Shearing Day

Yesterday our fluffy tough-boys got their annual haircuts. It was shearing day.

7:30 a.m. started with careful, cautious haltering in our half-finished barn

Things progressed rapidly for our boys. They were first on the schedule at Manna Meadows, the alpaca ranch near us that hosted the event. Brent and I started early to get the boys haltered and loaded in the trailer that our friends at the host farm loaned us for the journey. We arrived at Manna Meadows by 8:30.

Shearers are NOT cautious in getting the boys onto the mats so they can do their work.

Next thing the alpacas know, they are being pulled out of the trailer, picked up and plopped down on their side to be stretched with pulleys and ropes tied to their feet. It all happens very quickly.

Me working with Brian Heimes of Manna Meadows to bag Loki's blanket
as Brian of Shear Relief does the shearing.

Two teams worked to bag the fiber. We used 3 different bags to keep the blanket, neck and "3rds" separate. It was a pretty smooth system and the shearers worked very well together, shifting seamlessly between two stations. Each alpaca was sheared in less than 10 minutes.

Here's Loki looking slim and trim after the shearing.

It's an awfully scary process for the animals (and for this alpaca "mom" who moves a lot more slowly and carefully). Similar to a semi-annual teeth-cleaning at the dentist, the quicker the better, I say, for something like this that can't be skipped. And I'm certainly glad it's done only once a year.

Here's a before and after of "Walt" that shows pretty clearly how much fiber these guys grow for protection from the elements over the season.

Walt before shearing.

Walt after shearing (with Ace looking on)

Sharon and Brian at Manna Meadows are simply awesome to host this in their facility near us and to guide us through this somewhat stressful process. At least one other alpaca owner was there with her small group. There was a lot of camaraderie and fun in the day - and pizza for lunch (my favorite food). It was hard to convince these hard-working shearers to stop. But after shearing nearly 50 alpacas and with the arrival of food, they took a break.

Taking a little lunch break before shearing the 20+ remaining alpacas.

In the end, we all made it back home safe and sound and a lot wiser to the shearing process. Some of us came home a lot thinner - and some of us full of pizza and knowledge. All of us were very tired by the end of the day.

These guy missed out on the pizza - obviously.

And now we have seven 30-gallon bags of fiber. Our next step: learn how to skirt the fiber for shipping out to the processing facility.