Llamas

We currently have 3 llamas. They are all male (two are gelded and one is intact). We used to have 4 llamas but one died in the summer of 2005. We never knew exactly what was wrong with him. Llamas are stoic and often by the time they show signs of being sick it is almost too late. We called the vet as soon as we knew we had a problem. She never was sure exactly what was wrong. She worked on him for a couple of hours and tried everything she could think of but he still died.

People own llamas for a number of different reasons, for packing, for showing and breeding, for fiber, as exotic pets etc. We use our llamas for packing.

We both have been hikers pretty much all our lives. I first learned about llamas when I was in college. When I heard that they could carry as much or more weight than I like to carry backpacking, that they covered about the same distance as I like to cover in a day and that they were easy to care for and didn't eat much, I knew I wanted llamas. Of course when I was in College, I couldn't afford them and later when I was out of school I was living in the city and I didn't think I would work with them enough if I just boarded them with someone. When Robin and I bought our small acreage and moved out we agreed we would get llamas.

In general, llamas weigh about 300 - 450 lbs, stand about 5 1/2 - 6 ft. tall at the head and about 3 1/2 ft. or so at the shoulder. They live 15 - 20 years, are full grown at age 4 and can be packed well into their teens. Llamas are hardy and easy to care for. Our llamas hardly ever need the vet and all 4 of them together eat less than 1 horse would. When it comes to packing, they can carry about 70 - 80 lbs and cover about 10 - 12 miles a day. Some people pack very large llamas and put 100 lbs or more on them and some people go longer distances but the people we know seem to be in that range. The heaviest we have packed any of our llamas was about 75 lbs and our longest days have been 14 miles. The longest trip I have taken with llamas was 127 miles in 11 days.

Llama packing

Dave's Mom leading a llama through an obstacle at the Jelly Bean Classic