The lions cut is Michaela Schelshorn’s favorite hairstyle and, according to the 36-year-old Ascholdingerin, sounds beautifully poetic. Customers pay 30 euros for the cut. Her husband Daniel captures Eidaa in the seven minutes it takes Schelshorn to finish. The movements of the woman in her mid-thirties appear correspondingly routine. For the rough preparatory work, Michaela Schelshorn first uses a sheep shearing knife before she works out the fine cut with a camelid knife. She is a llama shearer and eleven-year-old Eidaa is one of her broodmares.
None of the animals can survive the shearing. Once a year the wool has to come off at least on the belly. “So that the organs don’t overheat,” as Michaela Schelshorn explains. To put it quite objectively, the animals are shorn from the belly every spring. A form of expression that Schelshorn does not like. Lions Cut – lion cut in German – fits much better, she thinks. This means that the fur on the long, slender neck of the llama is allowed to stand like a mane. The trained restorer then has free play on the rest of the body, for example leaving the fur on the knees fluffy or not shaving the legs at all. “To me, being completely naked just looks unusual,” says Schelshorn.
Michaela Schelshorn shears her llamas in the lions cut, leaving the fur in the neck and chest area.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
Llamas are beasts of burden in South America, here a pack saddle.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
Llamas originally come from South America. The people of this region of the world keep the animals in order to carry loads on them even on steep paths. But llamas also serve as meat suppliers, so they are classic farm animals and pets there. In Germany, llamas or their related alpacas, which also belong to the camelid species, are now widespread as pets and farm animals, but are rare in the Oberland compared to cows. In the meantime, however, there are also more and more keepers who offer hikes for guests with their animals or who process the dense and soft wool into clothing or blankets.
To do this, however, the wool must first be removed from the animal. As a woman, Michaela Schelshorn is one of the few professional clippers in Germany who specialize in llamas and alpacas. At least that’s what she reports on herself. In order to learn, the mother of two took three years of training, so to speak. As long as Schelshorn accompanied an American llama clipper on his Germany tours. “In the first year I just watched, in the second year I worked and in the third I used the clippers for the first time,” she says.
Mastering the craft professionally is extremely difficult. In order to shear off the wool without injuring the animal, you need dexterity and the right balance between too much and too little pressure. “Working so directly with the animal is fun and enjoyable for me,” says Schelshorn. But with the clippers you have to be careful not to injure the tendons hidden under the thick wool or possibly the testicles of a stallion. It is important to breathe very calmly. Under no circumstances should the shearer hold his breath, according to Schelshorn. “The animal reflects you directly. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed it is.”
In ranking fights, llamas spit at each other
Which, among other things, also addresses the spitting reflex characteristic of the animals. This is how the llamas reacted when they felt cornered, according to Schelshorn. But the animals primarily spat to fight for hierarchy in the herd. If a person gets in the direction of the shot, it hits him. Not all animals can be sheared as easily as Eidaa, which is why Schelshorn also needs helpers that the animal owners provide. They then have to hold on to particularly recalcitrant specimens. Schelshorn, for example, expressly warns against wanting to pet the little foals in the first six or seven months. The animals then considered them to be part of their herd and then also tried to fight ranking battles with humans. “We’re talking about berserker syndrome,” says Schelshorn. Therefore, everyone should better leave the fingers of foals, even if they are so cute. “Llamas are not stuffed animals.”
Nevertheless, Schelshorn sounds almost poetic and philosophical when she describes why the llamas fascinate her so much. “You are above things, always have your head up, no matter how bad the situation may be.” Schelshorn speaks of the proud look of the lamas, which reacted directly to human moods and immediately noticed when someone was having a stressful day. Then the animals would get stubborn. “An action is immediately followed by a reaction.” Dealing with the llamas also means working on your own personality, on yourself. “I have respect for the animal, and in return I get the animal’s respect for me,” says Schelshorn. She is practically the employer for her herd, which is looking for its own bosses. Currently Carlos is among the stallions and Merida for the mares.
Schelshorn spontaneously fell in love with the llamas in the garden of a vicarage
Anyone who observes how the animals turn their heads curiously in the direction of people when someone walks past, prick up their ears and follow every movement with their long-lashed eyes, can understand what fascinates Schelshorn so much about the llamas. How did she herself go from restorer to llama breeder? It must have been around twelve years ago that she met the animals directly for the first time and spontaneously fell in love. At that time she was supposed to restore ceiling paintings in a vicarage near Freiburg. The pastor there, who comes from South America, kept llamas – his favorite animals – in the garden, she says.
What started as a hobby with two animals has since developed professionally. Erlenwald Lamas is the name of Michaela and Daniel Schelshorn’s business in Ascholdinger Klessingstraße. On the pastures of the family’s former farm, the now 21 animals – including ten stallions and eleven mares – have enough space to move freely. Some of them have also taken over from the Lama emergency aid. Fidelius comes from a traveling circus. In addition, Schelshorn even keeps a guanaco, the wild archetype of the llama.
When hiking, animals and humans adjust their rhythm, says Michaela Schelshorn.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer/Manfred Neubauer)
The Schelshorn couple organizes more than a hundred hikes with llamas every year. The special thing about it is that the rhythm of movement changes when people lead the animal through the landscape on a bridle, says Michaela Schelshorn. She also spins the wool herself into knitting yarn. The family also sells headbands, hats, blankets, shoe inserts and socks via the online shop. One animal’s wool is enough for about one sweater a year, says Schelshorn. In addition, soap can be made from the keratin contained in the wool. According to Schelshorn, the reddish shimmering wool of the few-month-old foals is something special.
The hikes with the llamas also continue when Michaela Schelshorn is on a shearing tour. The season lasts from April to the end of June. According to her own statements, the 36-year-old will shear around 500 animals during this time. But she must have traveled far and wide – from Kaiserslautern, Thuringia, the Allgäu to the Black Forest, to Stuttgart, Franconia, to the Upper Palatinate, to Munich, to Lake Chiemsee and even to Vienna. Shaving also includes nail care. She is never away from home for more than three or four days at a time, says Schelshorn. Still, she enjoys her tours.
Schelshorn’s tasks also include nail care.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
While she scissors, a kind of workflow sets in. “You’re totally in the moment,” says Schelshorn. In addition, interesting contacts and acquaintances developed with the owners. But she can only afford to go on a shearing tour because her family is so supportive. The in-laws took care of the five and seven year old children. Her husband works in the sawmill in Ascholding, so he’s always nearby. He built the stables for the llamas and repairs the Bulldog if something is broken.
Mares are pregnant with a foal for almost a year
How much Michaela Schelshorn identifies with her llamas is also shown by the image of one of her first llamas, which she tattooed on her upper left arm. She also lends a hand with births herself, she reports. She can certainly imagine enlarging her herd. Their mares give birth to a foal about every two years. The gestation period lasts about 340 to 360 days, i.e. almost a whole year. How she recognizes that a mare is pregnant, i.e. pregnant. The spit test will help with that. If a mare spits at a stallion who is ready to mate, then she is pregnant, says Schelshorn.
But she will probably never stop learning. Recently, the Askholdinger even attended a sheep shearing course. Schelshorn reports that it is difficult to find clippers, especially for keepers with few animals. No matter how small the group of llama and alpaca keepers in Germany may be, Schelshorn does not want to allow itself to be considered an exotic animal. “We are normal farmers, just with llamas,” she says herself. And for her, they are the best animals in the world.