One of Louise Kerr's llamas smiles like the Chesshire Cat at Kerr's farm in Kennewick. Kerr, who breeds and sells the animals, does most of her business over the Internet.

Story by Terry Hudson
Photos by Paul T. Erickson

(Reprinted from the Tr-City Herald Newspaper)

Louise Kerr knows a thing or two about the Internet, Web pages and digital cameras.

But it was a species used as pack animals for thousands of years that motivated her to learn about and make use of the latest technology.

Kerr breeds and sells llamas from her home on the eastern outskirts of Kennewick; her side business is called Hillview Llamas. Down to eight of the animals, Kerr's herd was thinned in a big way when she recently sold 10 llamas to three people from three Midwestern states.

"Ninety-nine percent of it comes in over the Internet," Kerr said. "It's amazing. I love the Internet."

Eight of the animals went to a woman in North Dakota, another llama enthusiast Kerr had been communicating with over the Internet,

"That was really wonderful. They were all buddies, and they get to stay together," Kerr said.

Kerr has had as many as 21 llamas at one time.

"It was never my intention to have 21 animals," she said. "But you go to an auction here and there and pretty soon you have a bunch of them. If you have the space, 21 is wonderful. They're not that much work, and they're pretty efficient."

Ten years ago, Kerr's husband Normand was visiting his son near White Salmon and stayed at a bed-and-breakfast that had llamas.

When he told Louise, she wanted to go see them. Not long afterward, she bought her first llama, named Northwest Fog, in Dallas, Or.

Purchased as a pet, Kerr eventually rationalized buying another one. "It's not good for a llama to be by itself" she said. "They're like photo chips. You can't have just one. She explained the move into breeding the animals in simple terms. "If you have a boy and you have a girl, pretty soon you have a baby ... and so it goes," Kerr said.

In 1996, the Kerrs bought a Web page at an auction. There were charges to make any changes to it," she said. "I decided I could learn to do that. That's how we ended up with a digital camera too.

She also uses the Internet to communicate with others about llama health issues, shows and other related information.

Kerr has large pens for the animals set up behind the family home. The animals are naturally curious. Entering their pen, one is quickly surrounded. Kerr pointed out two males in separate pens, one that soon will be on his way to Minnesota. The other will stay put. "Hormones on the hoof," she said, referring to the one that will remain with her. "He's like a teen-age boy starting to figure things out."

Over the past 10 years, Kerr said she's sold between 40 and 50 llamas. Of the four females she still has, three are pregnant.

"They are very mild mannered," Kerr said. "Like a cat in some ways. THey like being around you but sometimes they'd rather not be touched."

The highest price Kerr has received for a llama is $10,000.

"The market is bad," she said. "It's not a big profit maker but it pays the water and grocery bills for the animals."

Some people use the animals for hiking, some for wool and some for pets. Kerr has been breeding hers to produce wool.

Sometimes she'll send wool in an envelope so a prospective buyer can see the color and get the feel of the wool.

Fifteen years ago, the llama was seen as an exotic animal in the United States. But as the llama population has grown, the uniqueness has dwindled. "At first, people thought they could make money on them," she said. "Now, I think people want them mainly as companions. Ten years ago, it cost more to buy them, and there was a good market. (Now) the market had bottomed out to where a lot more people can afford them."

More information can be found at: http://www.owt.com/hillview