Demand for Llamas for Breeding Gains in Popularity Because of Low Upkeep and High Returns to Investors

Nearly everybody names his first llama “Tony,” Stan Ebel says. Often, the second one gets called “Dalai.”

Finding names for the next 128 can be tough, says Ebel, who runs the Great Divide Llamas ranch near Loveland. His 130-head herd, the largest in the state and one of the largest in the country, has a “Balboa,” a “Katmandu” and one “Homer.”

The rest, he says, wind up having fairly common names. Except, that is, for “Edith Piaf,” who came in named that way, and “Amy Vanderbilt,” so named because of the “high society” look about her, Ebel says.

“They tend to be fairly snooty, but she stood out,” he says.

Draws Attention of Investors

Ebel, like a small but growing number of Americans around the country, raises llamas. The aristocratic but usually gentle animals, known for carrying hefty loads on steep and rocky trails in the South American Andes, have been drawing the keen attention of both breeders and investors.

Llamas, it seems, are not only pleasant, friendly and useful companions for mountain hikers. They also deliver alpine returns on investment.

The regal animals chomp up only about $300 a year in feed and maintenance costs. But their female offspring are bringing $5,000 to $10,000 each when they’re sold to breed. Males command $1,500 to $2,500 when they’re destined for pack-carrying duties, says Ebel.

Demand for llamas has been growing sharply in the last few years, according to Ebel, a one-time Nebraska cattleman who moved his ranch to Colorado three years ago. When he started raising llamas eight years ago, the top-priced females were worth only $1,500 to $2,000.

Leased as Pack Animals

Ebel breeds llamas for sale at six months of age. He also leases them out as pack animals to government agencies and mountain hikers, his main business. They cost $20 a day or $600 a season to rent.

Government agencies, such as the forest and park services, use them to carry supplies for trail maintenance crews, Ebel says. They are more sure-footed than horses and they don’t have the kind of impact on the wild that a jeep has. Outfitters that take parties of hikers into the hills also use them, he says.

Llama wool, too, provides another practical use for the animals. It comes in a broad range of earth tones and is commonly used in hats.

“I don’t think it’s a fad,” Ebel says. “I don’t know how long it can stay this hot. I think it’s in the process of maturation, just like any animal enterprise. Basically, we’re where the horse and cattle industry was over 100 years ago.”

Sally Taylor, the secretary-treasurer of the International Llama Assn. of Bozeman, Mont., said she “would be surprised” if the growth rate stayed as brisk as it has been the last few years. But she said “steady” growth in demand is likely.

“They certainly give as much pleasure as a horse and maybe more,” the ILA officer said, adding that they are particularly good pets for older persons who may not want to handle a heavier animal.

The 3-year-old ILA claims about 1,000 members. Many are in the Northwest, in such places as Sisters, Ore., where the nation’s largest herd, a 500-head group, is found. The Rocky Mountain region is also a popular breeding ground, with about 40 persons raising the animals in Colorado, Ebel says.

Nationwide, the llama herd numbers between 7,000 and 8,000--perhaps double what it was five years ago, according to Brad Sprouse of Maple City, Mich. No one really knows past numbers because the ILA started counting llama noses only recently. Sprouse, an ILA director, has about 55 of the animals.

No matter how fast the herd may be growing, interest in llamas has broadened beyond the ranch. As many as five llamas can be raised on an acre, so persons who have tracts of one to two acres find it easy to accommodate the animals, Sprouse said.

Companionship Vital

They need only housing, some grass or alfalfa to eat, a good supply of clean water and a salt block. They also need the companionship of other llamas, so they should be sold in groups of at least two. Still, Sprouse said: “It’s almost a backyard type situation.”

Ebel says: “They keep as easily as a dog.”

So seriously is the industry being taken, though, that insurance companies are offering to insure llamas. Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., a New York-based insurance brokerage firm, is using its Denver office as its national base to sell llama insurance from one such carrier, the Cigna Corp.

“We’ve sold 12 policies so far,” said Esther Seed, an account executive with Alexander & Alexander.

One policy, a non-deductible, full-mortality policy, covers llamas 6 months to 15 years old. The other, also a non-deductible policy, covers named perils, ranging from natural disasters to theft and malicious mischief to poisoning, drowning or accidental shooting.