Shearing Llamas, Also filmed from Japanese TV
Sparkie was one of the two llamas we sheared for our Japanese company. Betsy Ruble (behind Sparkie) is my friend and does an excellent job shearing, I would have been lost without her help. Casey, my Grandson, is feeding Sparkie some llama pellets to distract him. This was his first shearing but he calmed down and was easy to work with.
Here is Sparkie after he had been sheared. Notice that he still has his neck and chest wool. Betsy said it was because the wool in those areas was not badly matted and didn't need to be removed.
This is my buddy Beau, getting kisses from our dobergirl. The picture was taken a couple hours before Beau was to be sheared. He was a real challenge and was not a happy llama. Beau had very thick, heavy and matted wool. He spends a lot of time in the creek and rolls in his dust bowl. In this case he was not groomed before he was sheared.
Below is a slide show showing the shearing process and what Beau looked like before, during and after removing his wool.
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Beau is the llama to the right, my little TANK ... this is a shot from behind so you can see how wide he looks with all his fiber. Drake in the llama to the left, who had been sheared last spring.
This was a photo taken of Beau a few month prior to being sheared. His heavy wool coat helps him stay warm in the winter, especially for a rare occasions that we have snow.
Betsy is using hand shears, she started in the center of the back and is working her way down Beau's side.
Jerry helping Betsy, partly to keep Beau from moving around. A moving target is not easy to shear:^)
You don't realize just how much wool there!
This is only one side of the wool that has been cut from the center back down the side. This does not include the leg or neck wool.
Llamas look much larger than they actually are ... you don't really realize their true size until you see them after they have been sheared.
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