Llama Yarn Now Available in Our Etsy Store

The llama yarn is in! We're so excited to have our llama yarn back from the mill. We had it processed in small batches, by the llama. So, for instance, if you're a fan of SVL Llovely Llana, you can now get her luscious brown locks in the form of worsted, 2-ply yarn! All of our yarn is 100% llama. We have several natural colors listed at our Etsy store:  heartsongllamas.

We also have llama rovings for those of you who prefer to handspin your own yarn. The fiber for spinners is available as rovings and batts.

For those of you who prefer llama fiber in fabric form, we had felted batts made just for you. My background in fiber arts is as a seamstress, so I'm especially fired up to use the felted batts in some projects. The ideas are churning! I just found an awesome Butterick pattern for a large handbag and hat that can be made out of felt and other fabrics. I'm going to give it a try!



Llana on a hike on our trails with Philomena.



If you purchase one of our llama products and make something out of it, I'd love for you to send us a picture that we can post here in the blog or on our website. I'd gladly give you a photo credit and/or credit as the artist of the item. I'm anxious to spread the word about how awesome it is to work with llama fiber. I'm always telling the llama gang "you are all doing such a terrific job growing beautiful fiber!" Keep us posted on how you use it! I'll tell the llamas. Maybe it helps keep them motivated in their efforts to eat healthy and frolic around as happy llamas!

Working for good first experiences for the young llamas

We had a fun llama work-day on the farm on Saturday. Two of my llama handling/training students, along with my friend Melanie, came out to learn and to help with pen cleaning, use of the blower on the llamas for cleaning their fiber of vegetation, and trimming llama toenails. We trim the toenails about every six weeks. It varies by need of the individual llama. 

I have two llama crias on the farm, Petals and Lily, who hadn't yet experienced the blower. They are learning about being haltered and walking on the lead, but they are not real experienced yet at standing tied. I don't like to introduce too many things at once so here was my approach with Petals -- I haltered her dam, Velvet and tied her in the barn aisle. I haltered and tied Betty in the barn aisle next to Velvet (Betty is an adult female in the herd who has helped look after Petals). Then I put a halter and leadrope on Petals, but left her standing loose in between the two older llamas. One of my helpers stood near her to keep her next to her mama.

When I turned the blower on it was pointing away from llamas and humans. Then I pointed the nozzle towards the lower neck and back of one of the older llamas - both of whom LOVE to be groomed. This gave Petals a chance to hear the loud sound of the blower, experience some of the turbulence of the air, and also realize that the senior llamas were not at all afraid. It worked like a charm. Within a few minutes, we were using the blower on Petals and she was figuring out that it felt pretty good.

After the blower, we did a little brushing of this group of llamas and then put Velvet and Petals in the trailer (which I sometimes use as a grooming chute) and I trimmed Velvet's toenails while giving pointers to the group about asking llamas for a foot and about using the trimmers. Petals let me trim her nails while she stood next to Velvet. For the first time in my years of llama owning, I clipped a toenail a little too close, but didn't even realize it until I saw the blood on the floor of the horse trailer. So my helpers got some training in llama first aid too.

Petals enjoying young farm visitors. Velvet is the red-head on the right.

Bless little Petals, who stood so quietly while we applied first aid to her hind foot. She even stood still while Melanie held her cleaned foot off the ground as I went up to the house to get the other first aid kit and bandage scissors. That is unusual for a llama, especially a youngster, to be so cooperative with a foot up in the air. The trick is to always hold their feet quite gently - almost like an egg whose shell you don't want to break. I also don't hold them high off the ground. I let the llama find her balance before I ask for a foot and then I keep the lifted foot fairly low to the ground so she doesn't have to regain balance.

For those of us who are also horse people and used to just sliding a hand down a leg of a seasoned riding horse, and lifting its hoof to clean it, this approach with llamas takes some getting used to. 

Petals continued to show her gentle disposition by letting me change her toenail bandage (a feminine pad with Furazone ointment, plus roll gauze and Vetrap - a bootie of sorts) two more times over the next couple days - never once needing to be tied or restrained. I would just kneel down next to her wherever she was eating and ask for her foot. She would rest it on my thigh while I unwrapped the Vetrap and then checked her toenail. It has healed nicely.

My students and I decided that one thing we would do in case we had a future first aid need would be to take inventory, and verify that each first aid kit is fully stocked. I keep a house first aid kit, a trailer first aid kit, a barn first aid kit. Then I keep other items (that I don't want to freeze) in the house. I have since gone through the first aid kits and made sure that each one has the primary supplies such as bandage scissors. I also recommend that you always have plenty of roll gauze, Vetrap (or similar product) and whatever other bandaging supplies you prefer to have on hand.  

