After a realistic appraisal of my lack of experience, desire to not get hurt, and time available for me to learn and to train animals, I elected to get llamas and this has worked out great for me. I have a string of 5. When they are in shape the carry 70 to 100 pounds each, for 10 to 15 miles a day depending on terrain. Low maintenance, don't eat much, learn quickly, and so on. They keep bears out of camp and love to chase strange dogs out of the pasture. We have had cougars around periodically but as far as I can tell they have never approached the llamas.
