Q. What do you do with the wool?

A. Whatever you can do with sheep’s’ wool, you can do with llama wool.  We clean our wool and send some of it to be made into yarn, into sweaters and socks, scarves and hats and gloves, and even teddy bears.  Of course it is also for sale as raw wool itself.

Q. Are llamas and alpacas prone to heat stress?

A. Yes, very much so.  Llamas and Alpacas come from the South American Andes originally.  They are not used to the heat and humidity found in most of the United States.  As such, we have to keep an eye on them through out the summer to make sure they don’t overheat.

Q. What happens if they overheat?

A. It varies depending upon how badly they overheat.  It can be a simple case of fatigue and a high desire for water, to the temporary or even permanent loss of breeding capability, to death.  It is very important for all camelid owners to keep an eye on their animals, even with proactive cooling measures.  And at the first sign of a problem, get them into a cooler air-conditioned environment.  We have boarded llamas at a veterinary university air-conditioned barn for two weeks just to ensure that they were cool enough.

Q. How many shearings do you do a year?

A. We do one shearing, each May.  In some of the more Northern States they may shear every other month, or not at all.  We once bought a llama from Wisconsin who was five years old and had never been shorn.  We shaved forty pounds of wool off of her (unusable.)  We know people in Texas and other Southern states who shear twice a year to keep their animals cool.  We find that our spring shearing keeps them cool in the summer, but they have enough wool for warmth when the weather turns cold.