For years I had the greatest shearer. Joel was so young when he first started, his mother drove him to jobs. His brother, Matthew, was his assistant, and my good friend, Sharron, also assisted on shearing days. The four of us made a good team. We each had a job to do, and most of the time everything went smoothly.
Joel always complained about how hard my little Shetlands were to shear, and he and Matthew always commented on how easy Keira, our llama, was to shear. She haltered up fairly easily, and stood still while Joel sheared her, with only an occasional flick of the ears when he did her legs or neck.
He and Matthew should have been here today. They wouldn’t have believed it was the same llama.
We sheared Samson first, figuring he was bigger and a bit of an unknown. He’s always been pretty laid back since we got him, but still won’t allow us to pet him or get too close if he can help it, so we didn’t know how he would react to being sheared.
Once The Farmer caught him, and we finally pushed and pulled and got him over to our shearing station, he was as easy-going as ever, and allowed The Farmer to shear all over without getting too upset. The Geek held Samson’s head and said nice things to him, telling him not to worry, he wouldn’t lose his strength just because we were cutting his hair.
I hemmed him in on one side while The Farmer sheared on the other. We may not be professionals, but he got sheared without a nick, and he’ll be cooler now, so that’s what counts.
And he didn’t kick. He didn’t fuss. He didn’t spit. Too bad I couldn’t say the same for Keira.
While we were shearing Samson, she made the mistake of going into the shed to get further away from us, and I shut the gate. Good thing, or we might never have caught her. She knew what was up, and she wasn’t having any.
Even in that small space we had a devil of a time trying to get hold of her and put a halter and lead on her. Just take a look at this video and you’ll see what I mean!
I’d never heard her make such screams, whinny’s and spit so much. And not just that polite little “I spit in your general direction” with a little saliva from her mouth. Oh no, this was the “I’m hocking up some fermented green goop and showering you in a spew of stench.”
It was nasty.
She never let up the whole time we were shearing her. She fussed, she spit, she kicked, she spit, she tried to bite, she spit, she reared up, she spit, she screamed, she spit, she sidled around, she spit, she tried to kush down and then rear back up, she spit, she jumped around, and oh, did I mention she SPIT???
I’m afraid I called her worse than “Miss Crankypants” today. She was the worst-behaved little brat we’ve ever sheared. So what happened to our sweet, friendly, I don’t mind what you do to me llama?
She got pregnant.
Man, those hormones must be rough on a llama! I hope she goes back to her old self after she has a cria, cause I’d hate to think she was going to stay this cranky from now on!
11 and a half months gestation is going to seem like forever to all of us.
