Llama  Lama Glama

Most herds of llamas are maintained by the indians of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. The primarily use of the llama is for packing,  but they are also used as a source of food, wool, hides, tallow for candles, and their dung is dried for fuel. Llama can carry around 20 to 35% of their body weight  and can average around 15 to 20 miles of travel a day.

 

The llama’s amazing; high thirst tolerance, endurance, and ability to subsist on a wide variety of forage makes it an important transport animal on the bleak Andean plateaus and mountains of South America. The llama is a gentle animal, but, when overloaded or mistreated, it will lie down, hiss, spit and kick, and refuse to move. Llamas breed in the late summer and fall with the gestation period lasting between 11 to 12 months, resulting in the female giving birth to one young. Although usually white, the llama may be a variety of natural colors, with the most common being; solid black or brown, or it may be white with black or brown markings.

 

Llama fleece consists of; the coarse hairs of the outer coat (or guard hairs), and the short, wavy fiber of the undercoat. The hair’s length ranges from 3 to 9 inches, with the coarse hairs being longest. Llama fiber is used alone or in blends with our other fiber animals here at Stormsteg Alpacas & Fiber Farm for; skeins, woven fabrics, rugs, rope, and pillow stuffing.