the barn yard to his dish, and I keep the gate closed until after the girls are fed. That worked great over the course of the summer and fall, but I'm trying to decide how to handle things once the rainy season arrives. All in all, though, Buddy has been a wonderful addition to our herd. Someone once told me that llamas and alpacas have very different personalities, in large measure because llamas are truly domesticated, whereas alpacas are only semi-domesticated. I would have to agree. The alpacas are my animals, but Buddy is a real friend.
