Llamas
Llamas weigh over 400 pounds and have much coarser fiber than alpacas. They are used as
herd guardians and pack animals. They are great for carrying your pack on a trek through the mountains, but….
Using llamas as livestock guards in North America
began in the early 1980s and some sheep producers have used llamas successfully for guards since then.
The use of guard llamas has greatly increased since a magazine article in 1990, when national
attention was drawn to the potential use of llamas for guarding Alpacas.
The ideal guard animal should protect alpacas against predation while requiring minimal
training, care, and maintenance. It should stay with and not disrupt the flock, and live long
enough to be cost effective.
A variety of guard animals currently in use include dogs, donkeys, kangaroos, ostriches, and
llamas. Of these, guard dogs are still the most common; guard llamas number only in the
hundreds. Studies have demonstrated that llamas are successfully being used as guard animals
for herds of sheep, goats, alpacas and other livestock throughout North America.