As the days get longer the grazing alpaca has more leisure time to do other alpaca things.

The sun, when it shines, is warmer so sun-baking is in order. Alpacas need vitamin D just like people, except when fully fleeced it can be harder for them to get enough sun exposure. So like the clever cookies they are they will lie down and bare their bellies, where fleece growth is minimal, in the direction of the sun. It’s a habit that often gives new alpaca owners near heart attacks – alpacas lying stretched out on the ground, motionless apart from the occasional swish of a tail or twitch of an ear. Should a human rush over to make sure the prone animal is not dead they usually get the most disdainful stare, where upon the animal stands up and walks off in an un-grateful  huff. And they sun-bake wherever takes their fancy – in a dust bath, on fresh green grass, in their hay, on their feed … and guess where some of that grass, hay, dust etc ends up …

Speaking of dust baths, alpacas LOVE to roll. When they roll in the dust they will often stand up and give an almighty shake, and promptly disappear in a cloud of dust. A lot of that dust makes it’s way along the fleece down to the skin. Sometimes you can even see the stratification of different types of dust when parting the fleece. The amount of all manner of dust and dirt in their fleeces makes spinning unwashed alpaca an abrasive and grubby experience for the spinner and wheel.

We’ve been doing some small scale bale grazing on our property, where we feed hay biscuits out in the paddock. The uneaten stalky bits that will eventually break down and mulch the soil also make comfy cushing places, providing a little insulation from the hard ground. And apparently they are also good to roll in.

Feed time is also a pretty messy affair. Alpacas will stick their heads into the hay to seek out the tastiest bits, and frequently end up wearing some. They are also somewhat careless pulling great mouthfuls of hay out to chew on while casually looking around and dropping loose pieces of hay all over the floor and each other.

Alpacas also love to rub up on stiff brush, trees and grasses. When we give our alpacas prunings from our tree lucerne they are just as likely to rub up against it and roll on it as eat it! A tall tough grass grows along our creek line and in a few damp places and it is not uncommon to see the alpacas deliberately straddling the clumps, rubbing their long necks into them and giving themselves a belly rub with them. Some of that bark, leaves, grass, gumnuts etc also attaches itself to fleeces.

And let’s not forget alpaca spit. That green slime dries off as lots of tiny, ground up bits of hay and grass, which can also work it’s way into the fleece.

Lastly, alpaca habits of lying around on the ground in all manner of places inevitably results in ants, beetles and other small bugs sometimes dead, sometimes still alive, turning up in shorn fleeces.

It seems the closer we get to shearing, the more effort our charming charges put into gathering stuff in their fleeces. But next time you curse at a dirty alpaca fleece, rest assured the alpaca had a damn good time putting it all in there for you!