TERREBONNE —

Visitors had a front-row seat to the daily operations of an alpaca ranch Saturday, from the shearing of the animals to a live birth.

Crescent Moon Ranch, open to the public seven days each week, welcomed the crowd to its annual Shearing Festival, a fundraiser for the St. Thomas Church youth programs.

The festival is a celebration of the harvest season at the ranch when the 150 alpacas are sheared for their fleece.

Farmers have been shearing the alpacas over the past month and worked all day at the festival shearing the last of them. The festival featured tours of the ranch, live music and demonstrations from the Central Oregon Spinners and Weavers Guild.

Scott and Debbie Miller, owners of the Crescent Moon Ranch, informed visitors about the potential for a live birth since many of the alpacas were pregnant. Sure enough, moments after the festival started, a baby alpaca was born.

Hours later, visitors watched as the baby stood up and wobbled next to her mother.

Carolina Gradilla, 12, of Redmond, who volunteered as a tour guide at the festival, saw the entire birth with about two dozen other people. At first, Carolina wasn’t sure what was happening until she saw the baby.

“We saw the little nose,” she said. “It’s a newborn.”

Debbie Miller, who helped deliver the baby, said she has delivered around 3,000 babies since she started working on the ranch in 2002. This year, the ranch expects to have 65 newborns, she said.

Bend residents Ed and Pam Cheeney came to the festival with their grandchildren, Everett Cheeney, 7, and Emma Cheeney, 11.

They were all excited to see the newborn, but also to feed the alpacas that were waiting to be sheared.

Emma said her favorite part of the alpacas is how fluffy they are.

“They are cute,” she said. “The babies, those tiny ones are cute.”

Her brother, Everett, said he liked a different characteristic of the alpacas.

“Well, that they spit,” he said.

The family each took handfuls of small pellets to feed the alpacas. When one of them would reach their hand toward an alpaca, the animal would quickly eat the pellets. The sensation was similar to putting your hand against a vacuum.

“They tickle your hand,” Emma said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com