Shearing and Little Miss Mouthie Update

Shearing was a full on, hard work day!!  We got through 53 alpacas and 19 llamas.  We began at 7am and didnt finish until 6pm, with only 3 short breaks during the day.....

This is Jigsaw, on the mat and afterwards!!

Then it was Maxi's turn, the spotty ones have the most dramatic make-over I think.

Little Miss Mouthie is growing up and getting into mischief!!

Chatting to Pan....

Rookie Mistake

As we got close to shearing day I realised that I hadn't got around to putting ear tags in my little black girls, but thought I'd leave it till after shearing in case they got knocked and thus hurt, while they were on the table.  But now.... I have 4 little black weanlings who all look quite similar.  I am sure about Scarlett and Nefertiti, but I will have to line Chianti and Jumanji up against each other and see if I can figure out which is which!!

This is definitely Scarlett (Cushla x Alba):

And this is definitely Nefertiti (Black Narcissus x Alba):

But which of these is Chianti (Colette x Callisto) and which is Jumanji (Joeley x Alba)?  Any guesses Ruth King?  I'm thinking the top one is Chianti and the bottom one Jumanji??

Boys gettting prepped for their new home and New Roo

Jesse and Yoo Yoo (previously known as the Jester and Yuri) had an important appointment today, 10:30am shearing with Jason at Crookwell, in preparation for delivery to their new Sydney home on Sunday.  Yoo Yoo's day started badly, he arrived for breakfast this morning with about 1.5m of barbed wire tangled around his legs and chest, not a good look!!  It took Eddy and I about 20 minutes to free him of this dangerous hobble.  I think he was very tired because it must have been hard to find a comfortable way to sleep with all this metal in the undercarriage section!!

No sooner had he had brekky and a nap than we bundled him and Jesse into the trailer for the trip.  Neither of them walked happily to the shearing table, and any on-looker would have described the gait as 'dragged' rather than led!!  None-the-less the job was soon done and they were bundled back into the trailer for the trip home.

They look quite different without their fleece!!  Phoebe is a full time photobomber!!

 While everyone else decided to run, Phoebe thought it would be prudent to check for the presence of treats before committing to exercise!!

And Casper is a full time scene stealer!!  Such a cutie, even though he is proving resistant to halter training thus far!!

 We have a new roo!!  Needs a name (no pressure Al!) I dont know why I think he'll be more successful than the last, who was a perfectly good roo before he arrived here and started drinking bromide laced tea.  Hopefully this guy will abstain from tea and partake of sex!!  I want some silkie chicks!!  He is a nice size, good stance, good leg feathering, including middle toe, but yes comb and wattles are mulberry rather than black, perfect roo hasnt been bred yet!

Shearing - Before and After

They look so different now!!  Hard to 'see' who is who!!

Carter and Totem, before and after:

Everybody having brekky before shearing, it was booked for 2pm so I thought it would be safe to feed them early, as it was we started at 12.30, but it all worked out OK.

And this morning:

Orchid said she'd rather 'pass' on the whole shearing thing, and jumped out of the 'to be shorn' yard and into the 'done and free to go yard'.... but she got caught and brought back, she was not best pleased :(

Joeley, before and after:

Bracken looks the most changed, he had such a lot of fleece! Our shearer was Ian Elkins, and helper was his son Michael, they were a very professional and efficient team.

Sweet Pea, before - with Noisette and 'on the table':

Rest time after shearing - tough day for us all, but fortunately its over quickly.

Pearl was first, looking a bit funny with newly applied zinc cream on her nose.

Freddie and Tarquinn get shorn

Last weekend Freddie and Tarquinn went to their new home at Camberwarra with Shayne and Brad.  Today they were shorn by the friendly team from Illawarra Alpacas, they look very different!!  The shearers were very impressed with Freddie's fleece and think he's worthy of being shown at the Sydney Royal next year, if we can sort the paper work!!