The Gulf Islands Spinning Mill

Finished Yarns, Retail Products, Spinning

ALPACA CLIP CARE

(Adapted from The Alpaca Clip Care Manual, prepared by the Alpaca Fibre Committee of the Alpaca Owner and Breeders Association, in association with Cameron Holt)

Good clip care is important because it ensures optimum fleece quality and allows fleece to be processed into the best possible roving, felt or yarn. This will maximize financial return to producers.

PREPARATION FOR SHEARING

To minimize contamination by vegetation, keep animals on clean pasture for at least two weeks before shearing.

Do NOT bed animals on wood chips! They will stick to the fleece and can bend carding-cloth teeth!

Keep animals dry before shearing.

Prior to shearing, use a blower to remove as much as possible of the loose dust, vegetation and dirt from the fleece.

Arrange animals for shearing by colour, in the following order: white, light fawn (including light fawn and white pintos), fawn, brown, rose grey (including brown and white pintos), silver grey (including black and white pintos), black.

SHEARING

Check for and eliminate contamination in shearing pens/surfaces and fibre preparation and skirting areas: cigarette butts, baling twine, feed bags, cans, wire, hay, gravel, fibre from other animals.

Minimize second cuts by instructing shearer to wait till the fleece has been removed to clean-up areas of longer fleece remaining on animals.

Fleece from each area of the animal should be taken off and bagged separately.

If the animal is shorn lying down, the fleece should be removed in the following order:
1. Lower leg
2. Belly
3. Apron
4. Neck
5. Middle leg
6. Blanket

If the animal is shorn standing up, the fleece should be removed in the following order:
1. Blanket
2. Neck
3. Apron
4. Belly
5. Middle leg
6. Lower legs

SORTING FLEECES

If the fleece is not sorted during shearing, as suggested above, it must be sorted afterward on a sorting table. The sorting categories are as follows:

Lower leg – coarse fibre

Apron – coarse fibre. Size of the apron may vary from animal to animal.

Belly – if coarse, blend with apron; if finer, blend with middle leg.

Middle leg – usually good but slightly coarser than the blanket fibre. In some animals, may be very coarse in the britch area. In other animals, it can be fine and may be classed with the blanket area.

Neck – often similar to the blanket, but shorter. It should be kept separate if it is notably shorter, or if it is coarse.

Blanket – usually represents approximately 60% of the fleece (may vary from 50% to 80%. This is the best quality fibre.

SKIRTING

Each section of the fleece should be placed on the preparation table and skirted for vegetation, mats, stains, second cuts, and excessive variation of fibre type.

All urine, dung and water stains should be removed and discarded.

Every effort should be made to remove and discard seeds, stems, and other vegetable matter.

Bag each section of skirted fleece separately, and label with processing instructions suitable to that quality of fibre.