Llama Stud Management: Setting Up a Pasture for Your Breeding Male Llama

Most llama breeding farms, whether they have 5 females or 50 females, end up housing multiple llama studs. Having options when making breeding choices is too exciting of an opportunity to pass up, and then the question becomes, “where do I keep them?” In this article, we will share ideas from the many farms we’ve visited in recent years, as well as ideas from our own small acreage farm. ​

This article is from American Llama Sires: Issue 7. The full article features additional photos and tips for keeping llama studs. Click here to read American Llama Sires

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Males housed together at Triple V Ranch

It is important to keep male llamas separate from females so that breedings can be scheduled, and injury and infection can be prevented in the females. Male llamas will also breed young females before they are physically ready to be bred. So, once you've decided to pasture your males separately you have to decide on the following:

• Whether or not to pasture males with other males, or by themselves
• Whether to place male pastures near each other, or spread them out
  

Together or Separate?
The first thing to decide is if you’ll let the males stay together, leaving you to put up with the occasional wrestling and spitting matches. While there are people who are still doing this effectively, it seems to be a less common approach than it used to be. Of the farms we’ve visited in recent years, Rick and Sharon VanHooser of Triple V Ranch are the only ones who kept intact males together. They also had far and away the most breeding males to choose from on their farm, with more than 20 proven males. They have three or four groups of males, so they are able to swap boys out to find the perfect mix of personalities. There were a few males who were kept on their own, presumably because they don’t play nice with others. Whatever they are doing is working, because I don’t think we saw a male give another male a dirty look while we were in Texas. 
    Some males do better with sharing their space than others, and even the most mild-mannered of males will occasionally have wrestling matches to shake up the pecking order. Some of the things to keep in mind if you are going to house your males together include:

• Fighting teeth removal and regular checkups
• Ensuring that one lower on the pecking order can still get to the feed and water
• Eliminating (as much as possible) things like farm equipment or other obstacles that could increase the risk of injury if the males are chasing each other around
• Keeping the bachelor herd out of sight or far away from the female herd can reduce the amount of fighting between the males

The benefits of housing males together:

• Efficiency of feeding- potentially allowing you to keep more males than if you were housing them separately
• Less sheds and cross-fencing required
• Keeps males active and fit

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Mark and Susan Smith's Stud Barn

Together or Separate - Part II
If you decide to put your males in separate pastures, you then have to decide where to put those pastures. Here again the question becomes- together or separate?
The majority of the farms we visit choose to pasture their males separately, but condense them in a specific area, typically with some separation from the females. 

Mark and Susan Smith have a separate barn where they house the majority of their males. It is off to one side of their property, behind their house. There is a garden patch, a driveway, and a large backyard between the males and the female herd. Three studs are kept in stud runs with gravel. I am sure the males have “disagreements” over the fence from time to time, but with the females so far away this is kept to a minimum. Also housed in the male barn is the Smiths’ sheep herd. When we visited a couple of years ago the sheep were sharing their pasture with a couple of yearling males.

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Wild Oak Llamas property with males on one side of the driveway, and females on the other.

Rick and Mary Adams keep their males on one side of their driveway, and their females on the other. Tall, strong fences separate the boys, who occasionally run up and down the fence lines contentiously. They also have a large pasture that surrounds the male pastures where Mary’s old show gelding and a couple of younger or more docile herdsires are housed. ​

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GNLC Tesio in his stud pen at Great Northern Ranch

Very Separate
On our farm, we keep our males in separate pastures, and have spread those pastures out around the property. 
While this provides the lowest chance of fighting between males, and helps keep your farm a more peaceful place, it does come with its share of drawbacks. 
The downsides of spreading out your males include:

• Less efficient feeding
• More shelters are necessary
• The male will likely share a fence line with females. It becomes more important that fences are tall and strong. Breezeways can be an effective way to ensure that a male won’t get out with females. 
• If the male is far away from other llamas they may experience more stress and pace during poor weather (rain, extreme heat, extreme cold)

Steve and Sue Rolfing pasture their males separately, and have expertly designed their pens to limit over-the-fence interactions. At the time of our last visit they had three breeding males on the property. Back when they had multiple llamas studs, and alpaca studs as well, there were likely more fence lines shared, and potentially shared pastures with males. But with the benefit of 40 years of experience and a scaled back operation compared to earlier years, the Rolfings have developed stud pastures that maximize efficiency and help keep Great Northern Ranch a wonderfully peaceful place to visit. A large garden space, bordered by trees, sits in between two of their man stud pastures. These large stud pens sit across the driveway from the female herd. A third stud pen shares a fence line with the main female pasture, allowing Steve to choose a trusted male who will be respectful of the fences to keep an eye on the female herd. Further down the driveway, on the “male side,” is a large pasture for young males and packers.

​We hope that this article helps you to plan out your setup as you consider that proverbial question, “Do we have room for one more male?”

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This article is from American Llama Sires: Issue 7. The full article features additional photos and tips for keeping llama studs. Click here to read American Llama Sires