Bailey had her baby 1 day before shearing! She is a little girl that is light brown with a white spot on her head and is so very cute! Her name is Kahlua.
Praline is happy to have another baby to play with. She has been bugging all the grownups, who ignore her or spit at her!
Onto shearing! Luckily they were shorn before this heat wave hit! They were already hot with all that fluff before the temps hit the upper 90s.
Shearing day ended up being a comfortable day in the 70s. We had people we've sold alpacas too in the past bring their alpacas over to get shorn too. We were able to put the visitors in the goat stall and the kidding pen to help keep everyone separate and we had lots of volunteers helping with out.
We put up a pen in the girl's barn so that it was easier to catch the girls and bring them into the boy barn where the shearers were set up.
Kahlua figure out how to slip between the bars and hung out outside of the pen. This was fine for awhile but eventually Bailey was upset about her baby not being in the pen with her. After the boys were done, we put the boys out in the field so that we could use the boy stall as a staging area for the girls and put Bailey and Kahlua over there.
The alpacas have to be secured during shearing so they don't move around too much. With how sharp the blades are and how thin the alpaca's skin is, it is very easy for them to be cut if not tied down properly. In addition to being shorn, the alpacas get their toes done, their teeth checked and shots. Most of the alpacas do not like this process at all.
We have people ask often if they like being shorn. I always say that they do not like the process but they like the results!
Some of the girls were laying in the shallow waters of the pond. Midnight looks like Nessie!
Until next time!
Dani
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