SHEARING ALPACAS

Fiber!  Fiber! Fiber! That's the reason I have alpacas!

Most alpacas are sheared once a year when it is warm and dry where they live--so in different parts of the US, that is at different times. Alpacas can be sheared standing up or on the ground, but many shearers prefer shearing the animals on a table--it saves the shearer's knees and back, and holds the alpaca steady to eliminate the danger of the shears. There are many professional alpaca shearers who will come to your farm, but some owners learn to shear their own animals.

We make sure the alpacas are dry before shearing day and we clean off as much vegetation as possible. We use a shop vac to suck out as much dust and dirt as possible, wand the fleece and pick off what we can by hand.
 

This is a picture of BMCA Sweet Baby James before shearing in June 2011. James was a little more than two years old and he had a great, dense fleece.

The most valuable fleece comes from the alpaca's blanket, which is the main part of the body between the hind end and neck and above the belly.

The first step in shearing is to take a sample of the fiber we can send off to test the micron count.

The shearer we used starts on the right side of the body, then sits the alpaca upright to shear the left side of the blanket. the blanket is then put in a clear plastic bag with a pre-made label including the animal's name, date of birth, etc.

Fiber from the neck is kept separate--it may be as fine as the blanket in some alpacas, but generally is shorter.

I keep belly and leg fiber together. Besides being much shorter, it is less fine, but good for rugs, felting and other craft projects.

James looks much smaller once he's sheared! I haven't weighed his blanket yet, but he's probably lost a couple of pounds of fiber.

The next step in processing fiber is to skirt it--that is, remove as much vegetation, soiled fiber and short pieces. Some spinners use that fiber directly without further processing. Alpaca fiber has no lanolin, so it doesn't need scoured like wool from a sheep.

I have a top-loading washer in my garage, so I often wash my best blankets--I fill the washer with hot water and gentle soap and let the fiber soak. Then I can spin the water out. The fiber may need a second wash and/or rinse. The fiber is then spread out on a screen to dry.

On the right is a picture of Desire's fleece after it was washed and is drying. The picture doesn't do justice to the luster of the fiber.

I send some blankets to small mills for processing into either roving or yarn.