Alpaca Shaving... random huh?

4/29/11
So Matt and I were looking for fun, interesting and free things to do when we saw this ad in the local newspaper. It said "Community welcome to help shave, pet, and be involved in summer grooming of the Alpacas" or something like that. So I thought, wow that sounds like fun and super interesting! So I put it on the calendar and we went. Low and behold, we were the only "community members" to show up. The ad says "This ad goes out to over 90,000 people" or something like that, so I thought for sure there would be a ton of people. NOPE. :) We thought we were in the wrong place, except for all the alpacas of course! So we went up there and they let us hang out and pet the alpacas and see how they do this whole process of shaving their fur/grooming them for the summer. I'm glad we went! How many times do you get to do something like that? I love stuff like this! I got to spend some time with a bunch of animals that I know nothing about and learn ALL about them! I think they're pretty cute! Especially this one: (the little one looking right at you in the middle) :)

 So here is what they look like before they are shaved.

 

 They even let us pet them...

 Zoey seemed to like being there as well, even if her eyes are shut!

Okay, so this is how they are shaven: (Beware it looks a little sad) 
These are not all the same alpaca, just the best pics of the process that I had...

 So they bring 'em in and put rope around there two front and two back legs.

 

 Then they pull that rope so it makes em lay down.

 Obviously they don't like this part so they put up a little fight.

 

 But there legs are tied, what they gonna do?

 So they get them all flat so they can shave em real good. 

 

And then start a shavin. (Most of em relaxed a little once they were in this position)

 They hold their head down so they don't move.

 Or try at least.

 

 And get the thing all good and shaved. (They try and keep it all together cause they sell it off to be made into rugs and things like that. I guess their fur is a real money maker!)

 

  Just about done.

  And there you are. And what is underneath all that fur? A tiny little alpaca!

 Done and Done!

 The "torture" is over with and they can get back to being their stress free selves. It's actually better now cause they don't have to die of heat all the time. So I'm sure they're grateful in the end :)

 And here we are. The happy "community" that dropped by for the shaving of the Alpacas.

 

We asked about a million questions about buying, selling, raising, feeding, breeding, shaving...etc. I think they thought it was fun to share some of their wealth of knowledge with the community and we liked learning all about it. What a rare opportunity and I'm glad we took advantage of it!