Sunny day at the farm.

After two days of rain, things started clearing up on Thursday. Friday was another really nice day with sunshine and a cool breeze. The alpacas and llamas were happy to see the sunshine although the ground was still very "squishy" out in the pastures.

Here's a photo of Heide, Amy and Callista sporting their new haircuts on Friday morning.

Naked alpacas...and llamas, too!

Everywhere you look at Hidden Pond Farm, there are naked alpacas and llamas! For the last few days, I've seen them laying flat on their sides, sunbathing.

Yesterday, Rick and I switched gears a little and sheared five llamas. Since we were shorthanded for a day, we knew we could just put the llamas in the chute and shear them fairly easily. Some of the llamas get a little feisty when shearing around their legs and necks, and toenail trimming on a couple of them can be nearly impossible. Nevertheless, we had a nice feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Today was no different. Rene' was able to help us shear four (big) alpaca boys and one more llama. This weekend, we can finish up with Java Joe, our 400+ lb llama, and three alpaca boys. The two juvenile alpaca boys will be hand shorn instead of using the clippers so that should be interesting!

Wishing you a safe and happy memorial day weekend from all of us at Hidden Pond Farm!

I see spots!

Here's a before and after shearing photo of Frances Bean - what a cutie! She turns a year old next month and this was her very first time being shorn.

I love shearing an alpaca the first time to see how the color has changed and darkened "below the surface" of what you usually see. Franny's dark brown fiber looked like chocolate and then to see her spots - wow! I'm showing a close up of her rear end in the photo below because we found appaloosa spots under all that white fiber. She also has a lot of spots on her neck as well.

Rick has taken the week off and Rene' will also take a couple days this week to get more shearing done - maybe even finish everyone, we'll see. Today though we are taking a day off from shearing. Tomorrow we'll start back up again and we'll have some very grateful alpacas who will enjoy the sunny weather even more with their new haircuts - Wednesday is supposed to get up to 80 degrees!

Have a great day!

Four more shorn...

We sheared four more alpacas today -- two suris and two huacayas.

I'll have to take some shots of Frances Bean and post them on the blog. She looks so incredible now that she's shorn! She had so many appaloosa spots under all that fiber she reminded us of an Oreo Blizzard from Dairy Queen!! She's adorable.

Just a short post today. I'm a little worn out... Only 12 more alpacas left to shear and then we'll do the llamas.

Before and After...Shearing Season at HPF!

Federico ("Rico") was the first to be shorn this past Sunday at the farm. We hesitated to shear because it was very chilly that morning. After we got started though it seemed to warm up.

Rico wasn't extremely excited about the shearing but he's feeling very comfortable now and about 8.5 pounds lighter. We also trim toenails at shearing time. Rico's toenails didn't look too bad but they still needed some trimming.

Our nephew Noah and brother-in-law Rob were there to witness their first alpaca shearing. Rob was kind enough to snap a couple of pictures for the blog. I decided to use the one below with me (Elizabeth) at Rico's head and Rick starting the shearing. That's Rene's arm holding onto the back legs. And, of course, Noah giving a two thumbs up!

Black sweatshirts and flannel were not the best clothing choices for shearing -- we all ended up full of white fiber. Hopefully, we'll have warmer weather these next couple of weeks so we won't have to dress as warm.

Rico was our "practice run" to help us get started. I can't remember how long it took us, but it was not our fastest time. Once we get into the rhythm of shearing, we can usually get each alpaca shorn and toenails trimmed within a half hour.

If you ever have a chance to see a professional shearing demonstration done at an alpaca show, I highly recommend it. We watched a demonstration at the show in Madison. The professional shearers were able to completely shear one alpaca in about six minutes! Of course they had several people helping and they didn't have to worry about toenail trimming either. Two men would hold up the alpaca while two others would place the feet in ropes. Then the alpaca would be lowered to the floor and stretched out. As one man sheared, someone would collect the fiber off the alpaca and bag it up for the owner.

Personally, I'm happy getting them done in 30 minutes. We usually have about three people -- one to shear and one at each end of the table holding down the feet and head. We'll stop every few minutes to gather up the fiber and place it in bags. The shearing table makes it a lot easier on our backs, too.

So this is what we're up to lately at Hidden Pond Farm and most every alpaca farm across the country at this time of year.

Tis the season for shearing alpacas...

And we will definitely get started this weekend. We'll start with our huacayas because their fiber is so thick, and it is actually easier for us to shear than the slippery suri fiber. The huacaya fiber will come off in a nice, full blanket, followed by all the leg and neck fiber. The suri fiber is more loosely connected because of the individual locks throughout the body. Once we start shearing, we gather up the suri fiber in clumps as it falls off the alpaca.

Whether we're shearing a suri or a huacaya, our separation process is the same. We have a three bag system where we place the blanket fleece in one bag, the upper leg and neck fiber in a second bag, and in the third bag all of the extra fiber (second cuts and the less desirable, coarser and dirtier fiber from the lower legs, etc). I always mark the bags or slip a note inside with the alpaca name and shearing date as well as the bag contents (blanket or leg/neck fiber).

We're planning on entering some fleece shows and spin-offs this year so everyone will be working on skirting fleeces and preparing entries. I've been compiling a list of show dates and entry deadlines this week. I'll post more about skirting later.

I hope to find time to post some shearing pictures and comments from the weekend by Tuesday...

It's that time again...

Shearing season is upon us and we had great intentions to start this weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't set a gameplan and got too involved in other projects that needed to be done. Pastures needed cleaning, AlpacaNation pages needed updating, fences needed mending....now that the snow is gone and the weather is nice, we find so many projects that need our attention.

Rick fertilized our hay field some more yesterday with our own "home-made" alpaca fertilizer. He filled the spreader with a second load of composted manure and it turned out to be too much for the old spreader. The chain broke before he even got started so the manure had to be emptied manually - that's right, he started shoveling it! Poor guy did a lot on his own before he had to take a break.

After lunch, he went back out and I gave him a hand as well. Our older brother Terry came out soon after and the three of us unloaded the spreader out onto the hayfield. Now Rick will have to add fixing the chain on the manure spreader to his list of priorities.

The weather is going to be in the 60's over the next couple of days, with rain later on this week. We may try to shear a few alpacas in the evenings after Rick gets home from work. This afternoon I'll be setting up the shearing table and getting things ready to go. Rene' will come out and help with the shearing too.