Llama, Llama, Goat

 

Last week, I invited Bruce the Shearer Man over to help my llamas and angora goat feel cooler this summer. And of course, I kept the fleeces and will probably be selling them soon, as I still have fleeces and rolags of carded fleece that I’ve yet to spin into yarn. Here are some photos from that experience, with before and after photos, too.

Cataleya, my female llama. Before Photos.

Cataleya wearing her spit mask (trust me, it was needed!lol!)

Half a llama partially sheared.

My friend Kendra drove over to take photos and experience shearing day. We had to do the shearing down by my house as we don’t have any electric in our barn ever since an underground critter chewed our wiring.

I typically don’t shear a llama tail, but not only were their tails tangled, knotted, and dreadlock-like, but Cataleya also had a piece of wire twisted within her tail.

We couldn’t help but laugh at how funny her tail looked naked.

And voila! All done!

Cataleya’s After Photos! 

 

Isn’t she pretty?

And next up is Catlinite, my gelding llama. I had to walk each llama and goat down the hill from the barn to the house to be sheared, then walk them back up, and bring down another one…and so on, and so on. lol!

And Catlinite’s Before Photo! He used to be a show llama, and he still knows how to pose.

My twin sons, Jem and Jax were a huge help that day moving panels and keeping them secure when the llamas tried to thrash around.

Bruce the Shearer Man and all of us within spitting distance were very thankful that the llamas wore spitting masks.

 

Catlinite’s After Photo! He was making faces because he didn’t like the nasty taste of spit in his mouth.

Next it was my Angora goat Luna’s turn to be sheared.

Here’s her Before Photo:

 

My son Jem, caught this funny photo of Luna expressing her displeasure at being sheared.

But soon she relaxed and began to enjoy the attention.

And it wasn’t long before her thick, heavy dreadlocks finally fell to the ground.

And soon she was all done!

And she was so much cooler and happier!

Luna’s After Photo! Isn’t she pretty?

When I walked her back up to the barn, her goatie friends, Mud Pie and Latte didn’t even recognize her!

I gathered up the fleeces and carried them into the garage.

 

Boy Howdy! They were heavy and hot! It made me happy knowing they weren’t on my animals anymore, so they would enjoy feeling cooler this summer.

I ended up only saving the llama fleeces, as Luna’s fleece had become too matted and dirty. I usually shear her twice a year, in the Spring and early Fall. But last Fall it snowed the day before I was going to shear Luna, so I just put it off for fear of her getting too cold. The two llama fleeces are in very good condition, super soft, and not too dirty either.

Jumping for Joy

Unseasonably warm…that’s us. Dry, Sunny, Beautiful Blue Skies in The Land of Enchantment.

Usually by this time of year, we’ve already had several snowfalls with accumulation. And we’ve usually had hassles with ice and fierce, winds with gusts into the 50 mph range. Not this year.

We’ve only had one little snow flurry with just a slight dusting that vanished with the morning sun. And most amazing of all is the temperature! At night we have dipped down into the teens, but during the day we enjoy temps up into the upper 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s (F). If we weren’t just a few weeks from Christmas I’d be thrilled, but I’m worried that we won’t have a White Christmas this year, something we can usually depend on every holiday season.

Yesterday I hand-sheared Luna, my Angora goat. It’s not perfect, but she’s comfortable, and I think she’s beautiful.

Right after her shearing, she was jumping and playing with her goatie friends, Latte and Mud Pie, as if she was a little kid. Luna is such a sweet gal

She’s about 5-6 years old now, and I rescued her from abysmal living conditions 3 years ago. She was kept in a muddy pen no bigger than the size of a small bathroom, about 5’ x 7’. The old man kept her in there at night and then tied my poor girl to young green horses during the day, supposedly to train them to have patience, or something. Anyone ever hear of that before?

Anyway, my Luna was expected to exist by nibbling the sparse weeds while out in the yard tied to a horse. The old man supplemented her diet with handfuls of moldy, brown alfalfa….when he thought of it.

When I saw her pitiful, picture on CraigsList, I could not resist her pull and I had to contact the man and make an appt to stop by and possibly bring her home.

When I saw her in her filthy pen, matted, muddy, and still with the green paint on her back from when he had purchased her as part of a Lot in a local Livestock Auction, every sensible part of me wanted to go back home, minus one angora goat. The old man said she was between two and three years old, and he’d owned her for almost a year. That was one year of her life, too long, in my opinion, and my sweet goatie gal will always have a home here with me until she takes her last breath.

But I digress.

Luna needs to be sheared twice a year, but I usually add in an extra trim or two, mostly because she tends to get a nasty, poopy, urine-stained butt and back legs when her locks get too long. But I also was concerned she might overheat with our warmer temps this winter. On Sunday, I went up to the barn wearing a light jacket, but it didn’t take long for me to start peeling it off and rolling up my sleeves because it was so warm.

