February 9, 2003
This document is availabe in PDF format

Be prepared....it will be 2-5 years before you start to generate enough income to break
even or to make money. The real money is in show quality animals, ie, those that can
make the top 10 nationally, or specialty breeds like miniatures or suri’s. If your breeding
program is targeting any other audience and you intend to have a serious enterprise, think
again. You may need to show receipts of $1,000 or more a year to stay in land use in
your county and to satisfy the IRS.

Expenses

• Breeding
  • Stud fees: $250 - $2,500
  • Breeding females: $1,500 - $35,000
  • Studs: $1,500 - $50,000
  • Vet Bills (blood work, insurance checks, occasional emergencies, ultrasounding)
  • Continuing Education: rely on experts (OSU, Oregon State, etc), not on vets with
    an interest
  • Llama Registrations: $25
• Advertising – studies show that someone needs to see reference to your ad an average of
  13 times before it “registers”.
  • Internet
  • Business Cards
  • Signs (farm, show, vehicle)
  • Flyers
  • Events (parades, festivals, fiber shows, etc.)
  • Shows (mileage, hotels, show fees, vet bills)
  • Articles in magazines and newspapers
  • Classified ads (llama magazines, show brochures)
• Feed
  • Grain $7-$12/50lb
  • Hay (scarce in times of drought when prices increase) $6/week/animal during the
    winter
  • Salt
• Maintenance
  • Fencing (painting, occasional repairs)
  • Pastures (grass seed, fertilizing, manure removal)
  • Barn (painting, roof repairs, electrical)
  • Truck and Trailer (inspections, routine stuff)
  • Roads (gravel, grading)
  • Barn Help (mucking)
  • Other Help (if you don’t have a willing SO, you’ll have to pay someone, who will feed the animals when you go to a show or go on vacation?)
  • Tractor (tires go flat, gas/diesel, clips fall off, lights get broken, you’ll find you’ll need attachments you never expected to need)
  • Vet Supplies (syringes, needles, wormers, vaccines, vitamins)
  • Tack (halters, leads, parade gear)
  • General supplies (buckets, etc wear out, break in the cold and have to be replaced)
  • Computer supplies (various paper supplies like brochures, postcards, etc., any software programs, digital cameras, decent color printer)
  • Testing (manure, water)
• Associations
  • Llama Groups (LAMAS, PLAA, GALA)
  • Show associations (ALSA)
• Insurance
  • Herd
  • Individual
• Fiber
  • Shearing
  • Wool processing (cleaning, processing, spinning)
• Utilities
  • Electricity (fans in summer, electric water heaters in winter)
  • Phone (calling customers)
  • Home Office

Income

• Stud Fees (with active advertising, I started getting stud fees 1.5 years after purchasing stud)
• Sales (know your competitors, know your market, advertise)
• Boarding (may or may not be much of a market for this)
• Trekking (some people offer their animals to golf courses as caddies, B&B’s offering “picnics” where the llama carries all the food, real treks on park land)
• Show premiums – minimal except for the Grand Nationals where the Grand Champion in each division can take a $1,000 purse OR in show futurities where 1st place can fetch $10,000 or more.

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