It was here ... in early September 1992, Anita and I, with our two children, Nichole and Darren, established our present llama venture, buying our first pair of llamas ... Snowy, a heavily pregnant female and Prince Bourbin, our first stud male.

Only a month earlier we'd bought 4 pregnant alpacas. Then we discovered llamas ... and intrigued by these elegant, aloof creatures, our initial enthusiasm for alpacas faded.

The desire to have our own llamas was overwhelming. We talked of little else! No doubt about it ... we were hooked!

The alpacas were sold ... and replaced with 4 more pregnant female llamas. At that time, our breeding goal was to produce llamas with good conformation. Today, we breed Lanuda and Tapada llamas ... and although good conformation is still high on our priority list, temperament and personality are equally important.

When we started out most of the original llamas in Australia were from a gene pool of some 200 animals imported from South America via New Zealand in 1989.

Realising this would restrict our breeding program, we decided to import 3 females and 1 male llama from the US. Prior to their departure, the females were joined to other unrelated American males.

We were particularly fortunate as all three females produced stud quality males, providing us with a much broader gene pool from which to select our breeding stock.

At Llovely Banks Llamas we take great pride in our llamas, parting with them only when we're certain new owners want them for the right reasons and will care for them as we do.

To ensure this occurs, we offer ongoing support to newcomers, particularly as some may have had only limited livestock experience previously.

Often people ask what attracted us to llamas. Certainly, they are an investment! But owning and breeding them brings with it a lifestyle which is hard to beat.

Ours have brought us new interests, new friends and new challenges, enriching our lives and those of our children ... worth far more than just fattening the bank balance!