Published: May 31, 2009 11:29 pm      

Bestial barbers

Professional alpaca shearers work fast

OLDTOWN — Cries that sounded similar to a 2-year-old getting his first hair cut penetrated the barn air as two men, both equipped with knee pads, maneuvered around the furry animal, shaving off its thick coat.

Jamie Jones and Matt Stone, professional alpaca shearers with Alley-Pac in Indiana, understand the job can get messy — with spit and hair flying — but both enjoy the job.

“You have to like what you do or you won’t do it,” Jones said.

Jones, the actual shearer, has been a bestial barber for six years while Stone is in his second year. Both understand the job is a group effort.

“The hardest part, I think, is keeping the group organized and keeping all of the people and animals safe,” Jones said. “It takes a lot of people to make the shearing go well.”

But Jones and Stone know the ropes, literally, and how to get the job done fast.

“We travel from west Texas to Vermont; this year we started on March 22,” Stone said. “And we can get an alpaca sheared in five or six minutes.”

Barb Buehl, owner of Alpacas at Rivers Edge Farm, is amazed.

“Last year we did this ourselves, and it could take us 45 minutes just to get the animals set up,” she said. “It took us five days to get all of them done, and we worked all day long. On a good day, we would get about eight shorn.”

With 40 alpacas, almost half were done in less than three hours.

The alpaca, native to the Andes Mountains, is a member of the camel family and is considerably smaller than both the camel and llama. The South American creatures are prized for their quality fleece.

“You can get four to eight pounds of fiber off of one animal,” Buehl said.

In the past, Buehl has given the fleece away, but the past couple of years she has worked with Horizon Goodwill, which has cleaned and sorted the fiber.

“It’ll then be sent off to a mill in New York and made into yarn that I’ll sell,” Buehl said. “Some of it will be made into product and the ‘scrap’ pieces will be used for felting and rugs.”

Before Buehl can think about the finished products, she has to focus on getting the animals sheared.

Two shearing stations were set up in the front area of the barn, right next to the holding pens. A “take-down crew” of two people caught an alpaca from the pen and held it while two people attached ropes around each leg and then pulled to lower the animal to the floor.

“It’s actually a very gentle process,” Buehl said.

After the quick cut, the alpacas are ready for the heat of summer.

Alpaca fiber is a naturally fine and soft product with good thermal capabilities, Buehl said.

“The fibers are soft and have a hollow core, which helps with insulation,” Buehl said. “It also doesn’t have any lanolin or dander so it’s not allergenic.”

After shearing, the fiber is sent off to be sorted and then sent to a fiber processing mill where it is leaned, carded and made into roving for conversion to yarn. The fiber is used for sweaters, gloves, hats and blankets.

For more information about Alpacas at Rivers Edge Farm, visit barbsalpacas.com. For information about services from Alley-Pac, visit www.alleypac.com.

Contact Tess Hill at thill@times-news.com.