Alpacas Around
the House
Shearing Day - April 2007
After a successful and uneventful shearing last year, this year added the additional complexity of 5 new
llamas, none of which we had worked with during shearing.  

Happily, everyone did well and there were no problems!  Following are some pictures of this years
shearing activities.  You can click on each picture to enlarge it.

Be sure to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Winnie and her cousin Kathy preparing the barn for shearing.
Everyone contained and staged in our center
Winnie collecting fiber from Eli, our youngest llama
Eli, our youngest llama. VERY soft fiber! (almost like an alpaca...)
Cappy ready. Note the drop cloth to catch the fiber. Shearing is done standing.
...and the first shearing is done. Looking good, Eli!
Winnie working with shearer to collect Cappy's fiber.
One of our female llamas, Beauty, being sheared.
Gem, our other female and oldest llama. Nice dark grey fiber.
Winnie with Gem after shearing. Eli is checking out the new look.
Shelby, our young Suri alpaca's turn. Quite a difference in size!
Shelby with Eli; another good reference of the size difference. Both are about the same age.
Cavalier, our largest alpaca.
Cavalier again. Really thick fiber.
Cavalier - lookin' good but not necessarily happy...
Winnie with Cavalier
Zorro, our black alpaca, ready for shearing
Steve with Zorro after shearing.
Overall, a tiring but successful day.  We collected two types of fiber from each camelid (Blanket, and
then legs and neck).  The blanket is the most valuable because it is also the heaviest and densest,
but the leg and neck can also clean up nicely as well.  

We used large trash bags for the collection, and marked each with the llama's or alpaca's name
using a silver Sharpie pen (easy to read on both the white and the dark trash bags), and whether it
was A or B fiber.  Our current plan is to process and spin the fiber ourselves when the house is
finished.

Take a look at our House Pix page to see how we're progressing!