This shearing was Vannie’s first with our family at Cliff House, his behavior and his fleece were one of our best surprises of the day. When he arrived at our ranch he was wearing a modified lion’s cut, but at Cliff House it’s not about being pretty, it’s all about the fiber. Momma here, with just one more post about shearing day.

Because we use a shearing table, and don’t shear off the floor, our blankets come off the alpaca in half sheets. The fleece is gathered up off the table and taken into our tack room where Kirstin does a first skirting. Anything not too dirty or too short is saved with the neck fiber (seconds) and will be used for rugs and felting.

Kirstin removes the edges of the blanket (skirt) because it contains stiff guard hairs and dirt. While she is doing this she also pulls out any second cuts from the fiber. Second cuts are small clumps of fiber left behind when the shearer makes a second pass over the alpaca’s body. My thanks to our shearing team who made shearing day 2013 a huge success. Please check our blog tomorrow for two videos from shearing day!