Guarantees and the
"extras"
that are STANDARD
with our llamas
All of our llamas are microchipped
in a safe location for your (and their) protection, and come
with money-back guarantees appropriate to their purpose
(packing, breeding stock, etc), full disclosure of their
known history, and a fitted halter.
That's $75 you don't have to spend, plus
priceless service you won't get in writing -- if you can get
it at all -- from most other sellers
Packers are sold with a fitted pack saddle (Flaming Star) and the opportunity to purchase the
panniers of your choice at a discount. Depending on specific
limitations, light-duty packers may be sold with a fitted
pack saddle (Flaming Star) or a complete pack system (Flaming
Star Trail Boss) that is suitable for dayhikes, showing, and
light loads; some light- and limited-duty packers are only sold
with the option to purchase such equipment at a discount. Certain
llamas may be purchased with a cart and harness and initial ground
driving and in-harness training by special arrangement.
Either the saddle or the dayhike system
is $200 more you don't have to spend, and the benefit of having
a properly-fitted, llama-comfortable pack saddle can mean the
difference between whether your new llama packs for the rest
of his or her life, or only for a couple of years.
If you are a new llama owner, you will also receive a lead rope and appropriate
grooming tools with your new llama, and a set of safe tethers
with each pack llama. If you are buying a second pack llama,
you will also receive a safe, shock-absorbing stringing lead.
The lead rope and grooming tools not only
represent another $40 you don't have to spend, but incalculable
savings in your time and, most importantly, a good deal of pain
and anguish is avoided for the llama.
You're not just saving $5-25 on tethers
-- incorrect tethers (especially when coupled with the wrong
halters) can cost a llama his or her soundness ... or life (see
Lost
Creek Three-Fingered Jack). So you may actually be saving
the entire purchase price of the llama!
All breeding llamas are bloodtyped and are suitable for use in our own exclusive breeding
program; nonbreeding llamas have been spayed or castrated.
Bloodtyping represents a savings of up
to $100 per llama.
Neutering represents a savings of $150-$400
per llama.
All of our llamas are sold with full disclosure of personal history, known history of relatives and
ancestors, and (for nonbreeding animals only, obviously!) known
or suspected genetic defects. You'll find, for instance, the
reason(s) each animal was castrated or spayed on his or her webpage.
Go ahead, look around. Look everywhere.
A lot of people will sell you llamas. Not a lot of them even
know their animals' complete history let alone the type of information
we ferret out about our animals' parents. Those who do know may
or may not tell you all about a specific llama's strong points
. . . AND his or her "warts." We will. Whether
your goal is to breed superior, genetically sound classic llamas
or just to find just the right llama friend for yourself, complete
background information and full disclosure are invaluable to
a successful purchase.
A
few words about pricing
Putting a price on a living creature
is really tough. Besides the fact that each one is completely
unique and has a myriad of qualities that can't be duplicated
exactly, no one can really own a llama any more than one can
really own the land or another human.
At the same time, barns and fences
and hay and supplemental feed and veterinary services all cost
money. The guy who sells us our great hay (for instance) has
to fuel in his tractor, heat his home, put food on his table,
and so forth. We don't get any discounts from him or anyone else
for being nice people who are nice to llamas. And then there's
the time we spend matching llamas to new homes and training new
llama caretakers. The bottom line: We have to ask a fair price
when we place a nice llama in a nice new home with nice humans.
Llama happiness (and that means
buyer happiness, too!) is of utmost importance to us. Even though
that philosophy can cut into financial returns, the reality is
that raising and/or training pack llamas is not very profitable
at all.
When raising, training and selling
pack llamas, profit after expenses, if any, is
generally limited to repayment of training time invested at about
minimum wage (or less). We figure the base expense of breeding
and raising a registered and neutered pack prospect averages
$800. We also sell a fitted pack saddle and halter with the
animal to minimize the possibility that the animal might be mistreated
(and ruined) with ill-fitting or painful equipment -- and that
brings the total price to $1000 before any costs
such as our time, gas for transportation, and money for farmsitters
while we're gone on training trips ... let alone farm overhead!
An animal that takes to packing
in one season with 40 hours of training and trail time (including
individual work, not just being strung along with other llamas)
is only making us a small "profit" if the animal is
also so physically superior and charismatic that we can ask (and
get) a higher price. A more average llama who has some physical
"glitches" or some less-than-perfect temperament qualities
-- necessitating a lower selling price -- already has out-of-pocket
costs equal to the that eventual selling price; if that llama
requires two packing seasons with 100 hours of training and trail
time, you can see we're in the hole in a big way. And that doesn't
even begin to touch on the trials, tribulations, and frustrations
of training trips with rookie llamas -- NOT relaxing, and NOT
an enjoyable expenditure of our scarce time off work!!!
