Specialist shearer Bobs no slouch with alpacas
Specialist shearer Bobs no slouch with alpacas
Its not only sheep that get a visit from
the shearer at this time of year. At
Bourton-on-the-Water, Glos, the alpacas have
had a custom trim, too. Tessa Gates reports
THERE is something endearingly comical about a shorn alpaca and to see a wonderfully coated apparently heavy-set beast turned into a dainty creature sporting a poodle-like trim is a sight to behold.
"We have booked a shearer who specialises in camelids to do them this year," explains Roy Hubbard who with his wife Sue is building up a herd of alpacas at Small Acres Farm near Bourton-on-the-Water, Glos. The Hubbards have 11 alpacas and became interested in them at the Royal Show in 97, buying their first stock later that year. They now intend to breed quality stock producing very fine fibre.
They are members of the British Alpaca Fibre Co-operative which will buy fleece from small producers and the Hubbards also sell to hand-weavers who will pay £150 for the finest quality fleece.
This year was the first shearing for two of the animals but they were unstressed by the attentions of Bob Shaw. He started out as a sheep shearer but has specialised in camelids for the past 11 years. He travels the length and breadth of Britain and will have shorn 1800 llamas and alpacas this year by the time the season, which started May l, ends in the second week of August. He claims to be the most experienced shearer of camelids in Britain.
"The shape of these animals doesnt lend them to being sat like sheep for shearing, it crushes their organs and stresses them. If you try to do it with the animal standing it can be dangerous for man and beast. I use an Australian method that puts them in a trance-like state," says Bob. With his method the alpaca is hobbled and laid on the ground with its feet fastened to two fixed pins and they are sheared like woolly mats. "They are not sheared against the clock – its better to take your time – about eight minutes," he explains. "We do about 20 to 30 in a day although we can do 60." Bob will take bookings for as little as two animals to a complete herd.
Not all the coat is clipped off. Top knots are left on the head and at the top of the tail to protect delicate areas from sunburn and flies and often the hair is left on the legs where the scent glands are situated. "Sometimes it is good to leave the hair on the legs so potential buyers can see what the coat is like – alpacas with a lot of llama in them can be thin-haired on the leg," says Bob. Shearing provides a good time to give the animals a health check and a health assessment sheet is all part of the service. "Its amazing what you can spot when the wool is off and while they are tied it also provides an opportunity to work on their feet and check out their teeth and administer vaccinations."
Like the shearer, Roy Hubbard is enthusiastic about alpacas. "You can keep a lot of alpacas on an acre – conditions here are very different to where they originate from – its like Butlins for them. The grass grows quicker than they can eat it so we have to keep it mown. They get similar ailments to sheep but being wild animals they dont show when they are ill. You need a good stockmans eye to spot anything wrong with them.
"Our intention is to produce the finest fibre and we have a wonderful year-old white male with one of the finest fleeces the shearer has come across in this country. We call him Mallory – after the climber whose body was found about the time we got him – and we hope to breed from him when he is three-years-old."
Eventually Roy would like to build up to about 50 alpacas but buying quality stock can be costly. "A male alpaca sold in America recently for £100,000," he says.
Inquiries: Bourton-on-the-Water Alpacas tel: 0410 745459. Bob Shaw tel: 01768 892978.
Full of fibre: The Hubbards with shearer Bob Shaw and the
results of his handiwork.
New look: This season Bourton-on-the-Water Alpacas are sporting the clipped look with top knots and leg warmers.