Category Archives: Shearing

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Alpacas get sheared once a year.  In Arizona we sheared in April but here in Massachusetts, April was too cold and too wet, so we waited into May. The day before shearing the last weekend in May it got hot, really hot. We were setting up the shearing shade pavilion and the alpacas were hovering about waiting for us to get done so they could lie down in the shade. They were guzzling water and generally looking pretty miserable.  It is a good thing we sheared the very next day.

In Arizona shearing was a community activity where we knew the owners of a number of different alpaca ranches. We worked together over the course of several weeks to get everyone’s animals done and there were plenty of hands. This was our first time to do shearing in Massachusetts and we are super grateful for the friends who turned out to lend a hand even though they had never done this before.

This shearing day we had 11 animals to work with. Jonathan wielded shears as expertly as ever and we got them all done by 3 pm.  The alpacas clearly grew more weight of fleece in the Massachusetts winter cold and we got quite a lovely harvest.  We’ll be sorting and cleaning for quite some time to come.  Eventually there will be socks and yarn but please don’t hold your breath… we promise to announce when they are actually available.