Author Topic: shearing cost (Read 10026 times)

lokismum · « **on:** June 29, 2013, 12:42:37 am »

hi all

could you tell me how much you pay per alpaca for shearing please
and how easy or hard it was for you to find someone to do it
also do you pay more for a smaller number as sheep

bplegs · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2013, 07:19:55 am »

We have four alpacas, it costs me £30 a animal for shearing.

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2013, 09:36:19 am »

Quote from: bplegs on July 06, 2013, 07:19:55 am

We have four alpacas, it costs me £30 a animal for shearing.

Wow that sounds a lot to a non alpaca owner! Is that outweighed by the value of the fleece? Do they use normal sheep clippers?

Sbom · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2013, 10:51:45 am »

My mum paid £80 for two!
I was horrified

Backinwellies · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2013, 11:11:03 am »

Think I'm going to take up Alpaca shearing!!!

Moobli · « **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2013, 05:24:54 pm »

Hubby clips ours with normal sheep clippers (or the Jakoti hand shears are good too) - and sits them up just like they are sheep

The cost will very much depend on how far the man has to travel to come and clip them. You will be paying for his time and travel as much as anything. If you speak to your local Auction Mart and ask for the name of a sheep shearer, they should be able to give you a price.

JulieWall · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2013, 01:21:38 pm »

I was a bit horrified that my daughter was going to pay 20.00 each to get hers sheared so imagine my face at 40.00

I decided to hand shear for her as it seemed a lot more gentle than the hog tying and rolling around I watched on youtube. I found they are no stronger to handle than my Suffolk tup but an awful lot faster on their feet.
It would be interesting to know more about sitting them on their bums, I assumed they might kick too much if we tried that, so we tied him by his head collar to the stable walls and just tried to be patient with him dancing around.
Unlike sheep, alpacas seem to be able to kick out in any direction which is a bit worrying. How does he prevent this?

shygirl · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2013, 01:38:50 pm »

iv never kept alpacas but cant you shear whilst they are standing(like a horse) and hobble their back legs to stop them kicking?

JulieWall · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2013, 02:06:43 pm »

My daughter held his front leg, the way you do with a horse, to stop him kicking with his back one, that was useful. He wasn't keen on having his lower legs touched so he was still earing leg warmers when I'd finished but I got a nice tidy clip with him just standing up.

17AndCounting · « **Reply #9 on:** August 05, 2013, 12:22:26 am »

We've just paid £75 for 2 alpacas and 3 sheep to be sheared. I don't know how that's broken down though.

Ours are put on the floor (or a bench/table) with their legs tied together in pairs and held tight. They have a towel over their eyes. One side is sheared and then they're flipped over and the other side is done. There would be absolutely no chance of sitting ours up like sheep! They've been completely clipped (legs and head etc) which isn't what all shearers do. We clipped their toes whilst they were tied up. It was a 3 person job on each one but they do look lovely now!

I've heard that normal sheep clippers don't always work, you can get special clipper heads for alpacas which have a guide on them which stops you clipping too close, they have very thin skin and would nick very easily.