Shearing Day

This weekend, April 10 and 11, Jan and Carl Heinrich of Long Hollow Suri Alpacas are hosting a shearing opportunity at their Gallatin, Tennessee, farm with Bill Watkins of Frostglen--a highly-skilled shearer and shearing teacher with over 20 years experience. This morning we got the two-horse trailer hooked up, then I was left to halter and load the alpaca gals myself. This was no mean trick because they loathe being caught and they're pastured in the maternity area of the home pasture along with all of our 2010 goat mommas and their kids. Although I brought out a scoop of grain with which to tempt the alpacas, I "caught" many more goats that I wanted. When it comes to food, goats are anything but shy. Eventually I got smart enough to let the goats out to roam the woods, after which haltering the alpacas was less troublesome.

We trundled down to the trailer in the front yard. With four leads in hand, I had four alpacas meandering along behind me. Miss Goldie Rose was the leader. Not only did she allow me to slip a halter on her early on, she also climbed right into the trailer without a fuss and then wanted to come out again. Having never loaded alpacas for transport before, I was unsure of whether to tie them as one would a horse, or leave their heads free; I tied them to be on the safe side. Quickly realizing that I would not successfully load the rest without a helping hand (with the trailer parked on an incline, one of the doors needed to be held open), and so I pulled out my phone to pester our amazingly-good-natured neighbor Theresa. I am hopeless at planning for a schedule and so call for assistance at a moment's notice, and if she's home Theresa comes to my aid every time (or sends Tony in her stead). With Theresa's help, the animals were loaded and ready to go quickly.

Shearing at Long Hollow Suri Alpacas was a not-to-be-missed experience. With a team of experienced handlers working, each animal was processed quickly and efficiently with very little emotional stress. While waiting their turn, the alpacas grazed quietly together in the pen provided. Busily feasting on the lush grass and thick clover, they had little opportunity to miss the mud-lot from which they had come or to fret about their impending fate in the nearby barn.

Having had Bill Watkins shear my alpacas, I fear I may have been spoiled for other shearers I may meet in the future. When removing the main blanket of fleece, he used long, smooth strokes that caused the blanket to roll off each animal like waves in a velvet ocean. Although I tried to capture the magic with a camera, I am quite sure that the magical aspect of the experience will not translate into two dimensions. The finished blanket was bundled into a clear plastic bag and marked; this was the first-quality fiber, called the firsts. Trimmings from the rest of the animal were sorted and placed into sacks labeled for seconds and thirds. This last category has enough of the stiff guard hairs as to make it unusable for clothing or yarn, but it can be used to stuff pillows or mattresses, and perhaps I'll find time to try my hand at needle felting using the thirds. Before leaving the barn, each alpaca had her toenails trimmed, her teeth inspected (Van's were trimmed), and her topknot styled. Since Goldie had been looking rough for some time now, with her topknot a tangled mass of dirty fiber, her transformation was the most striking. Each girl, though, has a very cute look about her now that her body and face are again visible to the world. 

When we left for home, the bed of the truck carried a small mountain of bags filled with fiber--and the alpaca girls were vastly lighter than they'd been when they arrived. I was gratified to see, as the fleeces rolled off of them, that their body condition is good and the girls are neither too thin nor too heavy. They, I'm sure, were gratified to be free of that warm bulk because the days have begun to reach into the 80's with regularity, and alpacas are mountain animals, well-suited to much cooler temperatures.

At day's end, the still-fleecey 'paca males could be seen watching the newly-shorn gals. Tomorrow we'll repeat the process, this time carting the male alpacas off to Gallatin.