Rattlesnake Ridge Pepperfaire
ILR # 296426
female b. 05-25-2022
King Asher's Legado x Maryfaire
Pepper likes food and adequate personal space. Jim rather likes Pepper!
We are always looking for the occasional outcross Classic llama to enhance our own herd's largely outcross genetic resources. Knowing that Gayle Noga would never part with stunning Maryfaire and also knowing that Legado ("Legs") represented several generations of proven packers in addition to being a fine packer himself with an excellent Classic coat and superior working gaits, Gwen mentioned that we would be interested in the result (either sex) from a pairing between "Legs" and Maryfaire.
Later, DNA test results showed that Takoda Peak was also the offspring of Legs, not Slate Peak as was originally believed. For that reason, we were extra-pleased that Maryfaire's 2022 baby was female!
Pepper joined us in June 2023, later than anticipated due to a bout of pneumonia earlier in the year. She's proven to be an exceptionally confident and independent llama, amenable with humans, and with the kind of guardian traits that canines will not want to experience first hand!
At age four years, Pepper is one small-but-mighty llama — a mere 40.5" at the withers. We knew her parents were not large, but she is distinctly smaller than either one; likely the early pneumonia set back her growth. We are huge advocates for not discarding good pack llama genetics based on less-than-huge size, but there are also limits to what is practical, both for work and for breeding. In Pepper's case specifically, she is too small for us to breed to a medium-sized (44-45") male and expect to produce saleable packers, and we're completely uncomfortable breeding her to a taller male — such as Duke — for her own wellbeing. Now, if we were breeding guard llamas, her size would be immaterial and Pepper would be a cornerstone ... but that's not what we're doing here.
Jim's late 2025 hip replacement has forced us to face that our herd numbers need to shrink to something manageable by one person BEFORE there is a "next time" of solo caretaking. We would be happy to hang on to Pepper if we place enough other llamas first ... but we also feel it's sort of a shame to waste her excellent guarding talents. So, Pepper is available, but only to the RIGHT situation.
Pepper Corn, an outstanding go-getter pack llama of considerable intellegence, was Pepper's great-grand sire; Maryfaire is her dam. Hence, Pepperfaire. All of that was actually reverse-engineered form early photos, which inspired the name "Pepper".