Each year gets better, and hands-down this was our best shearing day in every way. The weather was absolutely perfect, and lots of people came out to enjoy the farm.
As always, we had a few unexpected "angels" show up to help- special thanks to Libby and Ken- we can never have too many sweepers and fleece-gatherers. Paul and Sue were the uncomplaining heads of the sweeping crew!
The kids worked especially hard, and one of my favorite points in the day was when I sent Robert into the big field on a scooter to herd up a group of rogue females that were heading for the back forty. He got around the group, and they took one look at him and headed immediately to the barn! It was priceless, and Robert was proud of this particular contribution!
Here, Mirian is gathering up the fleece from her alpaca, Willow, who is a Snowmass Casanova daughter with very fine fiber.Several of our clients came to watch their animals getting shorn, and a few brought animal over.
More people signed up for the upcoming Hat Felting Class which is scheduled for Sunday, April 25th from 1-5. (I still have a few more openings, so let me know if you're interested! alpacalindy@gmail.com).
The shop was bustling- I especially loved watching this young customer trying on hats! We sold lots of products and three alpacas as well. We are continuing to downsize our herd with the goal of being down to 60 by the end of this year, so contact us if you're looking for some great buys!
We all collapsed at the end of the day (this is the shearer, John Gunther, being particular silly after completing 93 head of alpacas and llamas).
There's always plenty of cleanup, but we got it done- I love this picture of Mirian sweeping with the spring evening sunshine coming in to the barn behind her. And now, the biggest chore of springtime is complete!
3 comments:
Wonderful Blog and photos. Thanks for sharing.
Those shearers were a wonder! My alpaca boys, llama girls and, of course, little Finn didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did, but they are cool and happy now!
I adore that team of shearers (Biosecure Alpaca Shearing)- they are very inspiring in that they're clean-living, smart guys who work super hard and have the energy and entrepenerial capacity to make such a unique business work for them while providing a great service! They stayed in our studio for two nights, and I didn't mind a bit- they're good role models for our kids.
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