Dr. Llanes grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina where she earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Animal Science from North Carolina State University. During all 5 years of undergraduate and graduate coursework she worked at the university’s dairy farm.  Dr. Llanes also spent a summer on a commercial hog farm, a summer on a cow calf ranch in Montana, and spent a month in Haiti working with goat farmers. She became enthralled with animal agriculture and, through her thesis work on ovulation synchronization in goats, developed a special interest in reproductive sciences.
 
Looking for some adventure a little further from home she applied to veterinary school at Colorado State University and learned about the collaborative program with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. On a bit of a whim, she decided to make the big trek north, determined to try this crazy looking sport called skijoring with her sheep herding border collie. Although Gus the border collie wasn’t the biggest fan of pulling in harness, Dr. Llanes found herself drawn to the sport of dog mushing and the wild state of Alaska.