Pet Llamas Have Evolved Into Business For Colbert Couple

Not many can say their stress relief panacea can spit 10 feet, has a digestive system like a garbage disposal and is content to hum to itself most of the day.

“They’re like Valium on legs,” said Cyndi Smith, watching her pack of llamas watch her. “You can be stressed out and come hang out with the llamas and then you go, ‘What was I stressed about?”’

Like a shaggy, long-legged cat, Bali, an adult female with dark auburn hair, noses up to Smith, sniffing and watching passively with black eyes the size of cherry tomatoes.

She wants food, but as Smith reaches up to scratch Bali’s 3-foot neck, the llama tosses her head and saunters off.

“Just like cats - it has to be their idea,” said Smith.

Five years ago, Frank and Cyndi Smith bought a pair of male llamas to be pets and automatic lawn mowers for the back eight acres of their Colbert home. It took just three months for the Smiths to buy a female.

“It was a destiny thing,” said Smith. “I didn’t want to mow all this.”

Their herd of 40 llamas has evolved into a growing business. Smith says she occasionally sells a llama - males average $450 and females $1,900.

“If I sell, I reserve visiting rights,” said Smith, a part-time lab technician at Holy Family Hospital.

But she prefers to peddle llama byproducts, manure in particular. Dried and ground, the manure is an odorless loam that some swear is the secret to a green thumb.

Because llamas are accustomed to sparse Andes vegetation, the animals can digest practically anything and turn out clean, pure pellets that look like chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Smith sells 20-pound bags for $3.50. You-scoop loads are free.

She sells bags faster than she can suck up the pellets with a ShopVac.

Considerately, llamas do their duty in tidy piles. Smith scolds a “rogue pooper” who drops pellets away from the main pile.

She is now at work spinning the wool. Llama wool sweaters are lighter and warmer than ones made with sheep’s wool. The Spokane market for the wool is rich, Smith said.

All 40 of her llamas have names and personalities.

Pandomine has black rings under her eyes and spots around her mouth, making her look like a clown. Smith once had to disguise Bali with a Bambi sheet and a torn T-shirt to breed her.

Espresso, Smith explains, hated Rambo, a male who looked like Bali.

Spitting is a sure sign of llama angst, but the animals rarely spit at humans.

Smith hopes to turn the business into a full-time operation, and may as soon as she masters wool spinning. She and her husband recently bought an adjoining eight-acre plot to use as llama space.

The llamas seem willing business partners. With their eating habits, they are cheaper to maintain than Smith’s Great Pyrenees.

“They are like my 40 kids,” said Smith. “But they don’t talk back and don’t play loud music.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo