Saturday, November 02, 2013

It's Alpaca Shearing Time

In the past, we've found alpaca shearing time fairly stressful. This year it was not.
We had a new shearer - all the way from Waiheke Island. Keenan from Waiheke Alapaca came up with Renee, and it was a lovely experience. Sadly I missed almost all of it as I was called for jury duty. ( didn't get picked as the trial was cancelled! But only got home in time for coffee!)

This year as well as shearing and toe nail trimming, they had all their injections, drench and a couple of them even had their teeth filed. We learned a lot about dermatitis in alpaca. Sadly we have 4 that are genetically susceptible to it and the humidity up here doesn't help at all. But we got some wonder cream to put on. All in all it was a totally amazing experience and we can't thank Keenan and Renee  enough. They are lovely, kind, patient people.

It's given us a new lease of life with the Alpacas. A few weeks ago we were very down and sad about things, as we'd had to have Vienna put to sleep. She was an old lady, but she was one of our favourites. She had the most lovely, gentle personality. And was an amazing mum. It broke our hearts and we were all for selling them all and jacking it in. However we've come to realise that this was a knee jerk reaction! We are blessed with three of her crias, though.

Anyway, here they are pre-shearing. All fluffy and very round looking.
In the middle is baby Cupcake, we found out today that she has super amazing fleece :) Which is a bonus, really, and has made us rethink our idea about getting a blanket woven.


A very poor quality video of their fluffiness I posted on Facebook.





Keenan has a very good shearing table. It has a padded side and looks comfortable for the alpacas. Tetley was incredibly interested.

Poor Truffle got the short straw and was first up. I only saw her being sheared then I had to leave.

Doing the gentle task of shearing her head. The others all watch on.  Often they come right up to the table and stick their heads under the shearers arm to get a better look!

Delicate tail end!





Actual Shearing

 

And after!! Look how freakishly skinny they look! This is Earl Grey and he is our biggest alpaca. Here he looks like a wee shrimp!

What we have found rather lovely is that even though all our alpacas are together and love eachother, they stick very firmly in their family groups. These are all Vienna's children. I don't know if it's a smell thing or an instinct, but these guys were all born over a year apart, but they know, somehow, that they are brothers and sister. Front is Cupcake, then Herbie (white) and Tetley. They are always together.

And this is another family group. Mum Coco, Stella and baby Leaf.

And Earl Grey, again! looking all regal! He is our gentle giant.


Cupcake always looks kind of cross!


Something else that was rather lovely, for us, was Keenan said we have a gorgeous wee alpaca herd. He said they all interact really nicely with eachother and you can tell they are loved and very well looked after.  When you start something new - even with all the reading you can do and the help you get - I still worry that we're not doing it right. Or something! So, it was nice to hear that we're doing ok!

18 comments:

  1. Oh no not Vienna, that has ruined my day, however, she has left some beautiful "babies" for you & Lloyd to treasure. The pictures are wonderful Laura, they are the sweetest looking animals, what joy you must get from sharing your farm with them. Your Garden Collective is most interesting to read, again great pictures. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm really sorry. Yes, I didn't even post about it cos we were so sad. When things like that happen ( even though it's part of it all) I really do hate it.

      Delete
  2. They look so cute all shaven, really skinny under all that wool. Have you ever given spinning a go? I have some Alpaca to spin when I got my spinning wheel back up and running. You would enjoy it I think. Then you could knit things from your babies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never tried spinning properly. THe lady at Naturally Alpacas gave me a wee lesson and I was beyond terrible!!!! But now that I know how good some of our fleece is I may give it a go

      Delete
  3. How lovely to actually see it all, thanks. They look a happy bunch for sure. As new animal keepers we all do it by the book and wonder if we are actually doing it right, and have doubts on a regular but seeing such a happy herd of Alpacas it's so obvious you are, and it's even nicer to be told by someone who visits lots of Alpacas to have that re-inforced.

    Your skinny minnies will have a lovely Summer to look forward to now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I hear you!! We are constantly full of doubts! And sometimes well meaning people give you advice and it's wrong!! So it really gave us a boost to hear that they were lovely and healthy!

      Delete
  4. What an interesting post! The video was particular helpful, since I've never seen a shearing personally. I am so glad it was a success and that you got some feedback on your keeping of those beautiful creatures. They are sure skinny without all the fluff! I like how you can see the texture from the shears on their skinny bodies. It looks neat. Also, super interesting about the family groups. I wonder how they know! The wonders and workings of the animal kingdom never cease to amaze me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the family group thing that really interests me as well. I wonder if there's been any research into it. I have to say, our last shearer was good, but this guy is amazing. I'm secretly ( or not so!) that he retired!!

      Delete
  5. I have been wanting alpacas lately, and this post didn't help at all! haha. Yours are so incredibly cute and I love all these photos. It's so crazy how small they look once they are sheared! I'm sure they grow back the hair in no time.

    PS - So sorry about Vienna. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they are really lovely animals to have around the place. They slowly grow their fleece back over the course of a year, but it's only really in the last 2 months that it goes super bushy.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7:34 am

    Hi Laura,

    Fabulous pictures of your lovely alcapacas! Especially the one of Cupcake, Herbie & Tetley. It would be nice to get this blown up & framed.

    Regards
    DeeJay from Whangarei

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh dear, was that Truffle's complaining in the video? I think i would feel terrible if i heard that in person, on the other hand it sounds like she's cursing you out! "Get me off this stinkin' table!" "Stop violating me!" LOL They are all so adorable. It is nice to hear they notice your love on them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it sure is! Some of them do that ( our older girls are the worst) and some of them are totally silent. The first year we did it I really thought that they would run away as soon as they were shorn. But surprisingly, they don't at all. They stay and hang around the shearer.

      Delete
  8. They are so funny looking all nekkid! Such skinny necks - are you sure they're not related to giraffes?! An alpaca blanket sounds lovely for chilly winter nights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yep, definitely got some giraffe in them :)

      Delete
  9. This post had me smiling from ear to ear!! They are adorable and look ever so happy and healthy!! ♥♥♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they really are adorable. Even when they're making that terrible racket on the table!

      Delete

I love it when you leave me comments, it lets me know there are folk out there reading my ramblings! Thank you, I appreciate them loads and loads
Laura x