The day I have been looking forward to and dreading finally arrived, shearing day for the llamas. I would have preferred to have them sheared earlier in the spring but it took a while to connect with Jens. Then we got 4’5″ of rain so we had to wait until things dried out. Fortunately, this spring temperatures have been mild this year and the heat and humidity didn’t really kick in until last week.
I am grateful to say that we lucked out with our shearer, Jens and his helper, Kit. Jens shows llamas and they both handled our big babies beautifully.
For the most part, both brown beauty Athena and appaloosa Adelphi did well. Athena did not much like to have her barrel sheared or her nails clipped but Jens was patient and persistent. Could Athena’s stress over having her belly clipped be because she’s pregnant?
Lately, I’ve had suspicions that Athena is carrying an extra load. I notice she is isolating from Adelphi and the sheep and has her tail raised more often. Both can be signs of pregnancy. And Jens said that female llamas who do not like their bellies touched may be an indication of pregnancy. Camelids are master hiders of pregnancies so we won’t know for sure until a little cria pops out in the next month or two. Or not.
Jens also paid attention to detail unlike some of the shearers who clipped our alpacas. I did not see any missed patches on any either llama. Adelphi decided to cush at one point, probably thinking that would stop the torture. Cushing is when alpacas lay on their belly. Jens just shaved where he could while she relaxed. This was Adelphi’s first shearing and I was proud of how well she did.
Now they are both shorn and a lot cooler.
While the llamas were being sheared, Jim Bob and I separated our ram Astor from the female sheep. We were proud of our efforts moving Athena in one pasture with Astor, and Adelphi in the other pasture with ewes. Unfortunately, I looked a little bit ago and the gate to the two pastures was wide open. Apparently, the gate latch was not secure when the wind kicked up this afternoon. So we will have to do it all over again this weekend. The last thing we need is for Astor learn how to use his business quite yet.
Despite our separation failure, the day was a big success. Watching how Jens and Kit interacted with our girls took away all of my anxiety. Until next year.
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