Fun with alpacas

SHED Chetwyn Farms offers customized visits

The sixth season with alpacas at SHED Chetwyn Farms is going to look very different than in past years. A busy weekend last summer might have seen dozens of visitors at any given time during opening hours, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to that. Ted and Shauna Pickering started raising alpacas in part to provide high quality yarn to satisfy Shauna’s knitting passion. They started with five animals in 2013, and the herd has now grown to 16, the new additions being bred for the colour of their fleece, which does lead to a few surprises. Along the way, Ted and Shauna have built a thriving business, taking advantage of the traffic along Closson Road to open a shop to sell alpaca fibre products. “It just happened, It wasn’t a planned thing,” says Ted. Now in addition to fleece from their own animals, they also buy fleece from other local farms to be sent to mills in Ontario or New Brunswick to be converted into yarn.

Alpacas are inquisitive, friendly and docile creatures, particularly so when the males and females—or boys and girls, as Ted calls them—are in separated paddocks. When the girls are nearby, the boys start acting up in a show of machismo. While the animals are relatively easy to care for, finding a specialized veterinarian can be a bit of a challenge. “Not too many veterinarians have the skill set for alpacas, so we actually go out into the alpaca community, because that community knows about the vaccines and various parasites and things, so that’s what we rely on,” says Ted. The other complication arises at shearing time. “A shearer for alpaca is very much different from a shearer of sheep. Alpaca are very nervous, and their feet get strapped down so they don’t move, and they’re sheared that way. The shearer we have is one that does about a dozen farms in southeastern Ontario,” adds Ted. The fleece is stored in the barn until the fall, when it is sorted and carded—removing the vegetation and getting it as clean as possible. It’s sorted by colour and quality, with the best quality being made into yarn and the lower quality being made into sheets of felt that are used for insoles and slippers. A single alpaca provides enough fleece for about 12 to 15 skeins of yarn, and it takes about 10 skeins to make an adult-sized sweater. The animals are sheared only once per year, so each alpaca provides the equivalent of one sweater annually. Some of the yarn is distributed to local County knitters to provide finished products for the shop. “We also work with designers,” says Ted. “Each year we choose a designer to work with and they design products for us and they have it made wherever they are. Last year we worked with an artist in Scotland, and it was all developed there.”

In previous years, anyone could visit the farm when it was open, but social distancing and a restriction on the size of gatherings now means that groups of up to six people have to book a specific time slot to visit the farm. “Actually, this makes for a better farm experience because they’ve got the place to themselves and, depending on where the alpaca are and the weather, we have the flexibility to go into the paddock with the alpaca,” says Ted. “And the other thing is that our online business is growing. We’re adapting. Like all small businesses, you have to creatively look at ways to adapt and change.” Bookings are done through the website (shedchetwynfarms.com) and cost $30, which is refundable when a purchase of a greater value is made in the store. Online buyers can enter a discount code that will give them a free visit to the farm. The store itself has been modified and expanded to maintain social distancing, with the installation of a Plexiglas divider at the cash register. “I think this is the safest and actually a better visitor experience than it would have been if there were 15 to 20 people,” says Ted. “This is a better way to show people what the alpaca is all about.” Folks who love both yoga and alpacas will be pleased to know that Alison Kelly is still offering a Saturday morning yoga session at the farm. Details are under the Farm tab on the website.

Hoping for some more food treats, a line of lady alpaca follow Ted Pickering.