Ticks can cause a variety of problems but the one we are most concerned with is Tick Paralysis.  Tick Paralysis is caused by a female tick essentially back washing her saliva into the wound to keep her patent for another feeding at a later time.  Her saliva contains toxins which paralyze the muscles of the animal.  In the llamas they appear clinically in sternal or lateral recumbency but are alert & responsive.  If left untreated can lead to the death of the animal.  The treatment is removal of the tick.  The trick is finding the tick!  These downed animals are quickly inspected for ticks & body shorn to ensure that no tick is hiding under all that fiber.  We also deworm with injectable Ivomec or Dectomax.  The deworming method can take 2-3 days to kill the tick.  With over 100 llamas & ticks a threat throughout the spring, summer & fall, I have chosen a pro-active approach. 

GUINEAS!

These unattractive & I agree noisy creatures are wonderful consumers of ticks!  I built our chicken house out in the middle of a field.  I hatched out & raised over 30 guineas & 20 chickens that all freely roam the fields in search of bugs.  There is a bonus to these creatures in that they love to scratch through the manure piles which reduces fly larvae & it helps to break down the manure faster.  It does take a lot of guinea eggs to make an omelet, but they are mighty tasty.  These birds are all around great in my book.

If you would like to try guineas on your farm, drop me a line.  I sell eggs (basically for the cost of shipping plus $2.00/doz) for as long as we have eggs during the spring & summer.  I will have eggs ready to go before May 1st.

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Send mail to salrllamas@colfax.com with questions or comments about this web site.

Copyright 2000-2008© by Jennifer Bowman.   All rights reserved.  No information or photos contained within these pages may be copied, transmitted or reproduced without written permission of the copyright owner.
Last modified: 07/22/08