photo found in Jan 1990 Llamas Magazine

To start out the year 2004, I thought we would feature Lopez. As you can see above, his sire was Chief Sitting Bull (who was featured last month), and his dam was Lolita Gabor. Lolita Gabor was acquired from Jerry Berman's herd in the mid 1970's by Patterson Ranch. The first listed or registered offspring of Lolita Gabor by the ILR was Lilliput (sire Bask) born February 5, 1976 on Patterson Ranch. Lopez was her 3rd offspring on file with the ILR.

Lopez was born at Patterson Ranch on August 1, 1978. He is listed as having a solid brown body with a black face. Andy Tillman claims he did not have tipped ears. There have been few llamas before or since who can match his body wool production. His first registered offspring was a male named Chambe born on November 15, 1981 (dam - Lima RO06. Though Chambe is the oldest know offspring, probably the most famous is Federico born June 4, 1983 (dam - Fredericka) at Tillman Llamas.

photo found in 1991 JEWELS

Here is a fun article I found in Llamas Magazine, HERDSIRE edition, June 1990:

Where Did That Sire Get His Name?

Lopez/Tillman Llamas

Lopez was purchased by Andy Tillman in 1982 from a color snap shot. "I still remember flipping through the snap shots," writes Andy. "There was nothing spectacular; just a herd of old-fashioned, white llamas and then, this picture of Lopez. Lopez, who has wool down to the ground, is wooly even by 1990 standards, but imagine my surprise to see a picture of a llama like that in 1982!"

"I turned the photograph over and saw that the animal's name was Lopez. That is how I learned the name of my future herd sire. I called the owners and learned that Lopez was originally from Dick Patterson's herd. Their asking price was $1,000 and I am ashamed to admit that I offered them $750, but in addition I offered to help them sell the rest of their herd with no commission."

"Last year, on twenty outside breedings and two baby sales, Lopez made Cheryl and I more than most of CEO's make in a year! That's the llama business for you and that's how Lopez got his name."

* * * * *

After reading Andy's article I can't help but wonder where he bought him from. Since there are a lot of Via Llamas offspring from Lopez in the database and they had a lot of white females, AND one of their big studs' (Via's Top Gun) sire is Lopez... Well you get the picture. Someday, I will just have to ask Andy or Cheryl.