Shearing Services:

provided by Cindy Vars

Contact Information:

If contacting by email, please put "shearing" in the subject line.

For on site shearing the farms need to provide:

The more people we have on hand to help with the shearing process the smoother shearing day will run.  I can shear 3 alpacas in an hour if people and alpacas are ready to go. It helps immensely if alpacas are contained in a small pen before shearing begins. This prevents a lot of wasted time chasing alpacas around pastures. Alpacas should be dry the day of shearing. Farm members should clean the fleece as much as possible before shearing time. A vacuum can be used on fleeces to clean dirt and debris out of the fleece before shearing. Hand picking debris out of fleeces prior to shearing is also an option, though very time consuming. Once alpacas are on the table, one person must be dedicated to holding the alpacas head and monitoring the alpaca. As fiber is shorn off the animal, another person will gather the fleece and separate it into the appropriate bins. If you want a particular fleece to be a show fleece, you should indicate so at the beginning of shearing. If at all possible, I would recommend a 2'x4' piece of cardboard for sliding under the alpaca for sliding the show fleece onto the cardboard as it is shorn off the alpaca. That way show fleeces can be stored flat and undisturbed until they are skirted and bagged. If you cannot provide cardboard, show fleeces will be bagged the same as with the other fleeces. This works fine but the fleece does get disturbed more so than if stored on cardboard.)

I require all farms to sign a release form as shearing is inherently dangerous and there is always the possibility that and alpaca could be cut or even die from the stress of shearing. (Click here to see or print release form.) Again, I am a very conscientious shearer and I work hard to minimize nicks and cuts. I have never had an alpaca die while shearing. However, farm owners must be made aware that the possibility is there and the farm owners must take full responsibility for any veterinary costs or loss should they occur. I take special care to make sure alpacas do not spend too long on the table and that they are not over stressed during the shearing process.

Sign up early for shearing to assure your farm gets on my shearing list. All pre-arranged shearing dates are susceptible to change due to weather conditions. Please be aware that if your prearranged shearing date must be cancelled due to weather, we will re-schedule a shearing time at the next available open date.  Farms must pay particular attention to pregnant females (both early and late pregnancies). It is important to know the females due date and shear accordingly. If a female is due to deliver in May, it may be better to wait until after delivery to shear.  For other pregnant alpacas, it is usually better to get shearing done sooner rather than later. Here in our area we usually shear during the month of May. Particular care must be taken with all females due in May or June. Keep this in mind if your shearing date must be rescheduled due to rain. It is important to get the pregnant females shorn as quickly and with the least amount of stress as possible. For those farms who breed in May and June it is also a good idea to hold off on breeding females until after they have been shorn. Plan accordingly for best results! Farms must also decide whether their females are shorn for show or field conditions. Shearing an alpaca for show takes longer than shearing just to remove the fleece. One last item people should be aware of is that as the weather warms up and alpacas become stressed during or while waiting for shearing, they will sweat. The sweat makes the fiber wet. Wet alpacas do not shear as well as dry alpacas. Alpacas that "sweat" a lot will end up with a choppier finished look to their fleeces. These alpacas will probably require some hand trimming in 2 or 3 weeks after shearing to even out their fleece.