At Fort Worth Stock Show, city girl knows her llamas

A few years ago, Carol Ann Tallmon decided it was time to step away from being the Stock Show’s superintendent over llamas.

The city girl, who graduated from Polytechnic High School, also left her position with the national llama sale.

But Tallmon, of Weatherford, didn’t stop showing her prized llamas. Her domesticated pack animals were on a roll Thursday during the first day of competition at the Stock Show’s llama show.

Within two hours, two of her four llamas, Fabiano and Vigilante, won grand championships in their respective divisions. Fabiano also won a grand championship last fall at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.

To top it off, Fabiano won Best of Show.

“It’s still a great feeling to win,” said Tallmon, who has shown llamas for at least 30 years.

Llama judge Allen Davis of Newcastle, Ind., was especially impressed with Vigilante, who won the top prize in heavy wool.

“His wool is very good, and he moves well,” Davis said as he announced Vigilante the grand champion. “It’s a very strong animal.”

All this from a woman who started with a canary, cat and dog when she was a child.

“I was a docent at the Fort Worth Zoo and we had llamas there, but no one could pet them,” Tallmon said. “So we got halter llamas where people could touch them, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”

At her peak, Tallmon had 200 llamas, showing them nationwide. She was the Stock Show’s llama superintendent for 20 years. And for many of those years, Tallmon was involved with the national llama sale.

At one time, more than 500 llamas showed at the Stock Show. This week, just under 100 were in competition.

“It all got to be too much,” Tallmon said.

Fabiano won a grand championship for suri males. Suri is a description for a twisting type of wool.

The icing for Tallmon came just before noon when 3-year-old Fabiano won the top honor in the halter show for males and females. He topped nine other llamas including his roommate, Vigilante.

“I’m tickled to death,” Tallmon said. “To be honest, I thought Vigilante was going to win because he’s taller. I guess I wouldn’t make a good judge.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 3:59 PM with the headline "At Fort Worth Stock Show, city girl knows her llamas."