Meadow, the Llama

A photo that Vet2Be took of Meadow, the llama.

I thought it was a photo that could use a caption, but I have no idea what the caption should be.

Kiddie Pool for the Llamas!

Vet2Be filled up the kiddie pool for the ducks.... apparently the llamas thought it was their foot bath!

Daisy on the left and Meadow on the right. Meadow LOVES water. Sometimes she even takes a nap in the puddles from the sprinklers.

Shearing the Llamas

It finally got hot around here and we needed to shear the llamas. Actually, one llama and one huarizo. Daisy (the huarizo, which is a llama x alpaca) had a heavy fleece this spring. You can see in the photo below how much fleece she has.

I went out to the field to find Daisy and realized the sprinkler was on it's side... again! I realized why why kept finding the sprinkler on it's side when I found Daisy sitting on it trying to stay cool. It was spraying right onto her belly and legs. I should have gotten a picture of that!

Taco, Vet2Be's good friend, came to help us shear. He's sheared alot of sheep and knows how to use hand shears. Last year we sheared Daisy with a pair of 8" sewing shears. It worked okay, but I wanted to see how to shear with the 'real' red-handled hand shears.

I held Daisy and Taco started shearing. We have a llama chute, but it is storing RN's things before she moves. So we decided to see how Daisy did in a stall. She did just fine!

It took almost 2 hours to shear her because her fleece was so thick. Once in a while she would stand without me holding her, then I grabbed the second set of shears and worked on her, too.

So cute! Huarizos are known for being more pet-like than llamas or alpacas. They are usually sterile and they usually have a wonderful fleece.

Me holding Daisy and Taco shearing. Vet2Be was in the house sick with Strep Throat. We saved the 'blanket' of Daisy's fleece and tossed the rest.

 

Daisy didn't like anyone shearing her legs, but we were able to do it without too much trouble. Shearing her neck was trickier. I had no idea there were folds of skin at the base of her neck. I ended up holding her head down towards the floor while Taco sheared.

Meadow with two years of growth on her. We leave the halter around her neck because otherwise we would never be able to catch her. She was originally rescued by Taco's mom and then placed with us. She came to us skittish and afraid of people. Now she will come up to us and cautiously eat grain out of our hand. She is a wonderful mama llama and nursed Daisy for about 18 months--much longer than most llamas.

We paid to have someone shear Meadow the first year we had her. He stretched her out on the ground with ropes and pulleys between two trucks. She was really easy to handle when she couldn't move! This year Taco was willing to help us try it without a 'professional'. We are always greatful for his help, and he helps often!

Meadow was faster to shear than Daisy, but more difficult because she was not happy with us at all. Son1 brought Taco and I some water to drink since it was about 100˚ while we were shearing, and he got right in and helped us. Son1 held Meadow while Taco and I sheared. At first we wanted to be as fast as possible so we used the loud electric shears. After doing her back we noticed that the electric shears weren't working very well and switched to the hand shears. Hand shears don't give as smooth a cut, but they are much quieter and less to mess with than electric shears.

We didn't get a picture of Meadow with her 'bandit' mask on. Taco showed us how to cover her nose and mouth with a flour-sack dish towel so if she decided to spit we wouldn't get covered with green goo. Basically the towel was folded on the diagonal and went across her nose, it was crossed under her chin and tied behind her head. It worked like a charm! No spitting!

 Daisy peeking in the stall to see what we are doing to her mom.

I also trimmed Daisy and Meadow's toes while we had them contained. They both 'went down' as we were finishing the shearing. No problem. I reached underneath and pulled their feet out and trimmed them. Meadow ended up with Taco and Son1 laying over her back so she didn't jump up while I was trying to trim, but Daisy was fine as I pulled each foot out to trim.

Daisy and Meadow aren't too pleased in this photo. But they were fine in the evening. Both came up and ate some grain out of my hand. We didn't do a fantastic job shearing, but they have a much shorter coat and are much cooler. That was the most important!

Shearing Daisy

We sheared Daisy, the huarizo, last night. Technically she isn't a huarizo because her mother is a llama and her father was an alpaca, but since Daisy if half alpaca and half llama, we call her an huarizo anyway.

Shearing her was a 'hack and whack' job. She really looks terrible right now. Hopefully we can clean her up later this week. I've taken a class in shearing using the Andis shears, but I'm really not experienced enough yet to use them efficiently. Since this spring was rainy and wet Daisy didn't have a chance to dry out enough to shear her. Then my mom passed away, so this has been the first chance I have gotten to take care of Daisy.

Daisy's fleece was a disaster, I didn't even try to save it. She loves to roll in the pasture and the dirt so it was full of foxtail, sticks, dirt, and grass. YUCK! Her fleece was about 4" long so you can imagine the amount of debris that was stuck throughout. If we had had the time we would have spent a few days blowing her coat, combing through it, and then washing her. But the temperatures are above 95˚ F and we wanted to get her sheared so she wouldn't get heat exhaustion. Here is a link about shearing llamas. Here is an excellent link on shearing alpacas.

It took Vet2Be and Hubby about 20 minutes to catch her and get her into the llama chute. We decided that the llama chute would be much better than tying her down on the ground. The other people we talked to said that the llamas and alpacas are much happier if they have the chance to stand rather than have their feet tied and stretched out. Although we haven't tried the other way, she seemed just fine standing.

We trimmed her toes first. She didn't seem to mind much at all. No kicking at all!

Then onto the shearing. I used the electric shears for about 30 minutes. Daisy's fleece was so dirty and long that the blades got dull quickly. We resorted to scissors, which Daisy liked better than the noisy shears anyway! Prion, Vet2Be, and I all had a pair of scissors and snipped away for another 90 minutes.

Daisy is happy to have a thinner coat in the heat of July! I'm sad her fleece was a total loss, especially because this is her first fleece. I'm glad it will grow back. I could tell that it was a beautiful, soft fleece, so I am excited to shear again next year.