Tim and Dana Welch have their annual herd maintenance down to a science.
They have to, with over 100 alpaca running about their Lyndeborough farm, making it the largest alpaca farm in the state, and only one day to get it all in. The animals are sheared, their toenails clipped and their teeth ground. After medical checks, all the animals’ information is recorded.
It sounds like a lot, but with a team of professionals and volunteers, the process takes less than 10 minutes per animal. But even moving like clockwork, it still takes all day to get the entire herd done.
How much time does it take?
Two minutes: To give the alpacas a blow-dry and brush treatment to get off the worst of the dust and the dirt and ready them for shearing.
One minute: To tie the animal’s legs and get it in position.
About 45 seconds: Per toe, to clip the excess nail growth.
Six to seven minutes: To shear the fleece, as shown on the bottom left. Above, Beth Penny helps to lift an alpaca upright after its fleece has been shorn.
Less than 10 seconds: For Dr. Chad McGee, shown bottom right, to give the alpacas their medical shots.
Three minutes: Helpers Jayma Welch and Madalynn Evens (top left) do an initial sort of the fleece and “skirt” it.
Two minutes: To enter the animal’s information into the farm’s database.
But wait, you may think, that’s definitely more than 10 minutes in all. But not when you take into account the fact that workers, well used to this routine, are moving around each other to clip toenails, grind teeth, and give shots all while the shearer takes the fleece off the animal.
And especially when you take into account two “stations,” where one animal is secured while the other is still being worked on, making the whole process one seamless machine.