This year (2015) we decided to try something different. We’ve shorn our alpacas the usual way- stretched out on the ground or on a table with electric shearers in the past years. It’s been relatively calm when we’ve done it ourselves and the animals weren’t too stressed or mad… but I was really stressed and usually quite sore! We decided to give everyone a fair chance at shearing standing without restraint first. They get treats instead. If this doesn’t work, we use the halter and lead and increase the amount of restraint. For the hand shearing standing, we limited each session to about 10 min. unless the alpaca chose otherwise. It has been very interesting and we’ve been amazed at how many choose to be cooperative. Here’s a video clip of one being shorn unrestrained. Enjoy!