Day 20: Holding down the rear legs!! And still no spit...

This day (someday this past week, it's all blurred together now), PB asked if I wanted to go help someone shear their alpacas. Since I didn't get to really do much at 'our' shearing, I figured this would give me some hands on experience. (What for, I'm not certain....I'm sure something will come to me)

So I GOT TO HOLD THE REAR LEGS for three animals!!!

Who ever would have thought I would be that excited about that, huh? Oh wait, you guys mostly know me....I'm always excited about new things.

Some general things:

1. This was hard work, even though I didn't think it would be. You have to stand and keep medium pressure on the legs, even though they are tethered to the board. If the alpaca feels you loosen up it tries to make a break for it.  Standing in one position for three hours holding legs with various pressure from me really gave my arms a work out. I can't imagine how I could have handled 20 animals a day. Turns out I AM a delicate flower.

2. Still not a lot of spit. I sort of got some on my shoulder, but it wasn't really the nasty spit, it was sort of snorted out hay.

3. The first animal struggled a lot and I lost control of her hind legs when we tilted the board down to stand her up. I was nervous, she was wriggly. Nobody got hurt, but I felt bad. They said it was fine for my fist time. :)

4. The second alpaca was a baby (less than a year) and cried through the whole thing. He was not being hurt, but boy did he sound pitiful and worried. Not a lot of thrashing.

5. The third animal was also a baby, but really calm, and had been handled a lot by his owner. Still, he did NOT want his neck sheared. That was a task for the poor shearer.

6. All people holding the animal have to pay CLOSE attention to the shearer and the animal, to anticipate sudden thrashing, or the direction the shearer is headed. No looking away to observe other animals, or kittens, birds, butterflies, etc. This was very hard for me (oh, look a chipmunk...!!!), but I did it.

7. Try not to be downwind of the shears when a breeze is blowing. If you are, be sure to close your mouth. Luckily I kept my mouth closed, but was covered in tiny white tufts of fleece in the end. There was much sneezing.

I am happy I got to participate. At least I know I can do it. (sort of)

Again, not sure what I will DO with this skill and knowledge, but at least I felt useful.

No pictures, because my hands were busy for 3 hours. Not much different from the ones I already posted.

Day 17: Alpacas on the prowl (alpacas are like construction workers...)

This was the last day of shearing. The female alpacas were all sheared, and blissfully grazing in the pasture.

The male alpacas were walked down in groups (by age/pen), and held inside the barn before and after their shearing. Naturally, the ladies were curious...and looking all fine with their new hairdos and freshly clipped toenails.

These ladies were checking out the boys...just stopping by to say hello.

Some seemed to strut more than others...

Catching their attention

Just like a bunch of construction workers... "How YOU doin'?"

Days 15-17: shearing pictures

Howdy All! Sorry I vanished for a bit, there. I'm not used to working outside 12-13 hours a day, and shearing took more out of me than I imagined. And I wasn't even a part of the actual shearing! I can't imagine how tired everyone else was.

Here are some images I took from the hayloft on Day 1. This was the first animal sheared, and all the new people got to go up and watch. 

1. As you can see, the alpaca is on a table. This is a special table that tilts vertically. The alpaca is led to the table, and it takes 4-6 people to line it up, hold rear legs, hold front legs, hold head/neck, wrap a tummy harness (like when they lift horses) around it, and then TILT it into horizontal position. Lots of coordination required there.

2. This is after the first side is done, and the animal is FLIPPED (literally) to do side 2. You can see the leg ropes. One tie goes around each leg, and is secured to the table. There is still a person at each set of legs, in the middle, and at the head. 

3. Vacuum the Alpaca!! Yes indeedy, that thar alpaca gets shop-vacced. (new verb)

This gets out a lot of dust/grass/random bits of stuff. A lot, but not ALL. Very dusty process.

4. Closer shot of ShopVac! 

5. Actual shearing. This is certainly a skill. This shearer did 20 animals a day. You should see her forearms! She has a full time 'real' job, and has to work out her arms all year to stay strong. I was impressed. That was some hard work. 

Each animal takes about 20-30 minutes to shear. There is a designated 'fleece gatherer' who removes the 'blanket' fleece and keeps the table/animal clean so the shearer can work. You can see how the blanket is folded back as the shearer makes each row cut.

6. AHHHH!!! Poor naked alpaca! The legs are trimmed down mostly to keep flies from biting the animal. They do not use the fiber, it's usually too coarse and dirty, and too short. 

You can see how everyone still has hands on the animal. They are not really gripping tightly, but if you let up, the animal tries to get free. If there is a really wriggly animal, everyone sort of stretches across it until it calms down. Kinda like wrestling, but with a wriggling, sometimes screaming, sometimes spitting alpaca. Doesn't happen that much, though.

7. This is the only time in the calendar year the animal is restrained, so whatever else needs to be done gets done. They all got their toenails trimmed, they all got weighed. At least one that I saw got his teeth flossed. THAT was a procedure, requiring quite a few people, and he was NOT at all happy. 

