Alpaca and Llama Shearing Service
At Your Place, At Your Pace, At Your Convenience
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Customer Quotes
hearing alpacas and llamas on a yearly basis contributes markedly
to their health and well-being and allows you to see what's under
all of that wool. Of course shearing is also how we harvest the fiber
- YOUR product.
Because alpacas and llamas are susceptible to heat stress, they
should be shorn every year before summer's heat comes on.
Alpacas require shearing but "classic" llamas molt their
under coats and can be brushed. This preserves the guard hair coat
which acts as a cushion when they are used as pack animals. Llamas
that have been bred for fiber (and may have alpaca in their genealogy)
should be shorn because they aren't likely to molt.
ow I shear
In many respects I shear alpacas and llamas in the same way that
the native herders of the Alto Plano shear their animals - on the
ground with their legs hobbled. While it is true that in the secure
surroundings of their own paddocks, many llamas and alpacas will
stand quietly as their owners shear them. It is an entirely different
matter when they are shorn by a stranger. And I don't blame them.
Why? Because I can do a better job more quickly if the animals can't
- as they are naturally inclined to - move to protect themselves
from a perceived threat. And surely a biped waving a noisy, pointy,
buzzy thing in close proximity to the body is a threat. An additional
benefit to me is that the 'dance' that the animal, the head holder,
and I do is essentially the same every time we do it. There is a
significant measure of safety gained when the head holder and I
know what the other will do and when we are going to do it. This
same predictability also means that we can do a better job getting
the fleece off.
I am not a "production" shearer. I am not interested in high tallies.
I am interested in taking enough time to do a good job so that we harvest
a quality fleece while making it as easy as possible for the animal. The fiber that we
shear off is, after all, your harvest for the year; I want you get as much usable
product from your harvest as you can.
efore and After
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Last modified: 2010 Feb 16 0035:31 UTC