PRAIRIE GROVE -- Terry and Melisa Yopp this spring experienced their first alpaca shearing on their small farm located near Prairie Grove. The couple started Berry Sweet Alpacas in November 2013 and have a herd of 17 animals.
The Yopps have Suri alpacas, a more rare species with a fluffy fleece that gives them a teddy bear appearance. A Suris' fleece drapes gracefully in curly locks.
Terry Yopp said he penned up his alpacas the morning of the shearing, scheduled for that evening, and his animals were not too happy about being penned up for the day. He described the sounds the alpacas were making as "nervous hums."
Alpacas are sheared annually. Melisa Yopp said they plan to keep some fleece for their own use and sell fleece as raw material. She plans to attend a fiber workshop to learn what to do with the fiber and wants to learn how to spin fibers. They also plan to enter some of the fleece into competition shows.
Tim Snyder and Marty Hofmann with Integrity Shearing in Guthrie, Okla., showed up for the shearing and quickly went to work. Alpacas are sheared one at a time with all four legs tied up to prevent an animal from hurting itself or to prevent workers from being injured.
The first cut made along the body of an alpaca is called "prime" fleece and fleece sheared from an alpaca's legs and neck is called "seconds."
The fleece from each animal is wrapped up in paper that Melisa Yopp called "noodling." It is tied with twine and weighed. A sample from each animal is placed in a separate bag that will be sent to a lab to analyze the fleece for its characteristics.
The Yopps already have received good news about fleece from their herd. Melisa said six of their alpacas have fleece that is in the top 1 percent of animals in the United States.
Alpaca fiber is very soft, warm and hypo-allergenic, making it a great product for the fiber industry. Products from the fibers include scarves, sweaters, hats and blankets.
General News on 07/01/2015