Day 17 alpacaland: 3rd day of shearing, I am too delicate a flower for alpaca spit

I just found this draft post, and cannot recall what I was going to share, with that fascinating title!

Perhaps it was just that I did NOT get to actively participate in the shearing of an alpaca, but spent much time in the skirting room, and much time helping with cleaning/watering/feeding/ walking back to the pastures.

Of course, I AM a delicate flower. Perhaps that will prevent the inevitable spit. I will let those alpacas know right away.

Americorps for me means peer pressure for you!

No, seriously.

You too can experience the farm, the compost pile, the alpacas, the skirting, the card catalog......

As a member of Americorps, I have to recruit 5 people to volunteer their time here. So if anyone feels like visiting me, please let me know! I think they only require that someone spend an hour doing something they're not paid to do here. I start working weekends this weekend (rotating), and will be here through at least July 14.

I can get you a 'guest' room in my building. I'm pretty certain there's no charge. I have some Bloomington people who might come up and help me meet my quota. Anyone else?

Anyone? Anyone?

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.

Day 15: sexy smell?

I smell of alpaca and menthol/camphor.  Very sexy. 

Is this not the proper perfume to attract the men? No? Will only attract alpacas with pain in their joints? 

Hmmm. I will have to rethink my approach.

Day 14 with alpacas: no spit, accepted into Americorp, Skirting a fleece

Yes indeedy, the day before shearing and I have not been spit upon. Tomorrow will come quickly, though. 7:00 a.m. start time. They are doing the 'big girls' first, which is about 30 'breeding age' females (and crias, the babies). I'm guessing when we enclose them in the barn and whip out that shearing table the spit will be flying.

Got an email that I've been accepted into Americorps. That is a good thing, but sadly it is only as the 300 hour volunteer, which means I keep track of my hours and at the end of the internship I get $1000 applied to whichever loan I choose. There is no stipend. (alas) I am glad to at least get the $1000 toward student loans, though. Perhaps being 'accepted' here and 'accepted' into Americorps is the start of a trend. Yes? Yes.

Learned how to 'skirt' a fleece last week, and got to practice today. Basically you take the main part of the fleece (the blanket), and separate it into 'firsts' and 'seconds'. Good fleece and not so good fleece. Then you pick out all the icky tough 'guard hairs' and shake out/pick out any grass seeds, twigs, etc. I am good at picking out small things and making it clean. :)  It's like sorting seed beads, very Zen! YEAH!!

I told them I want to learn how to shop-vac an alpaca tomorrow. That needs to be on my resume: shop-vac-ing an alpaca. I'm not sure what I will do with that skill, but it needs to be on there. Perhaps in a library storytime?

And yes, they literally take a shop-vac to the alpaca before shearing. It cleans off a lot of dirt/seeds/straw.

I do not think the alpacas will like this. Perhaps this will be the spitting point, the shop-vac.