Every once in a while, on a farm atop a hill in Springfield Township, a bit of llama drama erupts.
The girls, all eight, got outside the fence once and went on a sightseeing adventure down Tindall Road.
The seven boys’especially two not neutered’squabble at times.
But it’s usually nothing to worry about, say David Janeway and Sylvia Ritchie, the husband and wife who own and care for 15 llamas on an 8-acre parcel in Davisburg; it’s just part of everyday life at Primos del Camello.
It all started in January 1999 when the couple, who affectionately refer to the animals as ‘the boys? and ‘the girls,? came across an advertisement for alpacas in ‘Martha Stewart Living? magazine.
They looked at the Web site, made some phone calls and found a neighbor raising alpacas’an animal closely related to llamas’just a few miles down the road.
The couple’s interest continued to grow as they traveled across state lines to visit other farms.
‘The last day of our trip we came across Cody,? said the couple on their Web site. ‘Cody was a guardian llama who guarded his alpaca girls with a passion; he had personality, charm and charisma. Every time we tried to take a picture’he stood sideways, ears back and glared’daring us to take his picture. We couldn’t get him out of our minds.?
And so it was decided. The couple embarked on a quest to learn as much as they could about the animals through phone calls, farm visits, books and magazine articles, clinics conferences and Web sites.
Then, in March, the first two llamas came to live on the farm. Two more arrived in May, and Tonk, who today remains one of the farm’s two intact males, entered the pastures in June.
‘That’s Tonk over there,? said Janeway, motioning toward a seemingly proud, yet aloof-looking llama last week. ‘He thinks he owns this whole place. He’s a dirty street fighter.?
To illustrate, Janeway explained: Tonk often waits until PJ, the farm’s other intact male, is harnessed and on his way to the barn for care’then attacks when the animal is in no position to defend himself.
‘We’ve got 15 different animals here,? said Janeway, who knows his girls, and his boys, as if they were his own children. ‘And we’ve got 15 completely different personalities. All these animals are very smart, and very lovable.?
From early on, the couple began showing the llamas of Primos del Camello at fairs and other special events.
Although the animals still go out from time to time, efforts these days focus on breeding and breeding services, raising and selling llamas, and shearing the animals each spring for their soft fiber, which is then cleaned and sent for processing.
No dyes are used, and the yarns come back the same color they went out’in shades of white, grey, redish brown, brown, dark brown and black.
Llamas have a fine undercoat often used for crafts and garments, while coarser outer hair is used for rugs, wall-hangings and lead ropes.
In addition to the fiber, Ritchie and Janeway discovered another valuable commodity produced by the llamas: poop.
In 2001, the new product was added to the line-up of goods and services available from the farm: processed llama manure sells for a dollar per pound.
‘It chips up very nicely,? said Janeway, who collects the droppings’a pack of llamas tend to all relieve themselves in the same area’lets it dry then runs it through his wood-chipper. ‘It makes excellent fertilizer.?
By the time the llamas have processed the food through their three stomachs, it is very well broken down so that when it is dried and shredded, there is no odor, no burn.
And what about the common belief that llamas are quick to spit?
Not so.
‘Just don’t stare that one in the face,? Janeway warns as a dark-colored girl approaches. ‘She’ll spit you back.?
But, he explains, spitting is not a common behavior for llamas, something they do only when provoked. The level of provoking is specific to each personality, and personality is specific to each animal.
Even then, he said, a warning spit, mostly air, usually precedes serious spitting’when whatever the llama happens to be eating hits the victim’or the really serious spitting’slimy regurgitated green stuff.
‘The first time I got spit at,? Janeway recalls, ‘I was double-barreled in the face with green stuff.?
It happens, he said, but not often.
In addition to the llamas, the farm also hosts four chickens, who incidentally do not need a rooster around the house in order to lay eggs, and several guinea birds’who look a bit like chickens, make good watch animals and eat lots of bugs from the garden.
The farm is also home to two ‘dogs? named Tansy and Ziggy’who look and sound suspiciously similar to goats’and Precious, a pot-bellied pig who barks like a dog and doesn’t care for creatures of the human sort.
Visit www.pdcllamas.com or call 248-634-2674 for more information.