Blytheville llamas give exotic flair

For Ann Smith, a longtime resident of Blytheville, her llamas give an exotic feel to her farm. Both of her llamas are female and older, but they are alert and Smith describes them as cat-like in their reflexes.

Smith's llamas named Tweenie-Weenie and Springtime live in the pasture behind her home. Several large fans cool the llamas during the day so they can survive the ongoing heat advisory warnings.

Llamas are primarily pack animals, so when a coyote killed one of Smith's llamas, she said the grief that Tweenie-Weenie experienced was intense.

"You could see her tears," she said.

The solution was simple. She had to find Tweenie-Weenie a companion and at first, she tried a donkey, several donkeys, and even a pony. None of those animals worked. Finally, Smith said she was able to find a local refuge for llamas that offered her a female llama that breeders had abandoned because she was infertile.

Springtime was the perfect companion and eventually the two llamas were inseparable after a month of being introduced to one another.

"Llamas are herd animals," Smith said. "So they must have a companion."

Llamas are widely used in South America as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era.

The llama's ears are rather long and slightly curved inward, known as banana-shaped. There is no dorsal hump, despite being related to a camel. The feet are narrow, the toes being more separated than in the camels, each having a distinct plantar pad.

Much like alpacas, their wool is soft but only contains a small amount of lanolin. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions and can carry about 30% of their body weight.

Smith says that schoolchildren do come once a year to visit her llamas.

"They bring baby carrots to feed them and it's a whole experience for them," she said.

As far as her attachment to the animals, Smith said that she adores them.

"Just look at her beautiful eyelashes," she said while pointing to Tweenie-Weenie.