The level of facilities you need for llamas depends on your environment. Here in California the climate is generally mild. A very basic 3 sided shelter out of the wind and rain that keeps their hay dry is sufficient. The more extreme your climate, the more elaborate the shelters need to be. Auto refill water troughs are a must. Make sure you insulate your water pipes well and may have to use a de-icer in winter.

The next most important part of your ranch is fencing, gates, and corral design. I use 6’ perimeter, and 5’ interior fencing. I use a medium weight fencing generally referred to as deer and rabbit. Horse no climb fencing is fine but lightweight, welded wire or chicken wire won’t last. You will just have to remove it in a few years and redo it. Make sure to construct strong gate and corner bracing gates. You can never have too many gates. Before putting in your fences take a long look at your enclosure and try to envision all the different access gates you are going to need. All of my perimeter gates swing inward with a spring attached. The spring closes the gate against a post so that if you forget to latch it a llama cannot push the gate open. My interior gates are not on springs. Most of my gates are 8’ to 10’. Corral design is probably the most important design feature for new Llama people. The corral is also called a catch pen. Most llamas are naturally resistant to being caught. My best catch pen is rectangular about 8’ to 10’ wide and 30’ long. At one end I have a gate about 8’ from the end so that I can calmly push them to the end then close the gate creating an 8’ square pen to halter them.

Good boots are the foundation for Backpackers, and a good saddle is the foundation for a llama packer. There are two types, soft and hard framed.

Soft framed saddle- Soft framed saddles are about 8-10 pounds including panniers. The padding is built into the saddle. Soft saddles are good for loads up to 50 lbs. More weight and top loading tends to make these saddles slip and slide. All of the soft saddle systems I have seen have high quality workmanship and will last a lifetime. Soft saddle systems tend to be lower in cost.

Hard framed saddle-Hard framed saddle systems are heavier, usually 12-15 lbs. Some Hard frame saddles have attached padding, and others require a separate pad. Hard frame saddles are very stable, and I have loaded over 90 lbs. Top loading capability is excellent. The commercial hard frame saddles are more expensive but also have high quality workmanship. I have seen many homemade Hard Frame saddle systems. Some were light, some were heavy. The rigging systems were flimsy. I would not recommend a handy man special.

Suggestion: When buying a saddle system, request a few extra buckles and snaps per system. There is no standard design for plastic buckles. You need to get the plastic buckles from the manufacturer. Otherwise you will have a buckle break, and you cannot find that brand in a hardware store.

Picket lines- There are two types of picket lines, high lines and ground lines. High lines require trees and high alpine has few or no trees. I do not use this them. Ground lines are two styles, one dog screw with 15’ to 20’ of rope or strap. Some people attach a shock cord to the screw end in case the llama lunges. I use 2 dog screws and 50’ to 100’ of 1200 lb. test climbing strap. I tie loops every 10’ or so as anchor points. Separately, I cut 6’ to 7’ pieces of climbing strap and attach a buckle to each end.

Caution: Any spring style clip will work for the end that attaches to the loop on the ground line. My llamas over the years have defeated every type of spring style clip attached to their halter. A locking carbineer or a D-clip are the only hardware my llamas have not defeated.

When choosing a campsite, first choice is near a green meadow with firm soil that the dog screws can screw into and be stable. Sometimes the ground is too hard, or too sandy for dog screws to work. A sack of rocks is my backup. The feed store or Tractor Supply have nylon feed sacks. You want 1” to 2” nylon squares. Bigger squares do not work well. You put 35 to 50 lbs. of rock in the sack, and that is your anchor. Do not under fill the sack as your llama will pull it around at night rubbing the ground and the rocks fall out.

Learning to untangle themselves on a picket line is one of the most important things llamas must learn. They must learn it at home, not on the trail. Llamas can hogtie themselves quite severely. The best place to learn to untangle themselves is in the front or backyard. When you have yard work, house painting, or whatever to do, put your rookie llamas on the picket line where you can watch. A grazing technique I use is free range browsing. I let a few llamas go at a time with a 20’ cord attached to their halter. Browsing lessens the impact and is a real treat for your llamas. They will also find a dust bath and be a very happy llama. My rule is to let less than half browse at a time. The majority must be on the picket line to keep the minority near camp.

Caution: Active Breeding males have been known to escape and run miles and miles back to the trailhead. They want to return home to their females. You must be sure to have no knots or loops tied on the 20’ cord as these can snag.

Water Buckets– Llama packing requires more water than backpacking. I use collapsible vinyl, 1 ½ to 2 gallon buckets to fill the 2 to 3 quart soft dog bowls for the llamas. After watering the llamas I hang a bucket from a tree with a lead rope. I use this water for cooking and washing hands. Also you can fill a bucket and let it hang for 20 to 30 minutes, letting the sediment settle to the bottom. Then pump your filter water off the top half, or pour the top half into your gravity feed filter bag. It reduces filter cleaning or replacement tremendously.

Poop Rake– I bring a wood handled 8” plastic rake. Its primary purpose is scattering dung piles in camp and on the trail. It is required in National Parks. It can be handy in the National Forest if a barky dog comes too close. A smack on the nose works well. It is nice to rake the debris away from where I want to set up my tent. I have had wilderness rangers express their gratitude toward the low impact ethic of llamas.

Tip: Offer to haul out any garbage the rangers may have collected.

Finding good quality Ccara style packers is the biggest challenge in becoming a llama packer. The vast majority of Llamas in Llama land are animals which have been bred for fiber and showing. They are plentiful and usually a few hundred dollars. A well trained, guaranteed Pack Llama four to five years old is usually several thousand dollars. Young and untrained or older Llamas will be lower in cost. First time Llama owners should try hard to find trained animals. Many Ccara Llama ranches are small and under the radar. There are llama outfitters in the Rocky Mountains who are visible and active breeders but may be unwilling to sell their best animals. Buying a pair of their older packers and then getting on a waiting list for young ones is a possibility.

I usually start conditioning in late April or early May depending on snow levels. My glory days are behind me so 5-7 mile day hikes are fine with me. The most important aspect to conditioning is to not let your llamas get fat during the winter. The weight goes on slowly and comes off slowly. After a few day hikes, I will start off with lower elevation overnight trips 6-9 miles with 40 to 50 lbs. of gear. Then I work up to 2 to 4 night trips. The defining test is elevation gain. Sometimes your early season hikes are at lower elevations and on easier trails and until you do some serious elevation gains with 60 to 70 lb. loads you cannot tell how in shape your llamas are. If you do not put the effort into conditioning your llamas, do not expect them to perform well on the JMT or other challenging trails.