This week our two llamas, Lomi and Paisley, were sheared. Since it's late in the season, we discussed with the shearer what kind of cut they should get in order to not leave them too cold as we begin to approach fall/winter. She suggested leaving some of the fiber on their legs, so that it will add some extra warmth when they are laying down.
Camelids typically fold their legs up underneath their body when they lie down (called cushing). Here's an example:
Look Ma, no legs!
So, essentially, leaving the fiber on their legs provides a nice wool blanket of sorts to curl up with.
Lomi and Paisley are suri llamas, which means they have a type of fiber that hangs down in free-flowing locks from their body. So, after being sheared, Lomi looked like he was sporting some super-cool bell bottoms.
Look at that flair when he walks:
In fact, we found it a bit reminiscent of John Travolta, circa 1977. Check out this video clip -- and don't forget to turn your volume up!
Tonight as I was arriving home from work, I stopped to unlock the gate at the end of our driveway. I glanced up in astonishment to see a deer grazing freely in our yard, about 15 or 20 yards inside our gate. Not surprised to see a deer--we see them practically everyday around here. But with Aslan around, we usually see them OUTSIDE the fence of our main yard. It took me a split second for my eyes to adjust to the sight before I realized, "Oh! That's Mole'!" With his recent haircut (shearing) he looks so much like a deer!
I can never fully anticipate what I might encounter in my driveway when I get home. Sometimes it's like my own drive-through animal park--and I don't even have to pay admission!
Here's a little glimpse at some of today's welcome wagon:
This past weekend our alpaca, Mole', received his annual haircut. Our shearer had a cancellation which allotted enough time for at least one of our camelids to get sheared. We opted for Mole' since he is dark brown and also has a different type of hair than our llamas. We thought he would benefit the most by getting sheared first.
Here are some "before" shots of Mole' with his original Chia pet hairdo.
Unfortunately, our camelids are not halter trained. Mole' came to us as a rescue and had already been passed around a bit in his short life. He is the most skiddish of the three. Though, he will eat pellets from your hand, so that is sweet.
Sam and I got our workout in as we chased Mole' around the pen for a while trying to corner and capture him. He is fast! (And I was not wearing the correct shoes for being able to reverse directions as quickly as I needed to.) The llama halter was too big for him, so we ended up needing to use the goat halter. We were worried about stressing him out too much since we usually don't push him when he's feeling skiddish.
We had selected a nice soft grassy area in the shade for the location for the shearing. (We also had to find a place close to a power source, since we don't have power in our barn.) However, now that we had the halter on Mole', we were going to have to somehow get him from Point A to Point B.
It took the three of us to get Mole' from the pen to the shearing station in our front yard. He is deceptively strong! And of course one of our llamas also got out while we were trying to get Mole' out of the pen. Here's a little video snippet of us leading Mole' across the driveway, with Lomi the Lookie-Loo close at hand.
To shear Mole' safely without risk of injuring him with the blades, he was properly restrained while lying on the ground on his side. He quickly calmed down and did very well throughout the entire process. Good boy! One person also holds his neck down just so he does not try to struggle to get up. Even after the whole process was done and we were able to let him back up, he did not immediately rush off, so I like to think that means it wasn't a terrible ordeal for him.
We relished in the opportunity to actually be able to pet Mole' and feel how soft he is, since usually he does not allow us that close to him. He likes control of his personal space. (Doesn't everyone?)
Ohmygosh he is so soft! And the fiber that came off of him is so lush and luxurious! Well, minus the dust, dirt, bits of hay and straw, and other organic particles... It looks like a giant bear rug.
It also looks like a band of ewoks met a grave ending during an epic and fateful battle on our front lawn.
Wicket, is that you?
We couldn't believe the volume of fiber that he shed. He easily had to have lost at least a few pounds with his shearing. He definitely must feel a lot cooler, too. Lomi and Paisley, our two llamas, also have their shearing coming up soon, but they seem to tolerate the heat a bit better. Mole' is the one always standing in the pool! Or a bucket.
