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Llamas are herd animals and a lone llama would be a very unhappy creature indeed. Prospective new owners need to consider purchasing at least a pair of llamas, therefore, unless the llama is to live with suitable companion animals such as alpacas. Llamas are quite a bit larger than alpacas, but both are camelids, and as such their basic requirements are very similar.
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Llamas are for the most part very intelligent, gentle animals, with highly individual personalities. In general male llamas tend to take a greater interest in humans, with female llamas being perhaps slightly more aloof. Male llamas are more commonly used for their trekking, packing and guarding skills. Female llamas usually make naturally very good mothers and both sexes can provide fine wool for hand-spinners.
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Llamas make delightful field pets, needing free-draining ground, a basic field shelter and a simple handling facility. Fencing should exclude barbed wire and will need to be a little higher than average. Some dry hardstanding will also be appreciated by your llama and it helps to keep his toe nails trimmed!
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Llamas are intelligent animals, and most have a gentle curious temperament, responding well to basic training and handling. Once taught to accept a halter and lead rope, a willing receptive llama can then be taught to carry a pack, to go on short treks, and even to pull a simple cart. Some llamas can be encouraged to become guard llamas, protecting against foxes, dogs and other predators. A guard llama will look after the young cria in the herd, but may also be used to protect young lambs and chickens against foxes, especially if he has been raised in the company of these animals. A llama can be a useful addition to a herd of unruly alpacas, where the llama assumes the role of leader of the pack. Care should always be taken when introducing a new llama to a dog, even if the dog is already used to llamas and alpacas. Most can learn to co-exist quite happily, but in the first instance, the llama will see the dog as a natural enemy or threat.
Llama Training
It doesn't matter if you want ten trekking llamas or just a couple of field pets, if you haven't had any lessons already, then YOU need some training! Once you know what you're doing, you have a fighting chance of showing your llama what is required of him and how to behave around people. In choosing a basic training course you may be surprised to find that handling methods vary, some just in small detail and some in their whole philosophy. I was lucky enough to stumble upon Camelidynamics, www.carthveanalpacas.com the core principles of which are respect, fun, efficiency and kindness and it has certainly worked for me. I think my llamas appreciate it too! Classes are held in most parts of the UK as well as in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States.
Once you have a good working relationship with your llama, you may want to expand upon what you have both learnt, whether that be with TTeam training www.ttouchtteam.co.uk or "clicker training" (see www.llama-training.co.uk) or even driving a cart, also see Terry Crowfoots site, www.llama-training.co.uk, whatever works for you and your llama!
Husbandry courses are also invaluable as you need to know how to care for your camelid and how to draw up a health plan to include the correct nutrition, a worming and vaccinating programme and learn how to look for any subtle signs of illness or poor thrift as llamas are very stoic animals. Very few drugs and medications have been trialled and approved for use on llamas as the camelid industry in this country is still very small scale. As a result, there is still some ambiguity as to appropriate products, doses and the timing of these treatments in pregnant females in particular, as the side effects are not always predictable or fully understood. It is a good idea to register with a local vet who has some experince with camelids and worth seeking out one who is a member of www.camelidvets.org. Whilst many vets may have little or no experience with llamas, they may have very good knowledge of alpacas which will stand you in good stead.