How to catch a llama

Joe Llama has been here 2 days, and we are still not good friends. : ( The first day we kept him inside in his stall with Cindi, and that worked out fine. Yesterday we put him in the paddock with all of the goats, and they became fast friends. However, when it came time to put everyone in the barn for the evening, the goats went fine but Joe Llama did not want to go in. We ran that poor guy ragged around the paddock trying to get his halter on him. The fun and games ended when I fell down, and we decided to open the paddock gate and the barn door, and try to drive him from one into the other. Well, that worked fine, except he took a sharp right and went into the large pasture.

So there we were, with a three-acre pasture, and a llama roaming somewhere down there in the dark…

Joe Llama spent the night outside.

This morning, we heard that bad weather was coming (did you hear about all the tornadoes in Iowa? Not too far from here…). So we needed to get Joe back up to the barn. I chased him around for an hour, and got nowhere but tired. And I probably didn’t do much to endear myself to him.

We decided to let him rest, and then later we sent Rocky outside to try and corral him in. Now Rocky is known around our house by several nicknames, most of which translate to “dumb.” He is a loving, wonderful guy. But he is dumber than a box of hammers.

One time, however, he managed to get into the pasture with Kitten. She started pawing and snorting (think of a bull in a bullfight—get the picture?), and Rocky knew the signs. He took off so fast he was practically a blur. So we decided he could take care of himself if Joe got too aggressive. Raven would try and make friends, and wouldn’t read the signs of aggression.

So, Rocky went out, I told him to get the llama, and he chased him around the pasture for a while, ultimately getting him into the paddock! Not without disturbing him greatly, causing the llama to make this horrendous clucking noise (the warning before spitting) and sending him into a state of panic. BUT, he was IN THE PADDOCK! And we were back to square one.

Again, we let him rest for a while, and put the goats and horses back out there so he would have calming company. That did the trick, and we went out to get him the final time. We had to entice him by standing with the herd in a corner of the paddock, so he could feel like he was not with the herd (with hopes that he would want to join in), and also to let him see that the rest of the herd trusts us. It actually worked some, by keeping him calm and letting us approach slowly. We finally got a rope around his neck, and then his halter on, and talked quietly and calmly to him, and then peacefully led him to his stall. Like it was a non-event.

But it was a HUGE event, and I never want to go through that again! Joe Llama will be staying in the barn for at least a couple of weeks until he can learn to trust that we will not hurt him, and come when he is called. I can take him outside on the longe line, and that is all the playing outside that he will get. Hopefully next time I can report on our blossoming friendship.