 Carolyn and I own Walnut Ridge Llamas which is located in a small community called Chuckey in Northeast Tennessee, near the Smoky Mountains. We live in a log cabin on a small 10 acre farm. We currently have 35-40 llamas. I am a high school principal and Carolyn is a 4th grade teacher. We have owned llamas since 1998.
Jill: How long have llamas been a part of your lives? What was your first 'llama' experience? Who influenced your decision to purchase your first llamas? Do you have a 'mentor' that helped you?  In the spring of 1998, we attended the Rare Breed Livestock, Miniature, and Pet Expo in Knoxville and fell in love with llamas. We have raised a variety of animals on our small 10 acre farm for many years, but when we became acquainted with llamas, we sold most of the other animals. We purchased a male at the exposition and then a female soon thereafter. These two llamas later produced our first cria in November 1999. That was when we knew we were hooked on llamas. The summer of 2000, we decided to upgrade our herd to more show quality llamas and purchased the first members of our current foundation show herd from Berry Acres. Dan & Dale Goodyear have been wonderful mentors of ours in helping us develop a quality herd. Our first show quality herdsire, BAL Epic, was purchased from Berry Acres. Our initial success in showing was with Epic, who won Grand Championships almost every time we showed him including one Best of Show. Our other mentors were Ken & Kathy Smalley who taught us how to enjoy showing llamas. Then we attended the Celebrity Sales in Oklahoma City and have been regular supporters of the premium llama auctions and events since then.
Influences in the llama community? What is the main function of your llamas? (i.e. breeding, sales, show, personal enjoyment, etc.) Most rewarding aspect of owning llamas?  First of all, we raise llamas because we love them and thoroughly enjoy being around them. Being educators these days is becoming more stressful all the time, with the high stakes testing and dealing with the personal problems that children bring to school. Being with the llamas and people in the llama community are perfect outlets for us to relax after stressful days at school. Llamas have also been a wonderful conduit for Carolyn and me to "find each other again" now that our children are grown. We both have a passion for llamas and each other. Believe it or not, we are the most content when we are together at the barn cleaning, feeding, and playing with the crias. The showing aspect has been great for us. It has allowed us to meet so many people who are also "llamaholics". Most of our friends and acquaintances today are in the llama community. We try to participate in 5-6 shows each year and attend most of the premium auctions including the Celebrity Sales, LFA, and production sales. It is rare for us to leave an auction without 1-2 llamas in tow. I am also on the Southern States Llama Association Board of Directors and Carolyn volunteers as the Editor of the SSLA Llama Journal.
What is your breeding philosophy? Accomplishments you are proud of?  Our motto is "Breeding a New Generation of Quality Llamas". To be able to live up to the goals of our motto, we must purchase quality llamas that have the attributes that we feel is important to the llama breed and will further the continuation of the species as a viable and strong member of the animal kingdom. We have raised several types of animals on our farm and worked to improve the quality of the breed. Llamas have been an interesting study in comparison to other types of animals. The breeding standards in llamas seem to change with the latest trends. Our fears are that the chase for the most recent look and higher prices will deteriorate the quality of the breed as a whole. How many throwaway llamas will it take to produce the "new look" that some are after? Being educators, Carolyn and I are interested in the history of llamas and follow the bloodlines very closely when we purchase llamas. We realize that the fiber has improved greatly through the years, but also have noticed that some breeding programs have not sacrificed the overall conformation of the llama to produce the wonderful fibers we have today. Our breeding goals are to produce medium to large athletic llamas with good conformation and silky fiber. We believe with selective breeding practices, we can produce the kind of llama that is true to the breed.
The accomplishments we are most proud of would be the friendships and bonds we have developed with many people in the llama community. We try to be a positive influence on whatever llama event we are attending. The true quality of life is in the relationships that you make with those around you. People have commented on how well we have done in the show ring in such a short time on a very limited budget (we are educators). In four years of showing, our llamas have earned several grand championships and two Best of Shows. We seem to have the "eye" for purchasing quality llamas at farms and auctions. We feel that our purchases the last four years have allowed us to build a quality foundation herd. The crias that we are now producing have the attributes that we are breeding for and are fulfilling the goal of our motto, "breeding a new generation of quality llamas". Advice for new/prospective llama owners?  Like any good educator would say, "Do your homework". We feel that our early success in reaching our breeding goals have been in doing our homework to find out as much about the llamas and their bloodlines before we attend an auction or a farm. A well known llama breeder once told us that he must have seen us in every stall at the Celebrity one year. Also, find some mentors that will help you whether you purchase from them or not. We are constantly on the phone talking with llama folks asking and answering questions. There are no true experts when it comes to llamas. All of us should be life-long llama learners. Purchase the best llamas you can in the price range you can afford. Your odds are greater of producing quality crias if you have quality parents. However, the price doesn't always determine the quality of the llamas. Don't purchase on emotion. Again, do your homework, and the rest will take care of itself.
Future plans? We want to continue breeding silky llamas, showing, and step into the premium auction venues. That will be a new venture for us; however, we feel that we are now producing the quality llamas that we would want to put into an auction to promote our farm and breeding program. It is very difficult for small farms to break into the premium auctions and get reasonable prices for their entries. Carolyn and I realize that we cannot make a living by just raising llamas, but our passion to make llamas a major part of our lives has given us some additional goals to work toward. Carolyn loves to teach children and loves to be on the farm so we are going to add a new venture to our llama life. Our goal is to develop an agritourism plan to attract school groups and travelers to our working llama farm. The name of the venture would be the Walnut Ridge Llama Farm and Store. We would target three markets to develop; educational field trips for school age children, llama therapy for special need adults and children, and provide unique experiences for the many local bed & breakfasts, local motel/hotels, and rental cabin visitors that come to our area. We will also provide seasonal events that would attract visitors to our farm throughout the year. The first market to develop involves providing educational field trips for a 10 county surrounding area. We are researching curriculum standards for each elementary grade level to find which levels would correlate best with llamas, farming, and South American culture. We would develop unit and lesson plans that correlate with the state curriculum guidelines addressing life science, and the history and culture of South America. Students would visit the llama farm to learn more about the history and uses of llamas in South America and the origins of llamas. They would also have hands-on activities including crafts using llama fiber and llama petting/hiking. The second target market would be to develop a relationship with local organizations responsible for special needs adults and children. Llamas have the perfect calm demeanor to use for animal therapy with special need individuals. We would provide activities involving fun, fiber crafting, and llama petting/hiking. The third target market would be aimed toward visitors who stay in the many local bed and breakfasts, hotels/motels, and rental cabins. These tourists usually enjoy doing unique types of activities such being introduced to and hiking with llamas. Our facilities would offer a leisure afternoon retreat involving llama petting/hiking, lunch, and shopping for unusual and unique items (clothing, alpaca bears/toys, fiber and spinning products, etc) in the marketplace store. Our farm is only one mile from a busy four-lane highway. We plan to build a 24 x 36 building to house a store for llama/alpaca goods and products, a small café, handicap bathrooms, and an office/storage area. We currently have a website of our llama farm (www.WalnutRidgeLlamas.com ), and are currently developing a website for the llama retreat featuring the "Sit & Spit Café and Store". What a wonderful way to share our passion for llamas with other people. Jerry & Carolyn Ayers
Walnut Ridge Llamas
P.O. Box 239
Chuckey, Tennessee 37641
423-257-2875
http://www.walnutridgellamas.com/
ayers@WalnutRidgeLlamas.com |
Interviews and News 
