Building Unity Farm - Shearing the Alpaca

Last weekend we sheared the alpacas and llama.  As Unity Farm works to become a self sustaining agricultural entity,   we plan to sell natural colored alpaca yarn and hand made raw fiber cat toys this Summer.

Above, you'll find the before and after photos.    Our enormous and fluffy animals now look like creatures from a Dr. Seuss book.

Here's how the day went.

We sheared from 12:30pm-9:30pm, with a few small breaks.  We spent about an hour per animal to gently cut each animal's fiber into a single large "blanket".  We also trimmed nails and did a thorough job cleaning and trimming the teeth.

We used a commercial blow dryer to clean their fiber before trimming, once for each side of the animal.

The animals were handled respectfully and were very cooperative (they look completely content in the paddocks this morning)

This was our first shearing experience, so there were many lessons learned that will make next year faster and easier.   My blog will never be a commercial site, but later this year I will post links to the Unity Farm products that we'll be offering - berries, apples/cider, shitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, alpaca yarn, eggs, and honey.