So we sheared three cria today – a hot Sunday afternoon.
Apparently you’re supposed to shear alpaca cria (babies) at one month. It takes away their “baby” fleece tips (?) so when you shear them after a year you only get the good stuff.
It also makes them cooler. I can attest to this, since my own dome is shaved.
I realized something today.
I’m not an animal dude. Sort of. Okay, I’m not an animal *care* dude.
I love animals and have almost always had pets. I don’t even mind giving oral antibiotics or scooping their poop. It’s cool. I just don’t like the invasive stuff like holding them down to shear or assisting births.
Hilarious, given that I assisted our youngest son’s birth at home. But I wasn’t afraid of getting injured or injuring Jenni. Much.
Maybe that’s the reason Jenni is better at the care than me. Giving birth is a lot different than assisting, so maybe that sensibility spills over into the heightened ability to care for the critters.
Alpacas are gentle animals and probably the easiest livestock to own. I enjoy them for the most part. I don’t even mind wrangling them up for stuff.
When I get into veterinarian territory I get… uncomfortable. This is probably why we’ll make a good team raising these fleecy dudes.