When you first own llama, you look at how they are shorn and think, "that doesn't look too hard, I can do that!" And yes! You can! But I want to recommend that you have them shorn professionally first, and watch how it's done. Before you have your llama shorn, you will need to prepare by deciding how you would like them to be shorn, as there are different methods, and also different "cuts".

Llama can be shorn standing up, which is the method we prefer. It seems they are less stressed in this way, especially if you have females who are pregnant. It takes a little longer, and they still don't necessarily like it. There can be a good deal of kicking and unless you and the llama are calm together; you can really get pushed about. Using a chute is another option. Although we don't use ours for shearing, it is really handy for brushing out and washing the llama to have them secured in the chute - for their safety and ours!

You may see that some shear by using cables - they stretch out the llama by attaching cables to the llama's front and back legs. It is really quite fast, but when we have watched this method, the llama is going absolutely crazy! Screaming, spitting, frothing - yes, it is quick. A couple of shearers working together on one llama can have the shearing and toenail clipping done in about 5 minutes. Many people prefer it - when you have a whole herd of llamas to be shorn, it sure cuts down on the time spent doing the job! It all comes down to what you think is best for yourself and your llamas.

Then there is the way you want them shorn. A barrel cut is essenially around their middle. Some will also shear down the top half of  the front and back legs, or the back legs alone, leaving a big, full tail. There is also the "nudie" cut, which we don't use here in Montana. This is where you shear all their fleece off completely. The llama love it in the summer because they are so much cooler! You have to watch out for the white or light fleeced llama, who could get sunburned with too close a shearing!

Some of the Argentine llamas, with their incredibly dense and fast growing fleece, might be ok with the nudie cut, but many times, they are cut in a way to retain a collar of fleece up around the top of the neck, and a puff of fleece remaining on the legs and tail. This highlights how their fleece quality is, especially if planning to sell the llama. We think it looks kind of silly! It is kind of the equivalent of a "poodle cut"!

We sometimes will notice a llama having a unique fleece quality that we want to maintain and highlight with shearing and contouring. It might be that the invisible line from the top of the hip drapes fleece down the back and leg in a way that just needs to be accentuated!

Llama shearing always starts later in Montana, as it is often below freezing into late May/early June. Our 2024 shearing was done by BioSecurity Alpaca Shearing, our third year with them. They are wonderfully gentle with our llamas, and listen to the way we want our llamas shorn - they are excellent and we highly recommend them! They travel across the US shearing llamas and alpacas.

We didn't shear Bruno WRLR, although we did have some of the other one year olds shorn. Bruno is a perfect phenotypical Suri, and his fleece conformation is that of super fine tendrils down that long stretchy neck. His barrel also has super fine fleece with tendrils, and we don't think he could grow his fleece back thick enough to go into the winter within a few short months.

Having llamas is a most wondrous experience, and shearing, though only once a year, is an important part of keeping them cool and comfortable when the temperature goes over 100 degrees, while anticipating the minus 40 degree temps looming in their future.

We have purchased all the shearing supplies but with everything else that needs to be done, 2024 was another year to let the professionals do the shearing. Let us know about your experiences with your shearing! You may know that I spin the fleece into yarn, and have also begun weaving, so fleece is collected and put to good use! More on fleece in a different blog!

If you ever get the opportunity to be in Helena the first week of June, let us know if you'd like to come for shearing day!