Alpacas are sheared each year in the spring. Alpaca fleece is prized by hand spinners. Their fleece is very soft and makes luxurious warm clothing. Unlike sheep wool, alpaca fleece has no natural oils, so the shears must be sharp and need to be oiled every few minutes. Alpacas do not particularly like to stand still for shearing, so it can be quite a challenge.

When shearing the alpacas, we leave the fleece long on their head, tail and legs to help keep bugs off in the summer time. Alpacas are easy keepers. They eat hay with a small amount of grain each day to get necessary vitamins and minerals. We clip their toenails and give them an oral paste for internal parasites every eight weeks.

The first couple of years we trimmed alpacas, it was like a circus. It was a wrestling contest, and the alpacas won more often than we did. With practice, however, we learned how to use their natural instincts to keep them happy during trimming. We don't use any sedatives or restraints other than the halter you see in the photo.

Our alpaca shearer is Katie Binkowski, a young woman from Portland, Michigan. Katie and her dad, Dave Binkowski, operate Alpaca Barber, shearing 2,500 alpacas each year in Michigan. The mom, Nancy Binkowski, manages the business from their farm at Portland. The Binkowski family is active in the Michigan Fiber Festival each year, teaches hand spinning, and produces beautiful hand spun items.

We were assisted this year by Angela Pierce and her sons Alex and Jake, and by the Abbott family - Caroline, Anneliese, Elizabeth, Laura and Tim. We really appreciate their help with alpacas and sheep. It takes a lot of hands to round them up, hold them, trim them, and then lead them back to their pen.

Click the video below to watch an alpaca being sheared.