At White Oak Alpacas near Woodland, 77 alpacas spend their days peacefully roaming grassy pastures. However, that peace has to be disturbed once a year as the fluffy animals are sheared. Owner Karen Finch says the event is their version of a harvest festival.
Finch started the ranch with her husband in 1999.
“We got into it looking for retirement property and a lifestyle and had a little bit more acreage than we thought we were going to have and decided we needed some animals,” she says.
Alpacas turned out to be the animal of choice.
“They are prized for their fiber, don’t have to be slaughtered and they are my size,” Finch explains.
Spring is the time of year to harvest alpaca fiber, though the animals don’t really like it. They protest as four people work them to the ground for a haircut. However, Finch notes, workers use the most humane method available. And in the heat of the summer, the short coats are life-saving.
The way Finch and her crew lovingly talk to the alpacas to calm them down suggests they really care for the animals the same way most people care for their pets.
“We shear the Alpacas once a year and then I start the process of taking the fabric from the animal and getting it ready to go to a mill to be processed,” she adds. “Sometimes I process it myself into roving, yarns and then it will eventually end up in finished products.”
Alpaca fiber makes beautiful products that can keep us humans warm when the winter comes around again. Finch is enthusiastic when talking about the end product.
“Right now I like shawls the best – shawls and finger-less mitts. I’m fairly new to knitting; I’m also a hand spinner. I’m liking to spin my own yarn and make my own projects. I haven’t made a sweater yet but that’s in the future,” she said.
Learn more about Woodland’s White Oak Alpacas at www.whiteoakalpacas.com.
