Shearing day 2020

It was cloudy, but the rain held off for our shearing day on April 27. Jay Mariacher and his shearing crew harvested the fleece from our 18 camelids in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. If you do the math that's about 9 minutes per animal (although the llamas throw off the average a bit because they take longer). Kathy has  begun skirting the fleeces to prepare them for processing at Blue Mountain Farm and Fiber Mill just north of Harrisburg, PA. For your enjoyment here are some before and after pictures, plus our llama Gabriel being sheared standing up! (The alpacas are all sheared lying down).

I'm sure you're wondering, "Don't they get cold after being sheared?" And the answer is "Yes". Especially if we continue to have cool weather like we are in this early part of May. We have coats for some of the younger ones and put a deep layer of straw down in the barns to keep them warm.