Alpaca Shearing

We spent a couple of days in April, 2012 at the local farm where we bought our alpacas. Terrie, at Bear Garden Farms, invites all the owners of the alpacas that are being boarded (agisted) at their farm or potential owners to help for the two days. There were over 120 alpacas sheared and it's quite the process. Everyone is assigned a job and the shearers are kept busy. Key to progress is keeping a fresh alpaca on the mat for the shearers so they are maximizing their production. The shearer, Matt Best, came in from New England and makes his rounds to multiple farms throughout the spring and summer.

Alpacas are usually sheared in the spring in this area of the country, this gives them some relief from the heat over the summer but gives the fleece time to grow back in for protection from the cold in the winter. The pictures show one of our alpacas, his name is Tuxedo, being sheared. What a difference once he's done!

Here is the fleece from Tuxedo on a skirting table at home. This is when the fiber is sorted and bits of dirt and vegetable manner are pulled out. The next picture is some of the fiber after it has been run through a carding machine and formed in to a batt. This aligns the fibers all in one direction to get it ready to be spun on the wheel in to yarn. The last picture shows some of the yarn that we're spinning on our spinning wheels.

Alpaca Barn Construction Continues

More pictures of the alpaca barn being built. First few show the framing that was added for the roof and walls, then the roofing and siding.

Alpaca Shed Started

These are pictures of the metal pipe framing that we're using for the alpacas run in shed. We bought the frames from Klene Pipe and they have worked out very well, we bought two sets, one to use in the pasture and a second that we'll use for a shed to put all our outdoor equipment like tractors and back hoes in for storage. The frames will be finished using board and batten siding to match the other buildings.

Pasture Fencing Progress

Here are some pictures of the work going on to put in the fences for the alpacas. Hill top is mostly shale so post hole digging is very slow, even with the backhoe mounted digger. Sometimes we hit a large rock that prevents the hole from being dug but was able to get them in place. For a few of the holes that weren't deep enough, we just adding a bag of ready mix concrete as part of the back fill.

Alpaca Progress

Apologies to all who were following our blog for not keeping up! It's been over a year since I posted, where has the time gone. Will try to add a few posts to catch up.
 

Alpaca Pasture

Here's a shot from the back deck of the area we're clearing for the alpacas. Eventually will cover about 3/4 of an acre. After we get the trees out we plan to take down, we'll be putting up a fence and building a run-in type shed. Alpacas are hardy and like the cold so the shed is there to get them out of the wind but is open on one side. They don't like to be penned up with four walls so this lets them get out of the heavy weather but still have an open view- we'll have an overhang on the front of the shed as well. Here's the start of the clearing work. We had other space on the property that could be ready with less work but decided we wanted them nearby so we could seen them from the house!

Second picture shows why one of the trees that we would have otherwise have pulled down is still there.

Alpacas

Donna and I have decided to purchase a few alpacas so we can use the fiber. Planning to learn to spin yarn and use it for various projects and weaving. Should be fun- we bought a small loom and spinning wheel as Christmas presents to each other- will see how that goes. There are a couple of local alpaca farms nearby who have been great to work with answering our questions and filling us in on what it takes to raise these animals. We're not looking at breeding or getting in to anything exotic, just a few pet type animals we can use for fiber. We bought the first two last week, Leonardo and Toby. Both are a few months old and will be weaned in February or March so we have a lot of work to do to get ready.

Here are a couple of pictures. Leonardo is the small one, just over 17 pounds when this was taken, that is being held- he was having trouble getting enough milk from his mother to gain weight but recently another alpaca mom at the farm has started to let him nurse and the pounds are starting to build- good news as we were worried for a while. He has one ear that is crooked so isn't a candidate for further breeding- that makes him perfect for us as his fiber looks good. Toby has had no problem gaining weight and will likely be ready to be on his own early. Toby has bright blue eyes and is at least partially deaf, again, no issue for us and looks to have great fiber. There is a fiber mill where we'll be able to take the fleece (each animal is sheared once a year in the spring) nearby that will turn the fleece in to material that can be used for spinning in to yarn, we'll take it from there we hope.

We're looking for 2-3 more animals to get started, trying to get various colors so we can make yarn without resorting to dye but don't want to pay a fortune for them. Leonardo is a light fawn color and Toby is white. Enjoy the pictures, sure there will be more in the future. We're purchasing our alpacas from Bear Garden Farms.

Next post will be about starting the pasture area.