He broke his back legs in his mother’s womb before he was even born.
Then, on his third day in the world he tried to race around the paddock and snapped one of his legs.
He had an operation to straighten his leg and as he came out of the anaesthetic his other back leg snapped.
So it was off to the operating theatre again to straighten and plaster the other leg as well.
It wasn’t the greatest start to life and the odds were certainly stacked against little Arlo, but somehow he pulled through with two back legs in plaster.
At first the plucky youngster had to be held up while he fed from his mother.
Then as he grew stronger owner Viv Rogers had a tailor-made walker put together for him – it resembled training wheels on a bike.
“We didn’t realise anything was wrong until the third day when he tried to race around the paddock and one of his back legs snapped,” Ms Rogers said.
“The legs were broken in the womb and they’d calcified and had set wrong.
“Not a lot is known about llamas in Australia so it’s hard to get a vet that knows what they are doing.”
Fast forward to today and Arlo is 14-months-old and enjoying life as a fully-mobile llama.
He will be one of the llamas on show at Tocal Field Days this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and he will be helping to raise awareness about his breed.
His mate Elliot the alpacca will be there too – he is the flamboyant kind and loves to get dressed up.
The famous llama Hamish will also make an appearance.
Please don’t mistake Arlo for an alpacca – or an emu – though, he gets that all the time.
Ms Rogers has pulled together a wide range of animals for the farm nursery including donkeys, poultry, ducks, miniature horses, baby chickens, chickens hatching in an incubator, ducklings and piglets.
She has been organising the nursery at Tocal for several years and said it was an important part of the event.
“Suburban children are becoming more and more distanced from animals,” she said.
“It’s a good hands on experience, particularly with the llamas, most children have never seen llamas, you’d be surprised how many people mistake them for emus.
“Coming into the nursery is turning pictures they have seen into real life.”
Parents can capture the fun at the nursery’s farm photo booth.
Tickets to the field days are $18 for adults, $15 for concession and $2 for children between 5 and 16. Children under 5 are free.
For more details about the event visit www.tocalfielddays.com
Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
