As the sun sets higher in the sky and the days grow longer, we all begin to feel the pains of summer. Oppressive humidity and heat start to set in as the days are longer. The Alpacas too seem to know that its time to start shearing.
Last year we chose to have the Alpacas shorn at a large nearby farm about 45 mins away. It seemed to us that we spent more time making trips back and forth and unloading and reloading the alpacas than it took to shear them.
We spoke with some neighboring farms who felt the same way and decided to shear are own “round robin style”. One farm had a table and shears and had gone to a shearing clinic, another had a pro-tie system and shears, and we had clippers, blades and scissors, we were set!
This is what we learned:
- You need at least 1 blade set per animal as most of us were using Premier Clippers/Shearers which were overheating. We now own Hegners Shears.
- You need to blow out the alpacas and vaccum them
before you start shearing them. This helps in keeping your blades sharp longer.
- This is the perfect time for shots, nails, and ear checks. Have everything ready before hand. Make a list of each animal and what they are getting.
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