01 May 2009

"A" is for Alpaca






This weekend past I had the chance to visit a friends farm. He and his wife raise alpacas. I had a wonderful time watching the shearing process of his herd; shearing is done yearly in the Spring. For the alpacas I think it was a welcome relief as the temperatures here in Virginia had been into the 80s for several days including the day of the shearing. I have to say that the alpacas were very sweet and welcomed me into their pen with great curiosity.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh how silly they look with those long shaved necks, but bet it feels wonderful for them to have a break from the heat. Looks like you had a great time!

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Daryl said...

Adorable .. such cute faces .. such soft wool ... the white was is telling the brown ones 'dont worry, its feels good'

Parisbreakfasts said...

Are they as sweet as they look?
The fur is wonderful...that I do know..
Merci
Carolg

Barb said...

So - is the one being held down for shearing grinning? I thought he looked a little testy! I love their long skinny giraffe necks after the shearing.

The Good Life in Virginia said...

hey all

yes, they are sweet and curious and came up to me and poked their noses on me and gave me kisses. loved them ^..^

they tolerate the shearing...i think. but what can you do when your tied taut like that spread eagle. some made more noise than others and a couple of the larger ones were a bit difficult to get down on the mat :)

La Belette Rouge said...

These are such sweet photos. Love the faces and seeing the before and afters of these sweet animals.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

So cute! Those long shaved skinny necks make me smile.
You took some great pics, too. Your friends have such a pretty red barn and lovely alpacas.

I'm getting plans laid out to have my llamas, sheep and angora goat sheared soon, too. Except out temps are still in the 60-70s here and rarely top 80 even in the summer.....with zero humidity. hah! :D

~Lisa

Lew said...

They sure do look different after shearing! Great shots of them.

CountryDew said...

Oh my, that last picture is hysterical. What a great post.

Louise said...

What dear little faces these Alpacas have. They seem more cute after their shearing. x

DeniseinVA said...

Those Alpacas are adorable animals. You took some brilliant photos of them.