Alpaca and Llama Shearing Service
At Your Place, At Your Pace, At Your Convenience

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.

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 a 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.

 

efore and After