Llama chute

We would like to buy a llama restraint chute.
What makes (if any) do people in the UK use and are there any further matters we should be aware of?

Hi Robert

The only commercially made chute I have seen is from the US and shipping costs can be heavy. However someone in Cornwall recently designed a chute for alpacas which is very good and Chris Eke seems to think he may be able to scale it up to llama size if there was enough demand.

We were in Spokane recently and saw a llama chute being used. I will send you a photo by e-mails soon.

At home we use a gate. By chance the gate into our yard from the drive stands off from the fence down the drive by about 18 inches. This means that we can put a llama behind the open gate and tie the gate back to the fence and it is then restrained there. It is then easy to give injections and our vet uses it all the time. It is not suitable if you are trying to clip toenails though. I have been giving some thought to making a wooden version of the one I saw in Spokane. This would use long fence posts driven into the field in a rectagle and then build suitable crossbars etc. However it is still only in the thinking stage!

I'm sure that everyone else has had success with gates used as restraints, but I thought I'd tell you that being sandwiched between two gates has prompted unrestrainable panic in my two llamas on two occasions, leading to a broken head collar and a variety of injuries to myself and my husband. Goodness knows how we managed to avoid any serious llama injury. One managed to get almost through the bars of a standard gate sideways and we had several instances of legs at strange angles through bars. I don't think a human (or even two) is/are strong enough to keep a panicking llama safe in a restraint that doesn't have solid sides.

i would also be interested in a chute with a built in weighing scale

We tried building our own chute - as suggested above with posts banged into the ground and rails at the sides and two gates, front and back. We had a seriously injured and therefore seriously spooked llama who smashed through it without too much difficulty. We now use two hurdles inside a small catch pen (about 8ft square) Clip the hurdles together into a V shape and once the llama is inside pull the wide end of the V together, so crushing the llama. We have used this method on the advice of our vet and she has today managed to vaccinate 10 llamas and microchip 3 cria in less than an hour! The llamas find it hard to kick once inside and the horizontal bars are close enough together so as not to allow feet and legs to get through them, even the youngsters coped with it remarkably well. It works for us anyway and I guess our llamas are now used to the routine and don't make a fuss!