
May 30 , 2017
Alpaca Shearing - Our alpacas got shorn at COKAL ranch
Every year before temperatures get too hot alpacas have to be shorn. Alpaca shearing?avoids overheating of the animals and it is like harvesting for the alpaca breeder. Alpaca shearing is stressful for both..and it is a pleasure for both.
About Alpacas
Alpacas are very friendly, cute animals. They are environmentallly friendly. They are producers of some of the finest fleeces on the planet. Only vicunas are superior. Both, together with llamas and guanacos, belong to the family of camelids. They originated from the Andes mountains in South America, namely Peru, Chile and Bolivia. They have been domesticated by the ancient inhabitants of the Altiplano, the Incas, thousands of years back. While the hair of sheep is called wool, the hair of vicunas and alpacas is named fleece to highlight the unique quality. Alpacas live with the indigenous people of the Andes mountains since thousands of years providing meat and wool to produce clothing. Quechua people are skirting and weaving alpaca wool since then. At the times of the Incas only royals and clerics had been allowed to wear alpaca fleece clothing. It was called the ?The Fibre of the Gods? or the ?Hair of the Angels?. When the Spanish conquered Peru they decimated the alpaca herds and alpacas were endangered to be completely eliminated. In the last century the government of Peru encouraged the native population again to breed alpacas to boost the economy. The first alpacas in considerable numbers have been exported to North America, Australia and New Zealand in the 1980 and 1990 later to Europe as well. The numbers of alpacas living in North America reaches 150,000 and exceeds 200,000 in Australia. Vicunas are still not domesticated and their export is prohibited, securing a monopoly to Peru to produce and export vicuna fleece. Vicuna fleece is the most exclusive and expensive exotic fibre of the world.Alpaca shearing
http://www.bas-uk.com/alpacapedia/alpaca-shearing http://www.aragonalpacas.com/shearing_alpacas.html Alpaca shearing is done by professional shearers or the breeder himself. We hired a shearer. You can shear alpacas on the floor or, more comfortable, on a shearing table. Before alpaca shearing we gather our alpacas in a small mobile coral near the shearing table. They all get a halter. Then we bring them to the shearing table one by one. The table is kept in a vertical position and the animal that has to be shorn stands next to the table. It will be fixed and the table is turned into a horizontal position?