Snufflesworth Gets a Haircut

 This is Snufflesworth, my white alpaca. 

Below are his buddies…

 Zorro is the black, shy little fellow;  Norman is the pretty brown alpaca who thinks he is boss.

Little Goatly is really in charge.  She is a full grown Nigerian Dwarf / Pygmy cross.

 Here she is checking Penny out.

 Zorro has a full coat of very fine alpaca hair.  He once won ribbons in show.

 Here, Norman’s teeth are sticking out of his cute teddy bear face.   When alpaca’s chew, their lower jaw rotates in a figure 8, the upper lip is divided in the center, and the left or right lip can move separately.   We found them quite hilarious to watch when we first got these unusual creatures.

 Their coats are full and soft, after a full year’s growth.  Now its May and that means shearing time!!

 Here Penny is feeding comfery herb to them,  Little Goatly must get her share first.

Norman loves his bathtub.  Here is a series of pictures showing how he first splashes in the water, then sits in it, then squeezes his whole body into the tub, till the water nearly overflows!  Such a funny sight!  Kind of like a big soft teddy bear squeezed into a tea cup.

 There is a shearing crew that travels about to the alpaca farms for the big event of Shearing Day.  Since we only have 3 alpacas, we load them into a trailer and haul them to a nearby farm to wait their turn to get sheared.  This style of shearing uses a mat and bungy cords to hold out the animal’s legs so they can be easily rolled over in a smooth and comfortable way.  These young men really know what they are doing and are very quick about their job!

 After our alpacas were loaded up from our farm and headed away down the driveway, poor Little Goatly wandered all around the farm bleating, looking for her missing companions.  Here she is in the driveway, on the saddest day of her life.  So forlorn.

Notice in this video as they shear, that the hair is separated into bags, 1st is the best hair, called the blanket fleece.  In the bag labeled #2 is seconds, from the neck and legs.  Thirds are the scraps of odd leftover hair.

 And here is the result —

 That’s Amadu, our friend, holding a scrawny, shrunken alpaca!!

 Home again, safe in their favorite pasture! 

The goat eagerly sniffs them over to see if she can figure out what happened to her fuzzy friends!

 You just gotta laugh when you see them after such an immense transformation!

Once at home in their pasture, the alpacas like to roll in the grass,  giving themselves a rubdown that feels delightful.  Then they stretch out in the sun and soak up some warmth!  And so the hair will grow til next year when shearing time rolls around again.  Now is time for me to wash, card and spin the fleece into yarn!