I wonder if Apache, with her thick fuzzy winter coat is wishing she could shed a little bit, too.

I sometimes see her standing underneath the shade trees in her paddock trying to stay cool.

For now, we’re jumping for joy not having to deal with snow or ice, or turning on our furnace, or using the fireplace. And being able to play outside wearing a t-shirt is great!

 

But we are really hoping for some snow on Christmas Day.

Do you think Santa Claus can stuff a bunch of snow in his big red sack for us?

Shearing Day

I’m a little behind in posting recent happenings. We had our two llamas, two sheep, and angora goat sheared two weekends ago. And of course, I took a bunch of photos to share with all of you. I’m nice like that. lol!

Please excuse the photo quality, though. The barn didn’t have the best lighting. 

Our shearer lives only 10 minutes away and I always try to give my business to local folks, if possible, so this makes me very happy. He and his wife, who joined us for the fun a little later are super nice folks, too.

We started off with Blanca, the Navajo Churro Ewe.

Sheep are usually easy to shear or trim feet. You lay them on their back or side and they seem to play dead. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons they are easy prey for most predators.

All done!

Next up was Svetlana, the Karakul Ewe.

The Shearer was surprised at how non-greasy (the grease is technically called lanolin) and dry a Karakul sheep’s wool is. This makes the wool lighter and fluffier than greasier wool.

 

See how limp sheep get when handled?

Next up was Luna, the Angora Goat Doe.

Goats don’t typically go limp and cooperate when being sheared, getting hoof trims or vaccines. So we put Luna on the Milk Stand/Staunchion and gave her a little grain to keep her occupied.

  

Half done! (Wouldn’t it be funny to just stop here and harvest half the wool?)

 

A little bit of enforcement showed up for the hoof trims and finishing touches.

Voila! Naked Angora Goat!

Moving right along, it was Llama Drama Time!

Cataleya, the female llama, was up first.

 

Llamas don’t typically enjoy the shearing process. They complain quite a bit. Sometimes they will spit, kick out, attempt to lay down (kush), and dance around.

Cataleya wasn’t too bad actually. She did dance around a lot, but she mostly just hummed. The Shearer was pleased with how my llama girl didn’t mind being touched on her legs or belly, or even having her feet trimmed. All those hours of me doing Tellington TTouch with Cataleya, desensitizing and stroking Cataleya’s legs, back and belly seem to have paid off.

Next, and last, up for shearing was Catlinite, the gelding llama. Now it’s time for some real Llama Drama!

Catlinite had been shown in county fairs and won lots of ribbons in his first year and a half of life, but then he was bought by an alpaca farm and used as an alpaca guard. So, even though he was handled a lot early on, he was mostly left alone the last couple years before he came to live here. Suffice it to say, he’s not happy being handled. He will halter easily and he will lead calmly, but he’s not an affectionate, loving llama and prefers no touching at all.

He hated Tellington TTouch. And I think I can say with confidance that he hated being sheared, too.

But the Shearer didn’t let Catlinite’s disdain for having a hair cut, phase him and he just kept going. 

 

Even when Catlinite thought laying down on the job would get him out of being sheared, the Shearer just calmly kept going.

And while I tried to take photos and video, Cataleya kept sticking her nose in my ear, hair and face. She can be such an attention hound. lol!

Of course, all the while, Catlinite was kicking, growling, gurgling, spitting, making grouchy faces and just generally showing his displeasure.

 

But we got him done.

And then we let him go. And he was still unhappy. lol!

Catlinite also didn’t seem happy that his herd of sheep and angora goat looked so different either.

And he certainly didn’t seem to appreciate his llama sister’s new look either.

But he got over it when dinner was served.

Blanca had to take a few peeks to look at her new exposed shape.

And Svetlana just seem relieved to have shed a few heavy, hot pounds.

Cataleya was just happy to eat, figuring that now that she’s a few pounds lighter, she can afford to eat more.

And I was just excited to have all this wool to process and eventually spin into beautiful yarn.

Navajo Churro  and Karakul Sheep Wool.

Angora (Mohair) Goat Fleece.

Llama fleece. (Catlinite)

Llama Fleece (Cataleya)

Ooooh! Cataleya’s fleece is so soft and silky. I could just sit with my hands in it all day.

And as I sat on my bumper in the garage, skirting fleeces, and picking out vegetable matter, I had a couple visitors. My friend Val (Fantastyk Voyage), and her mare, Nadia were on their way back from the mailboxes and stopped by to say hello and chat for a little while.

I thought that Nadia might be concerned about the plastic bags and piles of wool, but she wasn’t phased at all except for her curiosity about the llama fleeces, which she just sniffed at. I suppose it was probably confusing to her why they smelled like llamas, but there weren’t any llamas around. lol!  

From the Tower of,