Still waiting...

So here we are, now at day 355 of LadyBug's pregnancy and we're still waiting for her to give birth to her cria.  Although 345 days is considered average,  gestational lengths vary, and there is no reason for us to worry.  We just need to be patient.

LadyBug appears to be comfortable and can almost always be found at the hay feeder these days!

Thankfully, LadyBug and the rest of the herd have been shorn!  Our recent heatwave was hard on them, but we did our best to keep cool - including playing in the water from the hose and trying out the kiddie pool.  Luckily, our heatwave has broken and we back to enjoying our typical Pacific Northwest  temps.  

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Lotus is a big fan of the kiddie pool, but is not a big fan of sharing it!

Some wait for their turn, while others look to me in hopes that they will get sprayed with the hose.

These guys would have been miserable if they were in full fleece!  Imagine wearing a 2 - 5 pound wool coat in 90 to 100 degree temps.  
So shearing day came just in the nick of time.  We hire a professional shearer.  She and her capable team do the shearing and toenail trimming (and teeth trimming if needed).  Our family and friends help with alpaca and fiber handling.  We had a great team and were able to get 42 alpacas sheared in a day!   

The girls are herded into the catch pen so they can be caught and haltered and then led to the shearing mat.

Lilah was first to be shorn. Toenails on both front and back feet are trimmed before each alpaca is sheared.

Gracie is shorn for her first time.

Clarissa is such a sweet and gentle girl! She dealt with shearing beautifully!

Clarissa gets her toenails trimmed.

Clarissa also needed a tiny bit of dental work.

Harley was not happy with the prospect of his first shearing.

Victory's blanket fleece is gathered and headed to the skirting table.

Forrest waits patiently for his turn.

Levi was not a willing participant for his first shearing.

What a difference shearing makes! Levi looks like an entirely different alpaca! His fleece is being sorted and bagged in the background.

The fiber stations. Blankets are taken to the tables under the tent for sorting and bagging. Seconds are at the smaller table for sorting and bagging.

Freshly shorn Leilani leaves the shearing mat. Her blanket fiber is being skirted in the background.

Freshly shorn Theodore, checks out his friend Victory on the shearing mat.

A wagon load of fleeces bagged up and ready to go! These fleeces will be sorted through later and then sent to the mill for processing.

It's a relief to have shearing done for another year.  The next step will be to skirt and evaluate all those fleeces and prep them for processing.  More on that process later!