{gallery}06_18_09/alpaca{/gallery} El Viento of Cedar Ridge (Vinnie) gets his fleece sheared on Friday morning by professional shearers from Ohio, Josh Justice (front) and Micah Justice. Vinnie was one of 63 alpacas who underwent their yearly shearing at Arrowhead Alpacas, a family-owned farm east of Powell. Tribune photo by Carla WenskyAlpacas shorn for valuable Fleece For Fandango the alpaca, a haircut is a pain in the neck. He whines. He fights. He spits green gunk.

Come winter, others also will be grateful for Fandango's haircut — when wearing the cozy socks, scarves, hats and gloves created from alpaca fleece.

Fandango is one of 63 alpacas that were sheared on Friday at Arrowhead Alpacas, a farm east of Powell.

Bundles of fleece shorn from the animals next will be spun into yarn so it can be used for clothing or blankets.

Alpaca fleece is valued for its quality and warmth.

“Alpaca fleece is much finer (than sheep's wool). It's on par with cashmere,” said Eddie Sapp, who began the alpaca farm three years ago with his wife, Jan, and family.

Alpacas are native to South America, and Eddie became familiar with the animals and products created by their fleece during mission trips to Peru.

A few years ago, he and his family began the alpaca farm upon their move from Florida to Wyoming.

“We made a life change to move west and decided to raise alpacas,” Eddie said.

It's a family effort among the Sapp's three sons and two daughters-in-law.

Alpacas are shorn once a year, and last year, it was quite a feat for the Sapp family — taking around six weeks to shear 49 animals, Eddie said. They could only shear the alpacas when there were enough hands available to help — shearing an alpaca requires someone to hold it down while another clips its fleece.

With the help of a professional team from Ohio, Friday's shearing of 63 alpacas took just seven hours.

During shearing last year, one stubborn female named Sandy refused to cooperate during her haircut, which took upwards of an hour for the Sapp family. Megan Sapp, who is married to Eddie's son, Paul, said they finally gave up and left her with a skirt of fleece that they couldn't shear.

“Some are very friendly, and then there's Sandy,” Megan said, as Sandy flared her nostrils and glared in her direction. “She spits … she'll cover your face in green.”

Friday's shearing took less than 10 minutes per alpaca, and spitting was minimal.

Alpacas only spit when they're threatened or upset — the thick, smelly green spit is not pleasant for the animal taking aim or for its target.

For rival males, it's a common weapon.

“Some of the boys will be covered in green from spitting at each other,” Megan laughed.

The farm's seven stud alpacas are kept in different pastures, and each had his fighting teeth shaved down during Friday's shearing. A stud male will try to bite at another stud alpaca to castrate him.

“It's all about who is king of the herd,” Eddie said.

Alpacas thrive in herds and are camelids, members of the camel family and in the same genetic line as llamas.

However, they're about half the size of a llama.

The animals remain somewhat of an oddity in the United States with about 53,000 alpacas nationwide, according to Alpaca Seller U.S.

Alpacas were imported to the U.S. in the 1980s and have grown in popularity since. The Arrowhead farm isn't the only one in the region, but it is one of the largest, Eddie said.

“There are starting to be quite a few in the state,” he said. “We're trying to convince cattle people that alpacas are something they may want to raise.”

Recently, the farm has welcomed seven new babies, called alpaca crias. The new arrivals brought the farm's total to 71 alpacas, which are named in alphabetical order based on birth order, from Archamedes to Xena.

Though raised for their fleece, it isn't the only thing the farm uses and sells — the animal's manure serves as a good fertilizer for gardens, Megan said.

“We use all parts of the alpaca,” Jan added.

For more information about Arrowhead Alpacas, visit the farm's Web site.