Llama Woods Sale September 1998
(Printed in MBLO Ho-Hummer Magazine)

Niki with LW Gucci High selling male at $135,000.00

I arrived the Sunday prior to the sale and was put up in a great suite at Eagle Crest Resort. The next morning I reported to work at the farm at around 7am. Immediately I joined the ranks with the other groomers and began brushing, picking, bathing and blowing grumpy llamas. For those of you who don't know what a picker llama is, it is a name that refers to the process of picking out each individual strand of wool. You have to get each and every piece of debris out of the llamas hair without brushing in order to maintain the curl that the market is seeking now. The animals hate it and after spending up to 4-7 hours on one animal I can honestly say I don't like it either! After our day of beauty, the llamas were re-released into their pastures to re-groom themselves. It all seemed a little strange to the groomers, but that is the way we did it.

The organization of the grooming was unbelievable. Llamas were herded into a pen by farm staff. Willy K (Iris's famous import male) would watch patiently from his swamp cooler hoping they were for him. Then we identified one of the 150+ llamas by a note card with a picture and notes as to their personality quirks. We then tackled the animal and groomed them until they were flawless and sent them for a bath and blow. The tricks and things we used to groom were unbelievable. By the end of the week we had added gold star stickers to our grooming tools and if a male was especially good he got two gold stars on his testicles. What can you say after you groom that many animals over and over, it was sick but entertaining. Especially when we called Pam Clark (Iris's Manager) and told her we thought there was a problem with Troublemaker's (A Gucci son Iris was sure would sell well) testicles. Pam arrived and by then we had gotten them on another male. It really was funny to see the two boys who were jet black and had these shiny testicles!

On Thursday we moved all the animals from the farm to Eagle Crest. It was really erie to see all these beautiful pastures filled with llamas and then they were empty. Local friends arrived at about 9am and loaded their trailers and made runs back and forth depositing animals at Eagle Crest. On the other end the groomers set up shop and began grooming the animals as they arrived. Friday morning I got there at 6am to groom and people were already showing up to get first look-sees at the animals. Mid-day Iris decided to not go through with the stage preview as it was 85+degrees (It was at least this hot every day) and the animals were tired. Instead we would walk animals for potential buyers and help them find animals. This was especially fun I thought as many of the names you see in ads and publications were there. I worked until about 10pm showing animals for people.

The next morning we again had to be there at about 6am. By this time we all could have done without ever grooming a llama again. Around 10 I snuck up and changed with Judie to prepare for the sale. I was really honored to be selected as one of only four people who handled for the actual auction. A once in a lifetime experience. We all put money into a pool for what we thought the high selling male other than Gucci (he sold for $135,000.00) would be, high selling female, lowest of both sexes and even a worst dressed buyer category. Again, we were tired of grooming and needed to entertain ourselves!

Iris showed up only to handle Gucci, Ciprianna and Troublemaker. We all worried that maybe she might get hurt because of her frail health, but it all worked out fine. Immediately afterwards, she departed so as to not have to watch the sale of her furry children. I was exhausted at the end of the first day as between only four handlers 75 animals had crossed the stage.

On Sunday we resumed the 6am grooming and were ready to display animals. The second day was as exciting as the previous one. Animal after animal crossed the stage. Some were unexpected high sellers and some were unexpected low sellers. All in all Iris made well over a million dollars between the two days. Of course she could have cared less about the money she only sold out because of her age and health.

Some interesting facts about Iris and the Llama Woods gang I learned while I was down there.... When she bought her original llama Party Time (she is a classic short wooled girl) she lived in New York. There she had several llamas and miniature donkey's. Every morning (I am told) Iris would get dressed and go around and kiss each and every one of her animals (she left lipstick on them). PT and a daughter who was never weaned (Iris wanted PT to always have a buddy) were donated to a local farm to love for the rest of their lives. Many of the animals that were either age unknown or well loved were donated to local farms rather than being sold. Pam Clark received a keeper herd of about 30+ llamas that were Iris's very favorites. Pam and Louise (Iris's vet) now co-own Willy K. Pam also has the herd`sire Macho De Las Montanas now. Louise got Iris's beloved Blue Willow and a few other llamas. Iris would not sell to some people if she did not like them, where they lived (she particularly did not like the heat of Texas) or anything else. Money did not matter. Gucci and Willy K. were never allowed out in the heat after 10am . They were brought in at this time and kept in their pens with their swamp coolers.

I was very fortunate in my experiences and time I spent working on this sale. I learned a lot about the industry and definitely about grooming and handling.