Of course it would be ideal for
us to just buy or breed better llamas for pack training from
the start, but that's far easier said than done (and it doesn't
help the many talented llamas who need a little extra TLC from
us to find their niche and shine). But more to the point, it's
far easier to CLAIM a llama is ideal than to make it so in the
first place ... because profit usually evaporates when full disclosure
is made (or the truth comes out) about the average
"pack" llama. We DO DISCLOSE. Most other sellers point
out their llamas' attributes and hope you won't notice the flaws
(and they soft-peddle anything you do happen to find). As
honest breeders, we're competing with the many less-than-honest
"breeders" and resellers who are perfectly
comfortable selling unsuitable or marginally-suitable llamas
with minimal training (and no guarantees) to uneducated buyers
at prices that will always beat ours.
It's your money; you get to decide
who you want it to go to and for what. They're our llamas; we
get to decide if you measure up!
What determines prices?
We take many things into consideration:
- How close is the llama to the
physical ideal for performance and soundness?
- How charismatic is the llama?
How cooperative? How amenable with other llamas?
- Are there difficulties or barriers
to placement that will require us to hold out for a relatively
unique situation?
- Does a particular llama have
special qualities that are desirable and/or unusual in llamas?
- What is the llama's training
and experience level?
- How much demand is there for
a particular type of llama with particular skills?
- What would we have to pay for
a similar llama? Or would we even be able to find one?
When pricing breeding stock,
we also consider the llama's ancestry, including reproductive
and genetic soundness, whether the llama's geneology is outcross
or common ancestry, and both the percentage and the quality of
the animal's known classic and proven performing ancestors.
Food for thought: An average
purebred puppy with absolutely no training (that includes not
being housebroken ... piddle, piddle!) can cost $300 - $600 (or
more). A llama lives more than twice as long as a dog and our
llamas are sold with more training than most dogs end up with,
not to mention a lot more is guaranteed. Overproduction and buyer
ignorance certainly are keeping prices down for untrained llamas
and will for some years to come, but even taking that into consideration,
it sure beats us why people THINK to they should pay next to
nothing for a trained llama, let alone one that is well-conformed,
trained, and proven.
What
we DO and DON'T sell
We DON'T sell weanlings and juveniles
We have committed to keeping llamas we've
produced until they've stopped growing and physically maturing
-- that means until they are at least four years old -- to allow
us to collect complete growth data for our research, and to allow
us to screen out any llamas we have purchased that may develop
soundness problems at maturity. This practice also means unscrupulous
buyers have no opportunity to ruin our special animals (and our
reputation) by working or breeding them too young. For previous
customers and for those who have already proven by their actions
that we can trust them to wait, we will consider selling immature
llamas.
We then generally keep each llama for at least
one and sometimes two more years of training and trail experience
to ensure that none of our llamas will be worked or bred before
they are physically and mentally ready. This also gives us the
time to train each llama at his or her own pace, and to get to
know them as young adults, which is very important to assessing
their talents and facilitating appropriate placement.
Our customers get the joy of a well-adjusted,
trained llama with properly fitting equipment and proven excellence,
and they tell us this alone is worth far more than the price
they paid. As one happy buyer said, "We have a new appreciation for the time and
training you put into your animals. Knowing something is superior
and actually experiencing it are two different things!"
We DO sell happy, personable packing females,
not half-wild walking incubators!
It is important to us to place our excellent
packing females in the type of home that will provide them with
an interesting, purposeful life. We would much rather see them
go to good "usin'" homes -- where they will receive
the special attention and partake in the enjoyable activities
that they are used to -- than to become a mere face in a crowd
of breeding-only females ... because that's what they'd prefer,
too. If you are looking for a truly excellent pack llama,
don't ignore any of our available females (unless you have
a single pasture and already own geldings)!
Upon receipt of a deposit and execution of
a signed pre-purchase contract, we can spay
a particular female (only from the sales list!), and we will
than reduce her price accordingly. Please understand that spaying
a female does NOT make her suitable for pasturing with studs
or geldings!
We DON'T sell "bred females"!
