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...

Ribbons for everyone!

We haven't attended an alpaca show in a couple of years, but we still remember the feeling of bringing an animal into the ring and leaving the ring without a ribbon. I am extremely happy to report that all four of our alpacas received ribbons at this year's Great Midwest Alpaca Festival!

Frances Bean received a 2nd Place ribbon! We had to wait until Sunday afternoon to show her but we're happy with her beautiful red ribbon. HPF Leroy took 3rd place in his medium fawn juvenile suri male class. The judge remarked that he couldn't place him higher than third because his color was inconsistent (light fawn, medium fawn and dark fawn throughout his body). I'm thinking he would have done better if we had placed him in a pattern/indefinite color class instead.

Nuno took home a 4th place ribbon and Luxor's Lucas took 5th in his class. I'm especially pleased with Lucas' placement mainly because of the tough class of light fawn males. Lucas has a "flat lock" structure to his fiber which doesn't always look as impressive as those with the tight spiral-shaped locks of fiber. Lucas was the only alpaca in the ring with flat locks and he placed above two other males because of his luster and density of his fleece. I know many people wouldn't be happy with fifth place, but it sure felt good not having to walk out of the ring empty handed.

We took pictures in the show ring but none of them turned out. All of the pictures were blurry, probably because of the distance we were standing from the ring or the lighting in the arena. Whatever the case, they didn't turn out. I was really hoping I'd have at least one photo to post.

We arrived in Madison Friday afternoon and had our stalls set up and animals color-checked by around 5:30 or 6:00. It took about three people to decide which color class to place Leroy in because of the different color variations. In the future, I'll plan to put him in a pattern class if possible.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning to get to the arena before 8:00 and get our stalls cleaned up again. Then we waited...we didn't get to show Lucas or Leroy until late Saturday afternoon. Rick took Nuno into the ring Sunday morning and I showed Franny in one of the last classes of the day on Sunday afternoon. By the time I brought Franny into the ring, we had most of our things packed up for the trip home. It was a long weekend with a lot of waiting time and nervous butterflies. It's good to be back home again.

Next on our list is to start shearing alpacas. There are some fleece show and spin-off deadlines coming up soon so we'll be shearing some "entries" this weekend.

Our first BLUE RIBBON!

We learned recently that our very first fiber spin-off entry received a blue ribbon!

Last year we attended a skirting bee at another alpaca farm and learned how to properly skirt our fleeces for shows as well as prepare entries for spin-off competitions.

Rene', her daughter Beth and I worked diligently at cleaning all the tiniest pieces of vegetable matter from our first entry. We used beautiful medium brown fiber from our 2-1/2 year old male suri, HPF Iggy. We entered the spin-off competition for the 2009 Spring Bling Alpaca Show in Neenah, WI. Chris Rogers of Whisper Meadows Alpacas in DePere notified me of our first place ribbon and kindly returned our entry w/ribbon in the mail since we weren't able to attend the show.

Comments from the judge included, "Very nice color!" and "Excellent shine!"

We did, however, get dinged a few points for inconsistent lengths of fiber in our entry. We will need to stay within 1/2" length variance. We also need to pay attention to the variations of fineness so that we include the same, consistent samples of fiber in each entry. It was a great learning experience overall. We're so excited to have gotten our first blue ribbon!

We've been preparing for the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival show in Madison, WI, coming up April 25-26th. I promise to have more blog updates over the next two weeks as I get our four alpacas ready for their big public debut!