PEDIGREE POWER – How We Got Here

by Sally Rucker

Presented in February 2007 at the ILR Lamaribbean Conference

This Conference is primarily focusing on the future of the “llama industry.” My job is to give a brief overview of the past and to demonstrate the value of knowing the history and pedigrees of our industry, especially when making breeding decisions and making long-range industry plans. Our industry has made incredible progress with selective breeding over our very short time breeding, about 30 years and approximately 10 generations at the outside. As a livestock industry we are in our infancy, but according to many breeders both here and in South America we have managed to develop some of the finest llama fiber in the world. Andy Tillman asserts that our finest llamas have a finer micron count and lower prickle factor (percentage of fiber over 30 microns) than Huacaya alpacas.

Slide 1. This is a picture of my first llama, Stage Stop Grisabella (although I was not the breeder we were allowed to use our herd identifiers on animals we bought at that time. This is no longer permitted). I bought Grisabella from Eva Domati in 1987. I started working with llamas in 1985 with Charlie Lockhart and Eva Domati as mentors. In retrospect, Grisabella exhibits some guanaco traits often found in animals found in animal sideshows, zoos and circus stock at the time. Guanacos and llamas were often housed together in those situations. I bred her up through the years and produced some very respectable cria from her offspring.

Slide 2. Stage Stop Will O The Wisp. This is a Gisabella granddaughter. Two generations made quite a difference.

We are beginning to see distinct types/breeds/divisions/focus groups, etc. emerging. Some divisions are developing based on fiber.

Slide 3. Classic: These are animals with distinct guard hair and short staple length. FFF Gypsy.Com owned by Debbie Shellabarger

Slide 4. Silkies: These animals have a longer staple length and reduced number of crimps per inch. They also exhibit higher luster than traditional woolies. Picture of Nisha Carlos Mendoza’s ALSA National Grand Champion and Snow Me Owned by Lew and Jennifer McGinnis

Slide 5. Traditional llamas: This fiber has a large number of crimps per inch and is often prized by knitters. TLC - The Traditional Llama Coalition

Slide 6 Suris: The Suri Llama Association This fiber has no or a minimal number of crimps per inch (very straight fiber) but it can exhibit a spiraling which is superimposed on the lock structure.

Other divisions that are developing relate to size. The miniature llama breeders define minis as being less than 38 inches at the withers. Wes Holmquist likes to describe superior packing stock as being over 45” at the withers.

In the future there may be breeders who differentiate by color patterns such as appaloosa, paint, or tuxedo.

You can use pedigree research to aid in finding suitable llamas to use in your breeding program, which phenotypically exhibit traits you are seeking. You can see if they are consistent producers of those traits by examining their offspring and ancestors. It is important that we don’t bottle neck our animals genetically and that we take advantage of foundation animals that may have traits, which some of the trendier animals possess and which can be bred advantageously with the newer animals.

Personalities as well as llamas are so important to our history that trying to organize all of the threads into a coherent picture was daunting. It is kind of like herding cats. I chose to go loosely chronologically, but please allow me to digress to make a point or follow llama-type development.

Llamas have existed in the US for over 100 years in zoos and among private animal shows and circuses, but they were rarely sold to individuals. In the 1920’s William Randolph Hearst, the publishing giant had a veritable Noah’s arch at his ranch in California, which included many exotic animals.

Slide 7. Here is a picture of the Hearst Herd at his San Simeon Estate.

He had two llamas in 1928 and by 1931 he was up to 12. In the 30s an outbreak of FMD in South America caused importation of camelids to be shut down so no new llamas were brought into the United States until the importations of the 80s and 90s. Hearst’s animals were imported from Germany and South America prior to the shut down. They were not particularly productive and he had high losses. He finally got some help from zoo experts on herd management. They were doing much better by 1949 when Roland Lindeman of the Catskill Game Farm bought his herd upon Hearst’s death. There were between 30 and 40 animals.

Slide 8. These pictures of the Hearst herd were taken in 1942 by the local historical society.

Slide 9. Roland Lindeman added to his herd by buying the best zoo stock he could find. He selected for banana ears, good legs and fine fiber. He often closely bred his herd, but with a breeder’s eye for quality. Kay Patterson called him the “king of llamas.” He had two farms, one in Florida and one in Catskill, N.Y. Some of the best animals in our industry originated from the Catskill Game Farm herd.

