Shearing Day 2008

[zebra363]

Thanks to a suggestion by juffles in a comment to last year's shearing post, moving the alpacas from A to B wasn't as hard this year. He suggested we take advantage of a 7000-year-old invention called the wheel. Instead of endlessly lifting and carrying heavy fencing panels, we made one rolling yard and pushed it along with the alpacas and llamas inside

Comments

[zebra363]

Yes, they're definitely appealing!

(Good week for House threesome speculation, isn't it! I've been meaning to get back to you about that story and will read it again!)

[callistra]

They all look so skinny after shearing!
Gosh!

[zebra363]

Yes, there's not much body under all that fleece! The fleece makes it hard to keep an eye on their condition and you're supposed to "body score" them by feeling the amount of flesh around the spine on a regular basis.

[victorian_tweed]

Oh fantastic photos! *excited* Look at your expanding herd, and oh that new little bubby cria!

The rolling yard is brilliant! If/when I get chooks, I was contemplating doing the chook tractor thing so they can mow my lawn a bit.

I love your posts.

[zebra363]

The rolling yard is brilliant!

I couldn't agree more. Neither Mom nor I would have thought of it in a million years.

We're not quite sure how we've gone from 3 animals to 14 in two years. If we breed all the females again and keep doing so, shearing day is going to be really exhausting in the near future!

A rolling chook pen sounds like a great idea. Wheels, very useful!

[juffles]

Pushing the yard is like handling an enormous, unruly shopping trolley which changes shape at will and where the contents sometimes push back at you, but it was a thousand times easier than what we did last year.

*grin* Happy to help, and that description made me chuckle. :)

It would probably change shape less if you pulled it rather than pushed it...I have visions of hooking Charlie up to the two front corners and getting him to do the hard work.

[zebra363]

We pushed and pulled, and moved back and forth from one corner to the other. Having a couple of extra people would make it easier, and bigger wheels would be better too - these ones got stuck anywhere the ground was a bit soft. But on the whole it was effortless compared to last year! We are singing your praises. (That's the tuneless sound you hear.)

I trust Charlie to haul tree branches, but not live alpacas!

[starwatcher307]

.
Yes, the moving pen is a brilliant idea, but I was also thinking that bigger wheels might be better -- easier to move. Also, I think you might consider trying to mount wheels in the middle of the panels, as well. My instinct (and I have nothing more to go on than that) says it would be more stable.

I'm also thinking -- for the pulling, try pulling one corner instead of two. Like you're moving a diamond forward, instead of a square. The other person would be pushing the back point, so your 'diamond' wouldn't devolve into a collapsed straight line.

It'll be great to see how it goes next year.
.

[zebra363]

These were over-the-counter wheels from a hardware store. I think next year I might see if I can order bigger ones from an industrial trolley company.

You might be right about the extra wheels in the middle, but I'd need a different way of attaching them there. At the corners, the panels have hollow pipes that I can just slip the metal pipe attached the wheels up inside.

We went back and forth from two people pushing (fine where the ground was flat and our speed was exactly the same) to one pushing and one pulling as you described, and switching corners to get over rough spots. Having four people would make it easier!

[liluri]

OMG 80's Alpacas, they have leg warmers on after shearing! Thanks for the pictures, they are so cute.

[zebra363]

The shearer can't get to those bits, because of the bondage gear!