We experienced a horse first aid need a few years ago with our Connemara pony, Jeremiah, and that taught me the lesson about having items in quantity - not just one or two bandages. If you have an injured horse leg that you need to rebandage daily with many layers of bandage, you'll go through your supplies quickly. It is much less expensive to buy things in quantity from the vet supply catalogs than to have to get something at your local drug store.

I'm happy to report that Petals is healed up and still a happy girl. I even tested her out last evening to see if she would give me her foot again, and sure enough she picked it right up for me. I'm relieved that the little incident didn't upset her.

I'm also excited to report that one of my other llamas, Simply Stunning, who has been afraid about having to give up a foot for toenail trimming, showed me last evening that she has turned a corner. I have owned her since October 2010. The first few times I trimmed her toenails, I could do one or two feet, but would have to come back to do the others at a later time so as not to over-stress her. Last night she haltered very quietly, stepped into the grooming chute quietly, and gave me each foot for toenail trimming. She even seems to be recongizing the phrase I use, "Now find your balance. Good girl." Go Stunning! I had her trimmed in just a few minutes. I was so proud of her, and so happy that I had taken my time and not rushed her about it. I think it has made all the difference in the world!

Hard Rock's Simply Stunning with her daughter, Armful of Lilies (they're saying hello to FFF Mas Chiri)

LLama Rovings Now on Etsy

We are excited to report that we now have 100% llama rovings for spinning, felting and other crafts available for your purchase through our Etsy store, heartsongllamas. We had sent our llama fleeces to two different mini-mills that had been recommended to us by other llama breeders for processing into rovings, batts, felted batts and yarn. The first group of fleeces have returned to us from Spinderellas (Utah) as beautiful rovings and batts.



Fiber Sampler of Rovings from 3 Llamas



It is intriguing how each individual fleece has its own unique characteristics, but no matter which llama the fiber came from, the rovings are all very, very soft. To give you opportunity to check out several, we put fiber samplers together that include rovings from FFF Mas Chiri, Cresta Butte MWF and LUA Annabell Status. You can also purchase larger quantities of rovings from any of these three llamas.

Llama Fiber Rovings from FFF Mas Chiri

For Betty's fleeces, we had batts made. They are oh, so luxurious, if I may say so myself! I can't wait to try spinning from one of these. I'll include some photos below. You can also learn more about the rovings and the llamas who produced them at our Etsy store. And, of course, you can always make a visit to the farm website:  www.dawnofpromisefarm.com. 



100% Llama Rovings from LUA Annabell Status

 We'll post more at the Etsy store when Mystic Water Fiber Mill has the felted batts and yarn ready to go! We think they are getting close since they called the other day to talk with us about desired yarn weights. They are spinning fiber from the following llamas into yarn:  LUA Holiday Status, DDH's Gisele, LUA Bravado's Cierra, SVL Llovely Llana and we combined the following mother/son fleeces (super fine and soft) into one yarn - Hard Rock's Silver Fortune and Hard Rock's Primary Colors. Mystic Water was along our route to Minnesota for a fishing trip so we loaded up the vehicle with llama fleeces along with the fishing poles and tackle box!



Batts of Llama Fiber from I Believe "Betty"



Llamas of Dawn of Promise featured in music video

One of our instrumental tunes, Llama Dance, off our Wabash Gypsies cd, is now in music video format on YouTube. It features several of our dear llamas! Check out the blog post at the Scott Greeson Music website which will take you to the link to the video.

http://scottgreesonmusic.com/wordpress/archives/189


If you'd like to learn more about our llamas, please also visit the farm website for Heartsong Llamas of Dawn of Promise Farm.

Momma llama, Stunning, steps in to take the blow

I love to watch and learn from the animals as they interact with me and each other on the farm. I witnessed something very neat a couple nights ago while feeding the llamas. My adult llamas know the routine when I get ready to drop hay down the chutes into the feeders and into the aisle of the barn. The llamas are usually loose in the barn aisle during this routine, so I look down first to make sure no llamas are in the path of the hay that is about to hit the barn aisle floor. If someone is under the chute, I can say "girls, hay coming," and they will back out of the way. The crias don't yet know the routine though.

Tuesday evening, Lily was standing directly under the hay chute. A partial bale of hay hitting on her back would not have felt good, and could have possibly injured her. Her momma, Hard Rock's Simply Stunning, was alert to the situation and was several feet away when she heard me make the hay announcement. When she realized her daughter wasn't moving out of the way, she quickly came over for the rescue. She gave a nudge and didn't get a result, so in her assumption that she needed to make a fast decision, she stretched her long neck and huge frame over her daughter and waited! That sweet momma llama was going to take the hit of the hay on her own back and neck in order to save her daughter from the pain and shock. I just set the hay down in the mow and cried for a bit. I hadn't seen something that beautiful in a little while.

