The llamas keeping sheep safe at Auckland’s Ambury farm

On a sunny weekday at lunchtime, Ken, Drick, and Lamar are working hard.

Grazing on grass, and occasionally lifting their heads to check the surroundings.

But don’t be fooled by their languid behaviour – they’re actually top notch security guards.

Park ranger Millie Law has been looking after the llamas.

Ke-Xin Li

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“We got these llamas to solve a problem about roaming dogs mauling sheep. We had quite a few attacks on our sheep and we were discussing what we could do to try and mitigate that risk.”

Unlike their country counterparts, animals on urban farms like Ambury are more at risk from domestic dog attacks.

Last year, Auckland Council received 2311 complaints about dogs attacking or being aggressive towards other animals.

One of its own farms, Puhinui Reserve, lost 142 lambs to three roaming dogs.

When Law and her team heard about overseas research suggesting llamas could help fend off predators like dogs, coyotes and dingoes, they decided to test it out.

They sourced brothers Ken, Drick, and Lamar from a llama farm down south.

“We wanted llamas who weren’t raised by hand, because that means they are very people orientated. We wanted llamas who are used to being in the paddock just doing their own thing.”

And since their arrival at Ambury a year ago, there haven’t been any attacks at all.

“A colleague’s dogs came and were shifting sheep nearby. The llamas saw them from across the fence and came up and galloped along the fence, looking, quite agitated. They took all of the sheep to a corner and just stood there and watched until the strange dogs were out of their area. So that was quite unexpected. I didn’t know how effective that’d be.”

Now three-years-old, the brothers are guardians to about 600 lambs. And with the successful trial, the council has employed another three llamas for Puhinui Reserve.

Ken, Drick, and Lamar are the three llamas employed to guard sheep on Ambury Farm.

Ke-Xin Li

While Ken, Drick and Lamar take care of the lambs, Law and her team take care of them.

The first task was to find appropriate names for them.

During a brainstorm session at the coffee table, Law fought hard for her pitch.

“Well, I wanted to call them Samwise, Pippin and Merry, but we couldn’t get that across the board. Not too many Lord of The Rings fans.”

At the end, the group unanimously agreed on the set of names that were inspired by the pop star Kendrick Lamar.

Law said the brothers are easy to care for, but some grooming tasks are interesting.

“They have the funniest feet you’ve ever seen. If you want to see something that looks like a dinosaur, look up llama’s feet.

While she received tips from their original owner, the experienced ranger had to do some self-learning.

“I looked up a lot of YouTube videos about how to trim a llama’s foot. “

Unlike their country counterparts, animals on urban farms like Ambury are more at risk from domestic dog attacks.

Ke-Xin Li

And like with everything, the first time is always a surprise.

“I think both me and the llamas were surprised by the situation. They were like, oh! But they’re very forgiving, very curious creatures.”

Ken has a white coat, Drick has light brown, and Lamar has a dark coat.

Ken is “grumpier”, Drick is currently the “bossiest”, and Lamar is the “cheeky little brother”.

And for those who are keen to meet the trio, Law has a few words of advice.

“The best way to interact with the more farmed animals – the ones that aren’t in the pet area – is just quietly. You can watch them from a short distance, but if they move away from you, just let them go. Never chase any animals here, please.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand