BROADVIEW, Sask. – Jan Bamford and Bob Doull were the first to call about an advertisement for an alpaca shearing and fleece sorting school to be held near Broadview in southeastern Saskatchewan.
The couple drove more than 1,200 kilometres to get there from their home in Evansburg, Alta., west of Edmonton.
The attraction was being able to take both courses at the same time.
They are offered separately in Alberta, said Bamford, who is a spinner.
She originally planned to take the sorting course and Doull was going to learn how to shear. That changed when Doull injured his shoulder.
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“We’ve had to switch roles,” Bamford said, but she thinks they will be able to teach each other what they learned.
They’ve had alpacas for a little more than two years, after an introduction at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
“We fell in love with alpacas and the people who own them.”
While Bamford and Doull have both assisted shearers before, Bamford said they needed to learn how to do it themselves.
“When you have 10 to 20 animals, to bring in a shearer at $35 to $50 an animal, the cost of the workshop pays for itself in the first year,” she said.
