Grooming Suris

[jtowse]

We are new alpaca owners - suris - and haven't been able to find much of anything on grooming them. Does the boar bristle brush work for Suris?

We are working to get our paddock areas cleaner :) (dead weeds, grass) but in the mean time the beautiful fleece is a mess. :eek:

Thanks for your help.

[Marty McGee Bennett]

The best thing to do is nothing. The more you groom the more you open the fleece to more contamination. If you need to clean your animals up for some specific purpose like a show or to get them ready to shear your best bet is your fingers. And I would suggest doing as little picking as possible because the animals hate it and you can really ruin their temperament very quickly by over grooming. Spend your time keeping your pastures clean. I don't have suris so perhaps you will get some other words of wisdom and tips from some of our suri members. I would not recommend the boar bristle brush.

[jtowse]

Thank you. We are working on the paddock areas to stop the problem to begin with. Our first show will be interesting. :)

[Williams]

Welcome to the alpaca world!! Marty's advice -- finger vs anything else is the way to go. The locks need to stay intact. A couple of questions -- where are you located, how old are your suris,and do they accept a halter and enjoy being on a lead for walks etc? Before trying any grooming I would make certain that they have learned to tolerate and even enjoy human fingers and lead well. They do hate being picked at, but a very little at a time can be done. I also think it depends on if they are really matted or just the vegetation debris "stuff". Really matted and you might need to just wait until shearing, and start over. Of course that fleece will either be not very usable or you might spend hours skirting. And by then your pastures will be in great shape!! Keep us posted and have fun showing, but mainly enjoy working with your guys and gals.
Marsha Williams

[Nancy Woodward]

Those Slick 'n Go grooming wands do a really great job. They look wierd, and you wonder how they could possibly work, but they do. I inherited mine, but now I recommend them to everybody. They work!