My computer programming teacher owns two llamas and talks about them all the time. He frequently says “Santusa (his llama) spit on some of your programs they were so bad…” and all. I really do think the guy has them for the shock value. Or to get close to who is now his wife, also a big llama fan. Last week he had a llama tie on. Hes always saying stuff about them, which leads me to think he just has them for conversation purposes.
The way he talks about them, though, they sound like a lot of work. Or at least he puts a lot of work into them.
I can speak with some authority here, we own 13 llamas, one of which is named Fernando (not for the same reason Johnny posted though).
Quite basically there is no frikken reason to own the damn things. We don’t have anything to guard and even then, llamas “guard” well because they are large and curious, so they approach things that look out of place, like say a pack of coyotes. The coyotes see some big thing bounding towards them and run off thinking they’ll be attacked. However the llamas just want to sniff them. I’ve only seen a llama attck or fight back when they thought their young was threatened. I guess they can see a herd of sheep as their young, but i have yet to see that.
People say wool, but no. Just no. Unless you have a huge amount and shear them often, your not going to make any money off them.
As you can tell, I don’t much like llamas.
My friend Janice, who raises goats, heard the same story. Thinking llamas would protect her herd from coyotes, she bought two of the South American beasts a couple of years ago. She named them Drew and Daisy. They did so well that she’s already gotten rid of them and replaced them with miniature donkeys, who seem to be doing a more effective job. Since Drew and Daisy left the farm, Janice hasn’t lost any goats to predators.
Man: (but in Spanish with subtitles in English) The llama is a quadruped which lives in big rivers like the Amazon. It has two ears, a heart, a forehead, and a beak for eating honey. But it is provided with fins for swimming.
Guitarist & Dancer: Llamas are larger than frogs.
Man: Llamas are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout:
It’s a lot of fun to be driving around the brown mountains of California and see a farm and see those guys with their long necks and big brown eyes looking at you over a fence. It just is. It makes you happy to see them.
Jared Diamond should be paying us a commission, for I must join the chorus of recommending his Guns, Germs, and Steel. There’s a whole theme of animals and lack thereof, and cool as llamas are, they can’t be ridden or harnessed, which affected Indian cultures a great deal.