Llamas Supply Drama at Forth Worth Stock Show

[WARNING: REPORTER MAY HAVE BEEN HIGH WHILE WRITING THIS]

FORT WORTH – They prance into the show ring with their heads held high, gliding across the arena floor as if it were a catwalk.

KYE R. LEE/DMN

Judge Bill Schultz was seeing eye-to-eye with Cinderfella during judging of the halter class at the stock show on Thursday.

If the barnyard were high school, the llama would be that elegant, impeccably groomed girl that always seemed so unapproachable.
But give them a chance, llama owners say, and you'll discover that the sleek camel-like creatures are really just intelligent, curious and surprisingly warm – even if they do look like supermodels.

"Hey, they have their bad hair days too," said Patti Wattigney this week, as she and her husband, Keith, readied their llamas to compete at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth. "But we never do get tired of looking at them."

Partly because of their regal appearance – lush fur and impossibly long necks – llamas often aren't given credit for their workhorse versatility, say their owners.
Members of the same family as the camel and the alpaca, llamas are classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as farm animals. The stock show groups them as part of the horse department.

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