I wasn't going to drop hay on my sweet cria, Lily. But her momma didn't know that. She didn't know that I had seen her daughter standing in the way and that I was going to wait for her to move. The love and care of a momma - llama or otherwise - runs deep.

by Vickie J. Maris
Heartsong Llamas of Dawn of Promise Farm
http://www.dawnofpromisefarm.com/

Llama permits bandaging after costume class experience

Llamas are very trainable. Somewhere along the way of llamas being in the U.S., someone got the idea of dressing them up in costumes for costume class. When judges are judging a costume class of dressed-up llamas, they look for coverage of the llama and cleverness of the costume. The judge likes to see many parts of the llama covered. The idea behind it is you spend time working with your llama desensitizing him or her to wearing the "outfit" and by the time the show rolls around, they are willing to be draped, cloaked or wrapped in the handler's costume creation.

I have never been a fan of a costume class for any species. It just doesn't seem a very dignified thing to do -- to ask such lovely, regal animals to be covered in a costume. And you just don't see other livestock in costumes. But as a trainer and a teacher of young and newbie llama handlers, I do know that it is often a favorite class for the kids. So I go along. But I do not tolerate the creation of a costume the night before a show and not giving the llama a chance to wear and learn the costume ahead of time.

Last summer, my 4-Hers did a great job of starting well enough ahead of the county fair in order to get their llama partners understanding and agreeing to the costumes. We used kind and gentle training techniques that were very effective in getting the llamas to accept their new clothes. We also had to brainstorm with parents and friends on ways to fasten head pieces and other costume elements. In the end, the kids competed with their llamas as a pair of princesses, as clowns and as show girls with fancy head pieces of feathers.

In the end, I was proud of the kids and the llamas. They all worked very hard on the costumes and the training. But I have to admit, I'm still not really a fan of costume class. But I have found a side benefit ... my llama, Betty, got a minor laceration on her hind leg in September and I had to treat it and then keep it clean for a few days while it healed. She stood so very quietly as she was tied in the barn aisle with a simple safety knot on the stall wall for wound treatment each day.

It is not normal for a llama to be willing to let you mess with their legs or their feet. They have a fear of having their ability to flee taken away from them. But there Betty stood for me. Confidant that I would not hurt her. Four feet on the ground while I cleaned her wound, applied a gauze bandage and wrapped her with Vetrap. The Vetrap was the very thing we had used to decorate her legs with in her clown costume, so she was used to all the attention on her legs and feet. OK, so costume class isn't such a bad thing after all!

A Connemara stallion and his llama friends

On the bad weather days, I often have a barn-aisle full of llamas to lead my Connemara stallion through when I turn him out to his pasture. It's llama here, llama there, llama kushing across the aisle, llama chewing cud. Everyone is relaxed and peaceful and enjoying the protection of the barn. They can remain in their spot in the aisle because they have confidence that my 1000-pound horse will step carefully around them.

He is one special stallion. I have had him for 23 years of his 24 years. His name is Kerrymor Madison. We have ridden many a trail, jumped more fences than I can remember and shown in numerous shows. He has Connemara offspring all around North America. In fact, he was honored in 2002 with the An Tostal Hall of Fame Trophy for outstanding performance stallion by the American Connemara Pony Society. His lifelong accomplishments are sweet, but it is in the brief moments such as the one when he exits the barn through all the llamas, where I am reminded daily of the wonders of Mr. Madison.

When some ponies might be banging on their stall door to remind you that it is time to go out, Madison waits patiently. When I slide the door back, he reaches his nose out to nuzzle whichever llama is the closest. I lead him, with a leadrope looped around his neck, through the llamas. He stopped tonight to sniff on Lily, our 6-month old cria, and then shared hay with her from a feed tub. When he got to Cierra, who was kushing across his path, he reached down to nuzzle her back and ask her to stand. He could step over her, but seems to know that wouldn't be a good thing in case she popped up while he was stepping over. He also seems very aware that his hooves could do damage if he placed them too close to the folded limbs of a kushing llama. So he nuzzles, and he waits.

When I get him through the gate and turn him free, he'll still play or roll or do other pony antics. But how awesome is it that he waits to let his energy loose until he's outside and away from his llama friends. Kerrymor Madison is one, very special horse. I am blessed to have him in my life.