In very hot, humid weather, put out a bucket of electrolyte mixture for the llamas to drink. A couple of spoons of raspberry jello (powder) will sweeten it up (it's not necessary to do this though). Do not offer the electrolytes in place of fresh, cool water, but in addition to it. Clean the electrolyte bucket daily due to bacteria. This will help them through periods of heat and help prevent heat stress.

Sometimes when chewing their cud in the summer, you will notice the llamas frothing at the mouth. Probably due to a substance called slaframin in clover.

When stacking hay bales, always criss cross the bales and put the cut ends up. This allows for more circulation and will help prevent the hay from molding.

There is an "old farmers way" of putting salt on your hay when stacking it to keep it from spontaneous combustion. Especially if hay is somewhat damp. Sprinkle it with salt, lay down the next layer of hay, and sprinkle with salt, etc.

Now that your hay is selected for the year, perhaps you should have it analyized and adjust your mineral supplements accordingly. You can have your hay analyized at:

• Colorado Analytical Lab, PO Drawer 507, Brighton, CO 80601
• Fas-Test Forage Lab, 206 1st Street, Eaton, CO 80615
• Northeast DHIA Forage Lab, 730 Warren Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850

There are various suggestions for controlling these pesky insects:

• Use a mixture of citronella and Swat.
• Use Avon Skin-So-Soft. Smells good, too
• Use Avon Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil mixed with water. Rub or spray on.
• Use spray or rub-on fly repellants for horses, carefully avoiding the eyes.
• New! Use deep woods "OFF" for humans on their faces. Should be safe!

In hot, humid weather when llamas do not want to wander from their cool shelters, sometimes unpleasant odors may accumulate. There are various products that may help this:

• Sprinkle area with Stall Dry. Contains a deodorizer
• Sprinkle with a baking soda product called Bufferight. Available from Bioproducts, Cleveland, Ohio
• Nature's Miracle Stain & Odor Remover. Available from Pets 'N People, 930 Indian Peak Rd, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
• Clean the areas with ammonia
• Clean the areas with liquid bleach
• Use an absorbent bedding material. Reconstituted newspaper available from Crown Animal Bedding, Stutzman Environmental Products; Camby, OR
• Spread the area with an AG Lime. Absorbent
• New! Sprinkle Baking Soda over urine areas to neutralize the odor and also cuts down on the flies. Available in 50# bags at your feed & grain supply - also called Sodium Bicarb.
• New! A llama owner shares with us that peat moss works wonders for absorbing urine. Then spray with a dilute of a cleaning agent such as Lemon Sure.

If you must treat for coccidia, try adding flavored gelatin or koolaid to the Corid mixture for a more pleasant flavor.

Put 5% Sevin dust in the llama's dust bowls. Llamas love to roll in it, and it's an easy way to treat them for lice and ants.

An alternative to poisonous weed applications is flame weeding with a torch. Some equipment for this purpose may be found by contacting:

• Thermal Weed Control Systems, Inc.; Neilsville, WI 54456; (715) 743-4163
• Flame Engineering Inc.; Lacrosse, KS 67548; 1-800-255-2469 or Fax (913) 222-3619

Catalogs available

BURRrrrrr Removal ..... Salt may work better than Round-Up, burning, or digging on these stubborn plants. Purchase a big box of salt and apply a handful around the roots. After they turn a nice dead brown at the bottom of the leaves, just yank the whole top out. Reports say the plant doesn't come back!

Pour boiling water, or better yet, soapy water, in the area in the ground that the insects seem to be in. Dusk is probably the better time when they are all in their nest. Doesn't hurt the ground or plants.

Do you have trouble backing your trailer? Put your hands on the bottom of the steering wheel and whichever way your hands go when you turn the wheel, is the way the trailer will turn.

It is adviseable to never tie your llama in the trailer. It has been known that the lead rope has wrapped around the animal's neck and caused strangulation. Remove the lead rope from the halter.

New! Never transport animals without halters on and lead ropes handy so that even a non-llama person might have a chance to help your animals in case of accident or escape. Check your trailer for anything the halter might get caught on. Proper fit of the halter will allow your llama the freedom to chew cud, eat and drink.

New! Unfortunate experiences recommend that we all carry a fire extinquisher with us in our vehicle when traveling with animals.

Think twice, and even three times, about putting a padlock on the trailer doors when traveling. Only lock when the trailer is parked. If locked, no one could get your animals out of the trailer in case of an accident or emergency.

Remove all the debris, preferably before shearing. To wash llama fiber: fill the washer with warm water and soap (Dawn, Liquid Tide, Era), then add the fiber and soak for approximately 30 minutes. Do not let agitate! Set the washer on the spin cycle and spin the dirty water out. Remove the fiber from the washer, refill the washer with warm water and soap again if necessary, or just refill with plain warm water. Add the fiber after the washer is filled. Do not run the water on the fiber and do not let the washer agitate. Another suggestion is to put the fiber into a mesh bag before putting it into the washing machine.