Canada

The owners of the farm had been preparing us for this day...and we were all dreading it slightly! Last year they had 2 less volunteers but also less alpacas and it took 10 hours to shear them all so we were all expecting to be working until sundown. We were told to wear clothes we didn’t mind getting dirty, spat on or pee’d on... hmm, this was going to be a fun day!! Well they used a new shearer this year and he must have done it in record time, we were done in 4.5 hours! The alpacas were for the most part very well behaved so we came out, not quite smelling of daisies, but certainly cleaner than we were all expecting! It was a very interesting day, but it was also quite hard in the beginning to see them tied up. It is however, the safest way to shear alpacas for everyone involved and it doesn’t hurt them at all. Although shearing can be stressful for them, getting rid of their fibre before the warm weather is so important for their wellbeing. They all look a bit ridiculous and I think they know it as well 🙈 I finally think I know all of their names now! Next, the fibre will go through a process called skirting - basically we pick out the big pieces of dirt/poop/straw etc. Then it gets sent to a mill where most of the fibre is turned into felt which is what the owners use the most for producing their alpaca products!Read more