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"Ewe can't be serious"
01.07.08
Fluffy Shroove
alpacas get a haircut
TWO of Inishowen's top sheep shearers thought the
wool had been pulled over their eyes when they were
called in to clip a more un-ewe-sual type of
creature.
It was shearing time on Thursday for Domino and
Twinkle - the two well known pet alpacas belonging
to the McLaughlin family of Shroove. |
It was three years
since the fluffy five-year olds last had a haircut
and they were each carrying around a massive 15lbs
of soft fleece on their bodies.
The 'salon' for the job was John Peoples' farm in
Shroove near Greencastle. John tasked the experts
James Breslin from Redcastle and Joe McCauley from
Quigley's Point to shear his sheep |
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and gave neighbour
Irene McLaughlin a call to see if she wanted to
bring her 5ft Peruvian pets along for a makeover.
Davey Breslin from Quigley's Point was on hand to
wrestle the fluffy duo to the ground. Shearing
veterans Joe and James who clip countless sheep in
the region every summer, said the alpacas were quite
another story. |
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"It's very different to
shearing sheep. Sheep's wool is course and oily but
the alpaca's coat is very soft and more like hair,"
said James. Joe added: "It's far harder to shear the
alpacas. They aren't used to being sheared so they
were far jumpier and harder to keep hold of." Joe
and James can clip a sheep in two minutes flat but
it took 15 minutes to clip the alpacas. And extra
oil had to be added intermittently to the electric
shears to keep them from smoking.
Earlier, owner Irene could hardly bear to look as
her beloved pets were taken agitated from the
trailer into the shed. |
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"The poor wee things,
they're not used to getting sheared but they need it
badly. Their coats are so thick that during the
recent hot weather they were roasted and couldn’t
cool off. We eventually had to put down some big
trays of water so they could roll in it. Their heavy
coats were making them very itchy and
uncomfortable," she said. "The boys did an
absolutely fantastic job – shear genius!" she
smiled, as her two shorn pets emerged Bambi-like not
to mention a stone lighter from the shearing shed. |
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