Alpacas are sheared once a year - in the spring. We look forward to April 2nd this year for shearing. Last year eight new volunteers came to help us, including our pastor and a photographer from The Fresno Bee! It was a great day and there was a picture of Barb and Steve Murray in the paper the next day.
Happy helpers with full bags of fleece! Russell Ratti will be the shearer this year. Join us............:)
< The happy toe nail trimmer, Julie Porter. They get worked on from both ends!
We support the Fiber Co-Op here in the United States. So we spend most of August and September getting our fleeces skirted, cleaned, logged and boxed to send to the co-op. We are also very fortunate to have a mill in our area. We send some of our fleece to this mill and have started crocheting with this wonderful yarn.
<An expert shearer, Steve Murray, from Cottonwood, CA.
Contact: www.AmericasAlpaca.com for more information about joining the co-op.
Every male on our ranch has received at least one ribbon - 16 of which we got in 2006!!! Each of our new crias are amazing with the volume, crimp and sheen of their fleeces.
Polaris, after shearing (NOT HAPPY!!)
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We keep some of our fleece for our own use and for our alpaca scarves and hats. We crochet and knit and love working with this wonderful yarn. "Classic" is the label on one of the yarns from our coop that we love to use and we sell for $4.99 per skein, plus shipping. Our scarves sell for from $22.50 to $39.00, plus shipping. We will gladly accept custom orders for scarves and knitted hats. Check out our cute hats on the "Hats" link.
We also have custom rugs made . All SOLD right now but more on the way. We love the combination of the brown, white and black from our animals. 
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