So what did you do today?

What did you do today?  Hope you had a fun Saturday. We sheared 14 alpacas!

We  (the perpetrators) lure the Alpacas into the shed with a few scoops of food at 7:00am.  The shearers arrived at 8:00 am and set up their table. They are a husband and wife that have their own herd of 'pacas.  They are fun, hard working people.  I had to coerce them to break for lunch after 7 animals! 

We started with the whites so if there's contamination of colors at least its still the same color. We weigh each animal before and after shearing.  Check them out for sores, fungus, cockleburrs etc. The first strap goes under the belly. This secures the animal to the table.  Each leg goes into a looped strap and pulled tight so  front legs go forward and back legs are pulled backwards. Literally suspended in mid air, we tilt the table and the animal lies comfortably in a horizontal position.

I can tell by the big mud spot on the neck, that this picture is   "Zerlina".  In photos alpacas can look the same, especially whites.  She is the only alpaca that thinks the water trough is her swimming pool.  Whenever a halter is strapped to her head, she lies down on her chest. She won't get up! No coercing or pulling will budge her. So we put the halter on 24 hours earlier and let her get accustom to the feel.  She associates the halter with mating and is just assuming the position. (smile)  We walked her around the front of the house to the shearing room so she wouldn't get close to the boys paddock. She walked right to the shearing room.

Shearer starts with the belly area on the right side.  Everything on this side is sheared from nose to toes. Then holding the head down on the table the shearer pulls the lower legs from the back side and the animal is flipped to the other side. (EASY PEASY!!?)   The perpetraters bag the fleece that is sheared into sacks. The shearing continues and the animal cools off,   I think one of our animals actually fell asleep!  
Us perpetrators clip nails, treat anything we find like skin fungus or abrasions. Our shearers are particular about pretty shaped tails - can't you tell from the after picture?

 Aint she purty??

We sheared:

Ceasear

Amanda

Zerlina

Sophia

Missy

Freckles

Isis

Zach

Zip

Creme

Joy

Leon

Ebony

Alex

Some friends and family members helped with the shearing. 

Thanks to our friends Jake and Vicki

 My daughter and her husband

And of course the shearers Mike and Loretta.

...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha  whooow!