Sunday April 21, 2024 It’s true I do miss a lot of things about owning alpacas, but there is one part I do not miss at all. Shearing day! Scheduling shearing day, preparing for shearing day, planning meals for shearing day and the stress of the actual day! Do we have enough fleece bags, do we have the list of animals accurate, are the labels all ready for each bag, do we have enough helpers coming, have I moved all the fencing to accommodate the animals flow of traffic, is the weather going to cooperate, have I planned enough food and snacks? And then on the actual day, I was the only one who knew every single name by sight to identity each animal so the fleece got in the properly labeled bag. (actually the gentle boy had just learned about 99% of them so he was a huge help) Shearing day is a necessary evil and as my long time friend and alpaca breeder said, “The best day of the year for any alpaca owner is the day after shearing day.” So true!
What I do miss the most is the day to day being around animals, the gentle cud chewing, watching them interact with each other, the sweet smells of life in the barn, opening a bale of hay to see the green that had been preserved from summer’s bounty, and the fact that I got to care for them all. I still don’t like being in the barn and really nothing has been touched since the day the animals left. There are clumps of Blue’s hair still on the floor where I brushed him, alpaca minerals left on the table where they loved to eat them, and many halters and leads still hanging in the catch pen. One day when my heart is ready, I’ll send some things to a rescue organization or offer them for sale here. But I’m not there yet.
But shearing days will stress me no more and for that I’m happy. As I hear of my alpaca friends around the country preparing for shearing days, I wish you all well. Enjoy the day after!
Weather is perfect here lately and I get enjoyment from watching the horses across the road. Have a beautiful day and thanks for checking in.
Photos: We did get some nice fleeces! That part I will miss, but I can always buy fleeces.😊
I can’t complain about the view out my front window! #grateful
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