We have been shearing for two days and did 130 alpacas without having to work excessively long hours. The team, Lynette, Andrew, me and Chas, the shearer Mike Banks and his helper Tum. We have all done this before, apart from Tum, so the two shearing stations were non stop. Thursday was a beautiful day but the weather forecast said rain at night so we brought the two weanling fields into the barn overnight so they were dry for Friday. There was one field left but by the time we got to them, they had dried out and were merely damp rather than sopping. The alpacas look wonderful, so elegant without their fleece.
During Friday three cria were born which was a bit of a diversion but did mean we could shear the mums. One of them has floppy joints in its front legs and was fighting to stay upright on tiptoes to suckle but did make it. It needs to get about a bit to strengthen the tendons. Shockingly a fawn cria was born out of a female that has black all through her pedigree on both sides. This was by an Australian black male – hmmm!