I thought it would be fun to learn about the process of preparing raw fiber for use and actually make something with it. Ideally, it would be cool to watch someone first hand who knows what they are doing as they go through their normal process, but I've been watching a few YouTube videos in the meantime and picked up a few of the basics on how you can work with it manually to clean the fiber and start preparing it for spinning. There are more steps than you might think!
There are tools and equipment that make the process a whole lot easier and less labor intensive, but since I don't have any of those I can at least start with baby steps and use my own two hands to get familiar with the process. There is also something called a drop spindle that is much more affordable than an actual spinning wheel--as in $10 - $20 vs hundreds of dollars. I also think needle felting would be cool and I'm not sure if that requires any actual spinning. I will have to stay tuned, as I haven't advanced that far in my YouTube search yet to know!
Of course, if I end up making yarn, then I'm also going to have to learn how to make something WITH the yarn. I'll need a little crocheting or knitting 101. I have crocheted before, but probably not since I was a kid. A refresher is definitely in order!
Anyway, back to Mole'. Here he is sporting his new haircut. He always looks a bit like an alien deer when he first gets sheared.
He also looks tiny, now that he lost about 7"-10" in extra height from his hair. He looks like one person could scoop him up in their arms and carry him across the yard. It's hard to believe it took three of us to manage moving him. Looks can be deceiving in so many ways!
Sometimes animals can be quite uncooperative when you're trying to capture a good photo. We see adorable, funny, crazy, humorous, endearing, beautiful, bizarre, and other picturesque things all the time -- but having the camera out and ready for it all at all times is a bit of a challenge!
We affectionately refer to these guys as "the pasture animals": Paisley and Lomi are llamas, Mole' is an alpaca, and Loki and Thor are Nigerian Dwarf goats. If I'm lucky I may capture half of them in one shot, with maybe 1 or 2 of them looking in the direction of the camera. Yesterday when I got home they were all hanging out together in a nice huddle. Quick: grab the camera!! Time for a family portrait:
It turns out herding dogs really can herd! We had three border collies visiting for the afternoon. They were lounging in a pen not far outside their pasture. Since I didn't witness their earlier interaction during the day, I'm not sure if these guys were just being reserved and semi-cautious by huddling together and keeping an eye on the new visitors (usually everyone is a Curious George around here about whatever is going on!), or if they instinctively knew they were supposed to stand together as a herd by whatever communication they received from the visiting working dogs. It is so fascinating to watch different animals interact and communicate with one another!
I also happened to catch Lomi stealing a kiss from Paisley!
Today Sam forwarded me a bunch of old photos from her phone that reflect a collection of some of her favorites over the past couple of years.
L to R: Paisley, Lomi, and Molé
We call this one The Three Amigos. This was taken a couple of years ago, shortly after our camelids had their first haircuts. Paisley and Lomi are llamas, and Molê is an alpaca that we rescued.
They are due for haircuts again now. We'll have to post an updated photo after this year's cuts.
Next up, is a photo of Jax, our polydactyl cat. Usually his front paws look like adorably cute little white mittens. But, as you can see, having extra toes also means he has extra scratching power. Thankfully, I was wearing jeans when he considered my leg might make a good scratching post!
This one is also one of my favorite Denali photos. To me, it just screams "Meme Generator!" I will have to figure out if there is a way to embed a meme generator directly in a blog.
I would love to see what you all come up with:
This is Falcor (any Neverending Story fans out there?). She is Sam's blue and gold macaw. She says, "Hello?" when the phone rings, and enjoys talking about apples and bananas (especially bananas! I guess when you stop and think about it, it is kind of a fun word to say...). "Mmmm good!" she says. I also have to admit, it is pretty awesome having birds that laugh at your jokes. Last year we had baby ducklings for the first time. Actually, Sam has had them in the past...but it was my first time raising them. Oh. My. Gosh! Most baby animals are cute, but ducklings have to rank pretty high in my top favorites! Especially when they start pitter pattering around--they are like tiny bowling pins waddling around with miniature duck feet! We hatched three baby ducks last year. These are the baby pictures of Patches, Zippy, and Leon.
Peep! (Translation: Quack!)
Chillin' in Sam's lap after breakfast
Finally, here's another series featuring Denali. Just another one of those days when she was rolling around on the kitchen floor acting silly.
