Alpaca Shearing

It is not only about the "Huggable Investment" it is all about the quality of the fleece and the luxurious fibre. These animals are raised primarily for their wonderful fleece and that is what alpacas are about!

Alpacas are shorn once a year and in Ontario it is usually late spring early summer. Alpacas depend on the woolly fibre to keep warm in our Canadian winters, and once we shear them for their wonderful fleece, it keeps them cooler in our warm months. Alpacas were a cherished treasure of the ancient Incas 5000 years ago. The fine fleeced fibre was once reserved for royalties during this time. Today, we still use alpaca fibre. Alpacas produce one of the world's finest and most luxurious fibres. They are known for its fineness, lustre, light weight and insulating quality. This fibre is eight times stronger then sheep's wool with no lanolin in it.



Our new-found friend, Karen Childs tours Ontario Alpaca farms to shear these teddy bear like animals. Karen is a professional shearmaster that has a great bedside manner when it comes to these animals. She is gentle, loving and has a great sense of humour. She gets the job done with the best interest of the animal in mind.  She has plenty of experience in shearing high quality fleeced animals and does a super dooper spectacular job. She made our job fun!  Karen has been shearing animals for over 15 years.

To contact Karen for your shearing needs, call her at 519-491-9505 or by emailing Karen at kdouma@cogeco.ca

Ozzy is a huacaya, the most common alpaca breed and has a crimped or wavy fleece.



The suri alpaca has straight, lustrous, fine fibre. In full fleece, the huacaya has a full, fluffy appearance. Alpacas are the only animals in the world that come in 22 natural colours! Alpaca fleece is prized for its unique silky feel and superb handle, alpaca fibre is highly sought after by the textile artists all over the world. Spinners and weavers love working with alpaca fleece.

Shearing can be stressful for Alpacas, but with gentle handling, organization and teamwork, this stress can be minimized. A table is used to aid in securing the animal from moving, and team members are placed strategically to keep the animal calm. While the animal is on the table, other treatments can be done such as trim teeth if need, trim toenails, de-worm and give shots. This process takes about 20 minutes and doing all necessary treatments at once will help minimize undue stress on your animal.

So, what do you do with the fibre? Alpaca fleece can be processed in a variety of different ways. Alpaca breeders are working together in this growing industry and working towards production of this luxurious fleece. Various mills will custom process your alpaca fibre -carding, blending, dyeing and process into yarn, fabric and felt. It is endless of what you can do with this processed fibre-sweaters, socks, mitts, hats, blankets, shawls, duvets, coats, blazers, and can be bought through various home based businesses. This raw fleece is sought after by spinners and weavers to produce gorgeous products made by these textile artists.




As the Canadian market for alpaca fibre grows and develops, it shows every sign of expanding to the commercial level. There has been magazine ads confirming this, and as the future unfolds, alpaca fleece will make their mark in the speciality fibre industry.

To view Julie's gorgeous creations, or to receive spinning or weaving lessons contact her via email at julienepjuk@hotmail.com or by calling   (905)440-0927.