Have been raising llamas and packing for over 20 years now. I currently have 11 llamas on non-irrigated property, but it is open hill side that produces some mountain brome. I have about 3 1/2 acres of it fenced and turn them out about mid-May every year for about 8 weeks, sometimes a little longer. I can get almost 2 days out of 1 bale of hay for all of them. I haul my water in a 200 gal tank about every 3-4 weeks because of CO water law, although I can stretch it further now by using rain barrels. I supplement hay in the winter with some grain and heat the two 100-gal tanks with a 750 watt heater in each tank. They love the grain and it makes for easy haltering when you want to put them to work. You could probably get by with a 50 gal tank for just 2-3 llamas. I fence with electric rope and treated posts. They are incredibly easy animals to care for and will make your back-country adventures a lot more enjoyable (nice camp, easy meat hauling, etc.). They can't hurt you and are easy to keep in camp. You can figure everything is a fraction of what you would need for horses (smaller trailer, 20% of hay volume, smaller tack, etc.). You can haul from 60-90 lbs on them depending on their conditioning and terrain. They need to be at least 4 years old to handle these types of loads. I have hauled up to 100 lbs a couple of times and you can easily haul 90 lbs per animal of boned-out meat if they are in decent shape. You will need to trim their feet every few months. Hope this helps! Bill Redwood (Redwood Llamas) and Charlie Hackbarth (Sopris Llama Gear) would both be great sources for you here in CO. Beau Baty of Wilderness Ridge Llamas in Idaho Falls, ID has a You Tube channel (Llama Life) with lots of great videos on every aspect of owning and caring for llamas. They are all great sources.
