Llamas?
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:rofl1: My grandma got spit in the face. When my grandpa was sick DH and I would feed the llamas. You'd have to shoo them away from the feeder because they'd spit at each other during feeding time and occasionally he'd get caught in the crossfire (or he'd be a victim of "displaced spitting aggression").
My grandparents have a couple llamas to guard their sheep. They're really neat animals, but very skittish also. Excellent guardians for the sheep though. They used to use donkeys to guard them, but I guess they didn't do as good of a job. The donkeys got demoted (or promoted I guess) to farm pets and the llamas hang out with the sheep. I've never been spit at personally because they usually give plenty of warning. I love the noises they make, sorta like humming.
I spent two years working on a llama farm. We handled them/imprinted them all as babies. Every day. I got to haul them around for weighing etc. They were very sweet. There were only one or two cranky ones. The rest were very gentle and followed you around. One adult would follow me around licking my arms lol We had 80-130 llamas at any give time lol so I'd say I got quite a bit of experience with them.
They spit, are cranky, and all around unpleasant to deal with.
That being said, I've only dealt with two llamas in my life time. The first one was anesthetized and couldn't spit on me, the second was very much awake and very demanding of my bowl of pine apple. When I declined his advances he started to spit at me until I hit him on the neck, at which time he fled.
As far as I'm concerned, llamas are on the same page as ostriches: to be avoided.
That being said, I've only dealt with two llamas in my life time. The first one was anesthetized and couldn't spit on me, the second was very much awake and very demanding of my bowl of pine apple. When I declined his advances he started to spit at me until I hit him on the neck, at which time he fled.
As far as I'm concerned, llamas are on the same page as ostriches: to be avoided.
I have two. Not a fan.
I have relatives that swear by them for sheep guarding (against coyotes).
Other than that, I believe alpacas have better wool. You can't milk them or eat them (or I guess more accurately, who would want to?). If you're into packing or using them as golf caddies:
(lol wtf)
sure, whatever floats your boat I guess.
But, in my experience, these are not touchy animals. On a species-basis dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, goats, parrots, rats, pigs, cows, crows, chinchillas and a bazillion other animals enjoy contact. The horses I know will all lean into a good scratch when tacking up, goats and pigs I've found to enjoy touching. When you watch the above mentioned species animals, generally, they enjoy contact with their own kind. They chew on each other, groom each other, etc. This transfers to people if raised right.
Llamas, not so much. My two like to be together, hate being seperated, but the most contact they do with each other or anything else is a sniff. Which is all fine and well, but seeing as how these things are only really good for pets and a conversation piece, you'd expect something a little more... friendly.
LDR - the Llamas This llama farm agrees:
Also, spitting. They do give warning, indeed. However, this doesn't count for much if, say, they get seperated and one of them is flipping out in a corner because it doesn't understand fences and is trying to get to the other one, and you know its going to spit at you but you have to move it, so the best you can do is shield yourself and go in. I'd rather have a kicking horse, at least you can manouver out of range.
Joyous creatures, alright.
They don't eat much and don't need to be shod, they've got awesome eyes and they do make very cool noises (the alarm call, lol) but really, from my experience, I'd suggest getting something more worthwhile. Get a couple of horses, those are fun animals.
I have relatives that swear by them for sheep guarding (against coyotes).
Other than that, I believe alpacas have better wool. You can't milk them or eat them (or I guess more accurately, who would want to?). If you're into packing or using them as golf caddies:
(lol wtf)
sure, whatever floats your boat I guess.
But, in my experience, these are not touchy animals. On a species-basis dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, goats, parrots, rats, pigs, cows, crows, chinchillas and a bazillion other animals enjoy contact. The horses I know will all lean into a good scratch when tacking up, goats and pigs I've found to enjoy touching. When you watch the above mentioned species animals, generally, they enjoy contact with their own kind. They chew on each other, groom each other, etc. This transfers to people if raised right.
Llamas, not so much. My two like to be together, hate being seperated, but the most contact they do with each other or anything else is a sniff. Which is all fine and well, but seeing as how these things are only really good for pets and a conversation piece, you'd expect something a little more... friendly.
LDR - the Llamas This llama farm agrees:
Also, spitting. They do give warning, indeed. However, this doesn't count for much if, say, they get seperated and one of them is flipping out in a corner because it doesn't understand fences and is trying to get to the other one, and you know its going to spit at you but you have to move it, so the best you can do is shield yourself and go in. I'd rather have a kicking horse, at least you can manouver out of range.
Joyous creatures, alright.
They don't eat much and don't need to be shod, they've got awesome eyes and they do make very cool noises (the alarm call, lol) but really, from my experience, I'd suggest getting something more worthwhile. Get a couple of horses, those are fun animals.
I got stuck helping my dad do a land survey on a goat farm once . . . Not fun. Not fun at all. Downright aggressive little bast@rds! There was one pen I refused to go in to get the shot. No. Freaking. Way. I told him to extrapolate the damned thing. The farmer told me later I'd made a really smart choice, lol. There was just something in several of the billies' eyes . . .
They weren't the pygmies. The pygmies are darlings.
Maybe you should ask Paul how he feels about Highland cattle. I've seen and interacted with some at some of the rare livestock shows around here. It's surprising how small they really are, and they are DELIGHTFUL animals!
American Highland Cattle Association
They weren't the pygmies. The pygmies are darlings.
Maybe you should ask Paul how he feels about Highland cattle. I've seen and interacted with some at some of the rare livestock shows around here. It's surprising how small they really are, and they are DELIGHTFUL animals!
American Highland Cattle Association
you could always do goats And a llama as their "guard dog" if hes got his heart set on llama and you on goats 
pygmies are great, angora goats tend to be sweethearts, my grandfather had a gurnsey who was an absolute doll, lamanchas make great "pets", fainting goats are supposed to be sweet, as are nubians and anatolians.
there are however also plenty of goat breeds that tend to be plain out mean, and generally intact males can be pushy...but the pygmies and dwarf breeds aw well as most of the "milk" breeds tend to be sweet if raised right.
pygmies are great, angora goats tend to be sweethearts, my grandfather had a gurnsey who was an absolute doll, lamanchas make great "pets", fainting goats are supposed to be sweet, as are nubians and anatolians.
there are however also plenty of goat breeds that tend to be plain out mean, and generally intact males can be pushy...but the pygmies and dwarf breeds aw well as most of the "milk" breeds tend to be sweet if raised right.
