We like to shear our crias before the end of summer. This removes the discolored, often tender, tips of their fiber and gives us a better fleece at shearing next spring. This week we sheared the nine crias that have been born so far here at Snowshoe Farm. This is … Read More
We’ve already had some hot and humid weather this summer and it sounds like there’s more to come this week. If you’re new to owning alpacas, you need to know how to keep them cool during hot weather. Alpacas are native to a dry, high elevation and are not comfortable … Read More
The last alpaca we sheared last week was our beautiful rose gray female, Esther Rose. Here are some photos of the process:
We’re scheduled to shear our alpacas this week and the forecast is for chance of showers every day. This is not good. The alpacas need to be dry – or mostly dry – for shearing. And damp fiber is more work for us as it will need to be aired … Read More
OK, so we’re coming up on mid-March here and it still looks like mid-winter. Nevertheless, spring show season starts in 3 weeks with the North American Alpaca Show. We’re showing 5 of our males – one adult, one yearling and three juveniles. Only one of the five is currently lead … Read More
The forecast starting tomorrow is for a couple days of mild weather which means I will be spending my days out in the barn skirting fiber. I still have quite a bit of fiber left to skirt and it needs to be done and out of the way before we … Read More
Just when things start to slow down for us, they start right back up again with registering and planning for spring shows. Our first show of the season is the North American Alpaca Show in Mass. Registration opened yesterday, so we spent some time the other day reevaluating our 2010 … Read More
It’s a beautiful, sunny and mild day. Perfect for spending time in the barn (unheated) and skirting alpaca fiber. I have way too much fiber still in the barn for this time of year. I need to continue to skirt and send the fiber off to the mill for processing … Read More
This weekend is our last alpaca show of the season. Ron is in Syracuse with three alpacas, including Snowshoe Aristides, our white male color champion. We’re hoping for another good showing for Ari! Back at the farm, it’s time to clean up and prepare for winter. We’ve been working on … Read More
This is Wizard’s first shearing, but also he was the 1000th alpaca to be shorn this year by me (Ron)!