Many of our visitors confuse our llamas and our alpacas. Both are camelids, but if you take a closer look, you can tell the two species apart. Our very talented volunteer, illustrator Nicholas Carter has created this handy and beautiful guide to distinguishing between llamas and alpacas.
With temperatures rising, this Thursday was the day to fire up the clippers and give our flock their annual trim! Derek the shearer had quite a long list of customers, with our flock of sheep as our two alpacas and three lovely llamas. However, everyone is looking neat and tidy following shearing and they will certainly be feeling much cooler. Shearing has also produced lots of lovely wool and fibre. If you might be interested in any of our fleeces or fibre, please get in touch by email to farm_office@mudchute.org, come along to our monthly wool crafting group this Saturday (June 27th) and see our website.
The girls wait their turn.
Little lambs aren’t the best at waiting for mum’s turn!
First up were our sheep, like this Whitefaced Woodland ewe.
Trim all done, it’s out to graze!
Our Jacob sheep who have lovely marking even under their fleeces.
Jacob ewe looking very smart and tidy!
Bertie the Oxford Down ram, one of our largest sheep!
Despite this being his first shear, he was quite relaxed on the shearing boards.
Bertie, half shorn.
Our alpacas, Claude and Columbus looking fluffy before shearing.
Shearing alpacas is a bit trickier than sheep, but they didn’t phase shearer Derek. Looking elegant post-trim.
The indignity!
We also sheared our three llamas this year.
Halfway there.
Don’t forget the tail!
Much tidier and ready for the predicted hot weather!
They must be feeling much cooler!
Llamas heading back out to their field, summer ready.
A field full of happily grazing freshly shorn sheep, definitely feels like summer now!