Please note that although any females who
are sold as "breeding females" at the breeding female
price are guaranteed to be reproductively sound, we do not sell pregnant llamas
("bred females") except to approved previous customers.
"Bred females" are a bad deal for
you, for the llama, and for us: the female starts her
pregnancy under physical and mental stress and with a change
in diet; you run a high risk of pregnancy loss, often
undetected, and subsequent lost time and effort, AND you don't
get the opportunity to honestly assess the female before deciding
whether she's right for you (disposition is often quite different
during pregnancy); we always guarantee that we'll take
a llama back if s/he doesn't work out, but if we were to take
back a pregnant female, we'd then be taking back two -- one being
the unborn cria we did not choose to create (and if we'd wanted
that baby, you can bet the mother would never have been for sale
in the first place!).
For all breeding females, we will provide
discounted breedings to any suitable classic
studs we own and have chosen to stand to outside females
AFTER you've had the time to assess the female in your herd for
at least 90 days. In some unusual circumstances, we may also
agree to breedings for females we've sold to suitable classic
studs we are not officially standing to outside females.
An alternative to purchasing a breeding female
is arranging to lease a female for breeding. That's much better
for the llama than buying her already pregnant, and less risk
and responsiblity for you than buying a female llama, period!
We do lease some of our own females if we are not breeding them
ourselves (or resting them) at that time; we usually lease for
a one or two year period only.
The downside to leasing is the same as the
hard reality of breeding -- whatever you produce is exactly what
you get, not your fantasies, hopes and dreams.
Be aware that we won't lease females for breeding
unless you are using approved studs (whether ours or others).
Not
interested in pack or harness llamas?
Only want one pack or harness
llama,
but need to find affordable
llama companionship for him or her?
We often can refer you to generic pet-quality
llamas (generally handleable) and llawnmower-quality (touch-me-not)
llamas needing placement FOR FREE. Just email
us.
We do occasionally have companion llamas
available from hardship relocations or for other reasons. Because we've put a lot of our own money into rescue,
relocation, and rehabilitation, we do ask a fair (but not high-end)
price for these llamas ... to help defray costs from the many
llamas we assist whose expenses far exceed what we get
back (if we even get anything back ... ).
If we don't have what you're looking for,
we can refer you to a number of responsible people who are active
in llama welfare. You can also locate
llamas in need of homes through Llama
RescueNet, which no longer takes in llamas directly, but
instead will refer you to bona fide rescuers and organizations.
Stillpointe Sanctuary,
is a bona fide llama rescue organization and a 501.c.3 nonprofit
based in NW Washington.
Be careful when looking for rescued llamas
to adopt -- some "rescue" organizations and individuals
are not the genuine article (both for llamas and for other species).
Want
to save or rescue a llama?
Some people want to save money and "rescue"
a cheap or free llama. The intentions are great, and the reality
is ugly. We're all for llama rescue -- but when the humans go
about it the wrong way, the end result is often just as bad or
worse for the llamas as whatever mess they're currently in.
First, many of these llamas aren't in any
peril at all. The sellers may not care too much where the llama
is going, but the llama is being provided with the basics. That's
not rescue; that's enabling people who shouldn't be breeding.
As for those llamas who are at some kind of
risk, the benefits to you and to the llama are not as clear-cut
as they may appear. Understand that just because you can get
a louse-ridden, ill-kempt, ungroomed, and parasitized llama with
no guarantee from the auction or an ad in your local "penny
saver" for free or next to nothing doesn't mean that you
are getting a deal -- or that the llama is "lucky"
to be "saved". You're actually getting the better deal
on post-rescue llamas from people like us, and so are
the llamas -- experienced llama rescuers are much better able
and equipped to diagnose, handle, quarantine, and train those
auction and "penny saver" llamas than most people,
and certainly they'll do a better job than people new to llamas
(the auction and "penny saver" llamas who find themselves
in the hands of newbies can and do pay for newbie "good
intentions" with their lives). Also be warned that "calm
and gentle" llamas with health problems virtually always
turn out to be terribly wild if they can be returned to health.
Rehabilitating these llamas -- both health and training -- isn't
for newbies, period.
You ARE helping llama rescue and supporting
responsible llama stewardship whenever you buy a relocated or
companion llama from any of the other people who genuinely make
rescue, relocation, and/or rehabilitation a priority in their
lives.
No one who rescues llamas can help any more llamas in need ... until
someone provides permanent homes to those llamas
who have already been taken in, nursed back to health, and given
remedial training.
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