The next few slides will show some of the foundation animals the Pattersons bought from Catskill.

Slide 10. Fluffy. She was a very heavy llama (500 lbs.) and is the Dam to Dr. Doolittle. Her offspring became the Patterson’s famous fluffy line: Fluffy II, Buffy PL, Oak Hill Muffy to name a few. She died on the Patterson ranch in 1986.

Slide 11. Dr. Doolittle. He was born on the Patterson Ranch in 1975. He weighed 500 lbs. and was never really halter broken. He was known to be a bit of a handful. He was really a dilute appaloosa with gray spots visible when shorn, which was done only once to my knowledge. His offspring were among the most prized in the late 70s and early 80s and he was the catalyst for the “wooly llama” phenomenon in the industry.

Slide 12. Here is a photograph of the Patterson herd prior to 1975 and the addition of wooly llamas. Note that most of them look like Classic types. They began buying llamas in the late 50s.

I sought out and owned three Doolittle daughters and two grandsons who were very significant producers in my herd. I’m going to show slides of foundation animals as they come up, so that you can see some of the animals that may show up in your pedigrees. If you need copies I will be glad to email them to you. Niki Kuklenski also collects numerous photographs of foundation animals. The following were my Doolittle daughters:

Slide 13. Marakay, an Estee Lauder daughter. I used her son Kodiak for a stud for years.

Slide 14. Estee Lauder, Marakay’s dam was another Catskill foundation female.

Slide 15. Hast’s Snow Bird out of Snow White was another Doolittle daughter in my herd.

Slide 16. Princess Caroline out of Grace Kelly of M and M was another Doolittle daughter I owned.

Slide 17. Garp was Princess Caroline’s son by a Poncho Via son, Sun Valley Geronimo. He was one of my first and favorite studs.

Some of Dr. Doolittle’s other significant offspring include the following industry foundation animals: Villa D’Este, Eclipse (I will show pictures later), Professor, Leon, Kuhura Uya Auki (Howard Kerstetter’s), Inca Gold, Moonstone, Mr. McGoo (Kathy McKinney), Verbatim (Jorgensen), Prince Ranier, Barnett Jack Daniels and

Slide 18. Snow Queen II out of Snow White,

Slide 19. MGF Criss Cross was a significant herdsire for Jerry Mc Roberts out of Christy Love,

Slide 20. Debonair,

Slide 21. Doofus,

Slide 22. Mabel.

Etc. etc. You get the point and the importance of Doolittle to fiber development in the industry. He sired 157 females, 145 males, 8 geldings.

Slide 23. Another important stud from Catskill was Errol Flynn. He was medium height. He was a significant influence on Richard Freeman’s herd as well. Pattersons leased him to the Freeman’s in 1987 and sold him to them in 1989.

Significant offspring from Errol Flynn include: Karlsbad, Grits, Maestro, Premium, Fluffy Again, LW Miss Pansy, Chocolate Chip.

Slide 24. Essex, an Errol Flynn son,

Slide 25. Equinox (note the S curve of the necks in Errol Flynn offspring),

Slide 26. Booker T (Heather Bamford lists him as one of the most significant fiber lock structure-producing studs ever.),

Slide 27. Londonderry (dam of Liberator, LW Lorraine and Five Star),

Slide 28. Jet Fuel,

Slide 29. Chicken Feathers (who sired 143 females, 111 males and 10 geldings).

Slide 30. The final Catskill stud of note was Chief Sitting Bull. He tore his ear in a male fight, but the damage was only cosmetic in nature. He was medium in height with very heavy bone. Was born in 1975 and died in 1996 from jaw cancer. He sired 162 females, 131 males, and 69 geldings.

Slide 31. He arrived in utero to Senta Berger. Senta Berger was given to Sharon Herriges Smith of Cameo Llamas, who later became partners with Iris Christ and sold Heather Bamford her first llamas. She took care of compromised crias for many people in Oregon for years.

