Shearing in 2012 was one of those ‘interesting’ days. Started off quite warm and we got through the shearing reasonably well. We had been watching the sky darken to the west during the early afternoon, and to stop the shorn fleece from blowing away we had closed the shed doors with about 6 animals to go. So when we got the last alpaca finished and heard a loud rumble outside, we opened up a door to be greeted by an imposing sky and first drops of rain.

Thankfully, having lived there for a while now, we had a fairly good guess at what was going to happen next. As the rain rapidly increased its tempo, we got the girls back into the shed they’d spent much of the day in, waiting to be shorn. This time to stop them getting too wet and cold. And as we got the last boy in the hail started...

Nigel (our shearer) managed to get all his gear packed away (albeit not back into his car) and we halfway through a beer before it stopped. We couldn’t hear one another, as the noise of hail on a shed roof is not conducive for conversation. As it stopped the alpacas looked out into what was now cold afternoon, and decided the shed was the best option, and few ventured out. Our kids, however, thought it was great.