We've had our 4 llamas for about 3 weeks. They had been neglected for several years and were destined for meat, so we stepped in and brought them to our 2.5 acre farm. They've been settling in, and we've had some training sessions in our stable. Every day, I'm amazed at their progress, and it is a joy to watch their natural curiosity and friendliness seeping in through their leeriness. They hadn't been sheared for 3-4 years, and I was working toward the goal of halter comfort before tackling shearing, but we've had some very hot weather, so this morning, while it was still cool, I brought them into the stable and hand sheared the first one in a horse's stall. She was unrestrained, and walked almost continuously, but we got the bulk of her back and side fiber off. She started kicking, and I couldn't tell if it was because I was tickling her or because she was finished, so I stopped. She'll be much more comfortable in the heat now, which was the goal this morning. Next, I brought the gelded male into the stall with me, and set about shearing him. He's the one llama that I've been able to approach, feed from my hand, massage his neck. His fur is short, but OH SO THICK! He, also, walked almost continually, but never tried kicking, so I got 90% of his fur trimmed. I stopped because we were both tired. I'm hoping to shear the remaining 2 female llamas tomorrow or the next day. Since I've never owned llamas before, and never sheared one before, I trimmed to within maybe 3 inches of their skin, and then went back and trimmed to about 1 inch from the skin. I put all of the fiber in a big plastic garbage bag, short stuff and long stuff, plus any stuff that was embedded. It's pretty dirty, but not very matted, after 3 years of rolling in the dirt. My question is, should I just throw it away, given it's age, dirtiness, and mixture of long and short fibers? Next year, I'll have more experience and can start doing a better job of shearing marketable fiber, so I don't mind throwing this batch away. Will a buyer be even remotely interested? I live about 30 miles west of Portland, and there are a LOT of alpacas in the region. I'm thinking that that will add to the competition. Thanks, Marty. I was able to treat these gracious animals with respect and gentleness because of your book and DVDs. I am so happy to be able to start building a good relationship with them. They are extraordinary. Manisha