Significant offspring from Sitting Bull include Lopez (one of the top money making llamas of all time), Loma Linda, Polachinka, Preserves, Loverly, Graham Cracker Smacker, Mimi, Emrich’s Alpha, Sampson, Tonkatsu, Beula Williams, The Poet, Doc Holiday, Winchester,

Slide 32. Slivovitz (the father of Irisidess - owned by Iris Christ),

Slide 33. Gabriel PL,

Slide 34. Wheel of Fortune,

Slide 35. Huckleberry Finn (Beulah William’s great stud), and

Slide 36. Pavarotti, who had a great disposition which was highly heritable.

The Pattersons selected their early herd based on a certain look. They avoided the guanaco crosses often found at exotic sales and zoos. They traveled extensively looking for animals to buy, including a trip to England. They had to rely on phenotype, because pedigrees were unknown in the early days. Conformational correctness and balance were their number one priorities and they used their “horse sense” to eyeball what they thought were the most pleasing proportions.

They bought many animals form Harold Via in California. He had a herd of about 60.

His number one stud was:

Slide 37. Harold. Andy Tillman later selected

Harold for Otter Creek Llamas and had

them breed him to many of their females for some

fantastic results. He was a total outcross.

Slide 38. Harold Via also owned Via’s Romeo whose daughters crossed with Lopez made some of the top crosses in the industry.

Slide 39. In 1974 Patterson’s purchased Poncho Via and 9 females from Harold Via.

He was their first major herdsire who was an outcross to the Catskill stock. He was shown at the first national show for llamas – The Spring Arabian Horse Show in Salem, Oregon and was named National Llama Grand Champion in 1976. This picture was taken by Janie Deemer.

Poncho Via’s offspring include: Annabel Lee, Ilka Legend, Ingala, Kathmandu, Verbena,

Slide 40. Buffy PL,

Slide 41. Sun Valley Geronimo (one of my first herdsires and the father of Garp pictured earlier),

Slide 42. Linda Little Trees,

Slide 43. Annabel Lee, and

Slide 45. Zorro, who was his most famous son and another producer of fabulous, high luster, locked fiber.

Zorro offspring of note are: Angel Food, Cyclone, Hiebert Margot, Dynaflo, LW Lorraine, Silver Chime, Sue City Sioux plus the following.

Slide 46. A very visible syndicate bought Catman, a Zorro son, for 175,000 at the first Celebrity Sale. Steve Rolfing bred him.

Slide 47. and Panache.

Slide 49. Another Errol Flynn Son with very fine, single coat, locked fiber was Pagliachi.

Pagliachi was the sire of:

Slide 50. Hula Star out of Hula Hoop, the dam of Five Starr and Imastarr,

Slide 51. Hula Hoop,

Slide 52. Crown Jewel, who

was a Pagliachi son.

Slide 53. This is Bauernheim’s Chickenheart out of Chicken Feathers.

Slide 54. Chicken Feathers was the dam of Chickenheart.

Another source for llamas in the early days was Jerry Berman who also owned and sold birds on the west coast and east coast. He owned the dams of some very famous Sitting Bull offspring and sold llamas to the Pattersons and Andy Tillman.

Slide 55. One of the most famous Berman females

was Fortune Cookie, the dam of Fortunato.

Slide 56. Fortunato was one of Sitting Bull’s most famous sons. He always lends solid conformation when he is in the pedigree.

Slide 57. Jerry Berman sold Lolita Gabor to the Pattersons. She was Lopez’s dam.

Slide 58. Lopez was Sitting Bull’s most famous son. Was bred by the Pattersons and sold to Andy Tillman. He produced the first $50,000, $60,000 and $75,000 llamas.

By 1975 Pattersons had the largest llama herd in North America, over 500 animals, and they were ready to begin marketing them. They cornered the market before there even was a market.

Slide 59. Dick wrote an article for Sports Illustrated entitled “What a Llovely Beast Is A Llama.”

It was one of the most influential sale’s tools in the 70s. Dick was quoted as saying, “Out of all the 4,000 species of mammals in the entire world, which animal do you think gives you the greatest return on your investment? The answer of course is white mice for research. The second is the rhesus monkey, also for research. And the third is the llama. But who wants to raise white mice? The rhesus monkey is a rough, dirty animal. But llamas, they are different. They’re clean and they’re odor free. They’re lovable. Everybody who sees them automatically loves them.” What a sale’s pitch.

He also wrote several articles in Sunset Magazine.

