We were lucky to have a lovely sunny and not too windy
day. After much Australian saluting in the morning the majority
of the flies departed and left us to enjoy the remainder
of the day in relative peace.
D a v i d Williams from A u s t r a l i a n Alpaca Fleece
Ltd. started the morning by sharing some basic hints and
tips about shearing and skirting procedures, before moving
into the shed for demos and a bit of 'hands on' works. David
has been working with alpaca for many years in conjunction
with wool and mohair so he well able to offer advice such
as, 'The first decision about what to get rid of, is normally
the correct one.' |
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| David suggests you get your hands stuck in
to get a really good feel of the fleece |
He also suggested that if you can skirt as you shear, it is better
than putting it in a bag, then skirting later. 'The fleece gets
turned around and can break up in a bag, hence making it harder
to skirt later. If you can't skirt straight away, try layering
the fleeces between bags in a pile. That way the fleece stays
in one piece.'
After lunch, Bob Richardson, former Vice President of AAA and
Director of AAFL, told us a little about the way they are planning
on working and about budgets and forecasts for the next year.
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| Bob Richardson |
Our hosts, Deanne & Paul Thibault did the region proud with
a hefty supply of fleeces for the participants to skirt (the theory
was that Paul wasn't letting us out until this years clip was
skirted!), and a 'light' lunch that had everyone rubbing their
satisfied bellies afterwards.
While at the workshop Noel and Cathy Reid welcomed Noodles to
the family. The lovely Suri male was born to mum Spaghetti at
3.30pm with Noel ’s assistance.