8. A spitter, this one. Most animals don't actually spit, though. Some were quite calm. But they all have personalities, and this one was expressing herself, and her displeasure at being harnessed, tied to a table and sheared. I'd probably spit too. They use towels to protect all the workers from her ire. 

All towels are THROWN out. There's just no cleaning that nastiness. And it does stink. 

Day 16 of alpacas: more shearing and skirting, still not spit on

Really, Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, except it was 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Thank goodness that person did not decide to laundry at 5:15 a.m.  Sadly, though, that is the time my brain chose to wake me up. ::sigh::

Day two of alpaca shearing time:
Lots of walking alpacas back and forth from the pastures to the barn. Lots of worried, 'humming' alpacas. Lots of dirt, hay and flying alpaca fiber. Lots of standing around waiting for alpacas to be ready to attach to lead and move. Very tired.

In case you ever need to know: alpacas are VERY group oriented. They get very distressed when they are separated from the herd, and freak out. Lots of anguished humming, and crying, and frantic looking about. Always try to move them in groups to avoid alpaca freak outs.

I did sit for a while with one of the Sisters up in the hay loft and explain to her what they were doing. I've learned enough to explain it and answer basic question. I seriously have no clue what I will do with this new skill but it still beats surfing job boards and temping, in terms of my happiness/depression level.

Explaining alpaca husbandry to onlookers: yet another step in my global domination plan is complete!!
Best to finish here first, though.

Day 15 with alpacas: a bit of spit, a lot of skirting

May 4th, 2010 The 1st day of SHEARING:
I will have to add photos later, batteries in camera are dead.

5:15 a.m. : someone on the floor decided to roll a cart of laundry down the hall and do laundry. The laundry room is conveniently located two doors from mine. Really??? 5:15 a.m.??? So instead of 5:45 with the alarm, I was awake at 5:15 with some fool doing laundry.

7:00 a.m. : report to the office for pre-shearing poop raking/food/water of all critters. Then on to the main barn. It DID rain a bit last night, but the 'big girls' were in the barn mostly. Still, the smell of wet alpaca combined with unventilated excrement.....pungent.

Coffee! Square donuts! yum!

8:00 a.m.: all new people (like me) climb to the hayloft to view the first shearing. (will add pictures)

The first one: SO much spit they cover the head with a towel, which is THROWN OUT. She is not at ALL happy about being strapped to a table, having her coat sheared and toenails cut. Not happy at ALL, and very expressive.

There are about two animals sheared in an hour.

9:00 a.m.: the big boss calls the newbies out of the loft to take the two blankets (just sheared) to the skirting room. As we are walking away from the barn, there is a SCREAMING, like an animal is being killed or tortured. THAT, says the boss, is why the shearer wears earplugs, and why we were leaving just then. This particular animal always always responds that way to the shearing table and the shearing. Seems she screams like that the whole time. Wow. That's about 20 minutes of listening to that for the 6+ people in the barn. It was seriously freaky. Anyone just walking outside would have thought there was major torture going on. Really, there was not. Some alpacas don't make a sound the entire time. This one is vocalizing for the entire group.

9:00-noon: skirting. Damp alpaca fleece is similar to wet dog smell, but stronger. Except the alpacas have been rolling in hay, dirt, etc. Very ripe, some of it.

noon-1:00 p.m.: lunch!!  pulled pork, greens from the garden, homemade guacamole, homemade cupcakes! Yum.

1:00 - 4:30: It seems I am to be in the skirting room. Is it due to my Delicate Flower status??  Or is it that I do not mind sorting through all the fiber and picking out gunk? I am getting faster, and more confident in my decisions to throw out fleece. Still, I feel like I am shirking my 'intern' duties and should be out in the stinky barn holding down an animal and getting covered in spit. It was not destined to happen today.
(Lisa, I think you were the only one in that pool....)

4:30: head to barn, help with random chores while they finish an animal

5:00-6:00: dinner at the cafeteria with the crew (and all the Sisters)

6:00-7:30: barn. helped move fences to expand 'holding area'. Filled water buckets. Held leash on youngest one while we tried to pick out a ton of gunk from his fleece. Seems the young ones like to play in the dirt the most. Go figure. Tried, with a few people, to get shorn alpacas in from the field with lovely yummy green grass. They were NOT having that. Not at all interested in going in, thank you very much. That shearer is still in there, and the grass is not. They look at you like you are clearly insane for even asking.

Help take 'trash' fiber to compost, and nasty green spit rags to dumpster, help lock up Kubota and put in feed for a.m.

8:00 p.m. : Home. Shower.  Joint ache creme...

9:30 Sit in recliner. Attempt to get pictures off camera. Batteries dead. No replacements!! ARRRGH.

10:30 Bed

Please do not let the person decide to do laundry at 5:15 a.m.....must be on poo patrol at 7:00 tomorrow.