Not Their Best Day

Shearing day is not an alpaca's favorite day of the year. They usually are gregarious and curious, but when they come into the shearing pen, they turn grumpy.


Not that I can blame them...

This year we're trying something a bit different. We'll leave the fleeces on most of them, just removing the belly fiber so they stay cool, and shear them a bit earlier next year. The fiber will be several inches longer and hopefully the hand spinners who buy the fiber on Ebay will be appreciative, resulting in good auctions.


So shearing day should really have been called shearing-the-belly-on-most-of-them day, but that's too much of a mouthful, don't you think?



My friend Kelsey was invited to help. She's young, strong, and most important, a really good sport. That last attribute is important for people who help at alpaca shearing because sometimes the animals show their displeasure by leaping around, kicking or worst of all, spitting.


We'd warned Kelsey, but sure enough, it happened at a moment when no one was expecting it, especially her. The alpaca was on the ground, she was holding his head and concentrating on where Goddy's clippers were, a sensible thing to do when your fingers are in proximity to shearing blades. The alpaca let fly with gobs of green goo, and Kelsey was in the line of fire. I didn't get a photo because I went into rescue mode and raced off to get wet cloths. We got most of it off, but discovered that dried alpaca spit makes effective, if fragrant, hair gel. Kelsey didn't have any stray locks in her eyes the rest of the morning. And she managed to keep smiling.


(Can you believe such a sweet-faced creature is capable of a vile habit like spitting?)


But here's the thing that most impressed my husband (who doesn't often get impressed with alpaca handlers, no matter who they are) - Kelsey didn't let go of the alpaca, even with a face full of spit. Way to go, my friend!!


Here are a few pictures of Goddy's method of shearing alpacas. He starts with them standing but if they want to lie down he lets them.



The fiber from the body (called the barrel) is the highest quality.




This guy decided to lie down so Emilio is holding his tail and keeping alert in case the alpaca leaps to his feet.


One thing about shearing day that we could all learn from - as soon as its over, the alpacas are back to their gregarious, silly selves. I guess if you kick and spit when you're mad, there's no need to hold a grudge.