Here are the ladies. Maggie and Lily are the two white ones. Don't ask me which is which. Felicia is the brown one.
And the gentlemen: Auggie and Dragster.
Auggie and Lily are Maggie's babies. Right now, Maggie is pregnant, I think by Dragster, but Lily is too young still. Look at those thick, heavy coats! You know that as summer comes and the temperatures rise, those animals are gonna cook. It kinda makes them look heavy too, doesn't it? From the picture, I'd put Auggie at 150 lbs, and Dragster close to 200 lbs....
Here, Lily is stretched out for her haircut. The ropes keep her from kicking, and it makes it easier to roll her as the shearer takes off the "fleece", which is the swath of fur around her torso. Oh, alpaca fur is referred to as "fiber".
My job was to get the animals ready for shearing. We had two mats set up. We wanted to have one ready to go when the shearer was ready, but didn't want them to be tied down for too long, especially the pregnant ones. I like this job because I don't have to worry about knowing which fiber is important and which is trash. The women decide that.
At first, I was trying to lay the animal down with a wrestling move. I'd grab the far front leg and pull it to me while leaning into it's shoulder, which would roll the animal over. I was depending on the guy behind me to do the same with the back feet. Once the animal was laying down, it became docile and it was easy to put the ropes on it's feet. Sometimes, the animal would spread it's hind legs when I went to roll it, which became a pain in the ass. So they told me how the Australians did it.
The Australians would lean over the top of the alpaca and, with two hands, grab the thick fur just in front of the hind legs and in front of the front legs. Then they'd lift the animal up in the air and set her down on her side.
Well, I tried that too... With the first alpaca I lifted that way, I nearly threw her through the ceiling! I must have lifted her to shoulder height, at least. All that thick fleece is misleading making the animal appear much heavier. Then, because I wasn't really sure of what I was doing, I sorta body-slammed the poor animal down on the mat. She was docile, all right.... That got me nervous looks from the alpaca farmers. Rick suggested that I be a little more gentle next time, and I was. It took a few animals before I was able to judge the weight well, but I didn't injure any of them.
The next one was a big male, and he ended up on top of me. When I went to flip him, I lost my balance and fell underneath. One of the pregnant females wasn't very happy about being on her side, and I ended up with a fat lip when she slammed her shoulder into the side of my face. I got spit on half a dozen times, and I tell you alpaca spit is some nasty smelling stuff. It's mostly grass, but grass that's been in their bellies for an hour, fermenting. Rick got kicked in the shins a number of times too. So, to make a long story short, we had a lot of fun!
So here is the lovely Lily with her new 'do. Isn't she loooovely.... I know she'll be cool at least.
Auggie must have lost 100 lbs! That poor guy. How's he going to impress the ladies without his mane? I guess he'll have to rely on his conversational skills.
You can see why I misjudged the first animal's weight when I flipped her.
Once more, for effect
Before:
After:
Man, does that crack me up!
