An alpaca farm in Martha’s Vineyard recently hired two llamas to protect its herd from coyote attacks.
Island Alpaca Company, located in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, announced the arrival of two new llamas in response to a coyote sighting, the Vineyard Gazette reported Wednesday. Though llamas closely resemble alpacas, the new residents are more territorial in nature than alpacas.
The farm’s manager, Lexi Hughes, told the outlet that she didn’t want to take any chances after a coyote was seen near the farm. “There was one [coyote] sighting over here on Deer Run and that kind of scared me a bit,” Hughes said. “We’ve never seen them on the property but of course we’re not here 24/7.”
According to its website, Island Alpaca Company farms 31 alpacas for breeding and sales, and is open to the Martha’s Vineyard community for events such as alpaca yoga and a local farmer’s market. Hughes told the outlet that llamas have not lived on the farm for over a decade, but the new residents present an opportunity to educate the public on the differences between alpacas and llamas. (RELATED: Colleges Recruit ‘Therapy Llamas’ To Comfort Stressed Students)
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Llamas are taller, with longer snouts and pointer ears and are protective of any other livestock they board with. Hughes said one of the new llamas, Spring, is just under a year old and will be a future guard llama for the herd once she gets older. The second llama, Poppy, is 15 and already a dominant matriarch of the herd, patrolling the fence line.
“She’ll let off an alarm call when she sees something to tell everyone ‘hey pay attention,'” Hughes told the outlet. “If that predator is coming in or anything she will go toward it. She’s not afraid.”
The farm hopes to add more llamas or breed Poppy and Spring in 2024, but even purchasing two llamas presented a difficulty. In a press release, Island Alpaca owner Barbara Ronchetti said the United States llama population has declined significantly in the past twenty years. Ronchetti was unable to find any llamas in New England and had to transport Poppy and Spring from a breeding farm in Pennsylvania.