BROADVIEW, Sask. – Richard Bonser wielded his shears in long, steady strokes, removing the alpaca’s heavy fleece as if he had done it hundreds of times.
In fact, the Inglis, Man., participant in a shearing school offered by the Saskatchewan Alpaca Breeders Network had never shorn an alpaca before, although he had clipped a handful of sheep years ago in England.
Maybe he’s just a natural. If so, the demands on his time could soon increase.
Trudy McCall, a shearer who lives north of Lloydminster, said there is a shortage of shearers for alpaca owners.
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“I mean, I’m nine hours away from home,” she said during a break in the school she conducted at Double E Alpacas south of Broadview.
She is booked solid during shearing season, which runs from the end of April to mid-June.
Of the 12 participants in the school, McCall hopes at least two or three will take on custom work in addition to shearing their own alpacas.
McCall said shearers should have a pattern. Begin by taking the less desirable fleece off the legs, belly and armpits and then moving to the best fleece along the sides and back.
“Take a really big blanket and get as much prime fleece as possible,” McCall told the workshop.
“You want to take long strokes all the way from the front to the back.”
A key part of shearing is not to overlap the strokes or get second cuts in the blanket.
The fleece is what drives the alpaca industry, she said, and it’s important that the alpaca looks good after shearing and that the blanket is in the best shape possible.
McCall sheared “on the ground'” for her first two years as a shearer before her brother built her a shearing table. She said a table makes the job easier.
Whether owners shear their own alpacas or hire someone, it’s important that it be done every spring. Male alpacas will suffer from breeding stress and be unable to breed if their testicles are too warm. Females will have small offspring or lose their offspring.
“Even if you have to hand shear (it should be done),” McCall said.
In addition to the shearing school, a half-dozen people took a course in sorting fibre.
Cathy Merkley, a qualified classer who operates TnC Farms with McCall, told students that annual shearing is the key to good fibre.
Once the fleece has been removed, sorters will spread it out and move the unusable fibre onto a compost heap.
“Pull out a little lock and test it for strength,” she advised when examining the remaining fibre.
“Flick it between your thumb and your finger.”
This is a standard that sorters will use to measure and sort the rest of the blanket. It determines how the fibre will be processed and used.
Fibre ranges in length from 3.5 to 17 centimetres. Fibre that is longer than 15 cm generally can’t be processed.
Merkley said she uses a “crunch test” to determine how much vegetation is in a fleece and whether it is usable.
“Cria (young alpaca) fleeces often get that way.”
Producers can help keep their alpacas’ fleeces cleaner by feeding on the ground or in a creep feeder, she said.
“Straw for bedding is better because it’s smooth and easier to get out.”