In 1975 Beula Williams bought her first llamas. Some of her most famous llamas were: Huckleberry Finn - already pictured, Mabel, the Doolittle daughter - already pictured,

Slide 60. Rafinne (Remedios X Federico),

Slide 61. Kasmir (Katia X Harold),

Slide 62. Escapade (a Pagliachi son),

Slide 63. Oko Castizo, a Bolivian

import and arguably their most

significant herd sire.

Sally and Paul Taylor bought their first llamas from Jerry Berman in 1975. They became founders of the first registry and the ILA (International Llama Association).

Slide 64. Fiduciary was their most influential herd sire and holds many records to this day. He holds the record for most amount of money earned from the sale of crias and top selling female cria. He has the most registered offspring of any study in the Registry.

Slide 65. Fiduciary cria are very consistent - a 1988 ad:

Slide 66. Mirabelle, a Fiduciary daughter brought $170,000 at Celebrity.

Slide 67. CEO was another famous Fiduciary offspring.

Slide 68. Tiffany was Fiduciary’s dam and produced 4 females, 1 male, and 1 gelding. All were great animals.

Andy Tillman bought his first llamas from Pattersons and Jerry Berman. There were only 600 llamas in private hands in the US and Canada at that time. When you add the zoos, game farms and roadside attractions, the total was less than 1200. Andy developed the first llama pack in conjunction with a Boeing engineer in Seattle. Andy’s father was helpful in the design process as he was an experienced mule packer.

Pattersons were selling llamas for $1500 a pair with a waiting list. Zoos were charging $200 to $600, but would rarely sell to private individuals.

In 1977 Stephen Biggs, Eric Hoffman, Fred Bauer, Wally White, Erma Hast, Stan Ebel and Jamie Sharp bought llamas.

Stephen Biggs, one of the first presidents of ILA had:

Slide 69. Hondo Llama, who he later sold to the Eriksons.

Stephen was interested in packing and had the second professional packing business after Mamas Llamas owned by the Del Portos. He hooked Bobra Goldsmith on llamas. She would go to visit her father’s ranch in California and Stephen heard that she was good with horses. He took a llama to her that he could not train to go into water. The llama’s name was “Caboose” and needless to say she got him in the water. She was amazed by their intelligence and intrigued by their packing abilities.

Bobra went to an exotic dealer in Canyon City, Colorado to check out llamas for Stephen Biggs and ended up buying her first three llamas. They were a bargain - only $500 for a male and $2500 for a female. She bought them Labor Day of 1978. That same dealer went to Lolli Brothers to buy more llamas and before you know it Bobra was up to 13 llamas. She started the third commercial packing business.

Slide 70. Handsome. One of the llamas from the first three became her main herd sire and the basis of her logo

Stan Ebel was one of the first to breed, pack and lease llamas for a living. He now sells products made from llama wool as a sideline.

Slide 71. Balboa, Stan Ebel’s stud, has sired some of the best packers and halter animals in the Rocky Mountain region, even though he was not fancy to look at.

Slide 72. Wally White’s most famous llama was Picasso and he was one of the first finished halter and performance champions. He was out of Clark Kent. Dan Goodyear later bought him.

Commander Deacon read about llamas in Sports Illustrated and was a fitness enthusiast. He brought home ten pairs of llamas from Pattersons. Paydirt, Dagwood Bumstead, and Winston Churchill, and

Slide 73. Paydirt Orion Dagwood were among them.

Commander Deacon hired Dan Shoenthal who did copious amounts of research on nutrition and llama care. Dan was a true devotee to llamas. He also did research on normal blood levels for llamas. He brought up the first ideas about breeds and llama types based on wool. He described the five types as follows and some people have adopted those terms:

Slide 74. Ccara is a work breed with a two-coated fleece, short staple length, and minimal wool below the knees. They have 15% or more guard hair. A good example is Bask, who has obvious guard hair. Today most classics would fall in this category.

Slide 75. Curacas have 3-10% guard hair, shedding neck wool, slight wavy crimp. No wool below knees. A good example is Commander Cody, one of my first herd sires out of one of Sally Taylor's favorite dams, Huari. He is a maternal ½ brother to Mary Beth Hartsough McCormick’s Gandy Dancer.