The Vet Visited Encore Alpacas…again!

We have gotten to know our vet pretty well this past couple of weeks. It is not always like this with the alpacas but like with any animal there are times when they have their share of needs. Today the vet came to stitch up a cut on our little girl, Brianna’s eye. She cut it a week or so ago but the staples the vet put in didn’t hold so today we stitched it. It is always amazing to me how resilient animals and small children are. They put up with things that would bring your average adult to their knees and just keep going. In Brianna’s case, in order to protect her eye, the vet showed me how to put a spoon (concave side down) under the edge of her bottom eyelid to protect her eye during the procedure. It was one of those simple (to me, not Brianna) but incredibly bright ideas that works so well. Brianna did a great job holding still during the procedure and her eye looks great.

With Brianna back on her feet and her eye looking terrific. I guess I will have to find some other way to spend my time other than meeting my vet. That is until two weeks from now when our girl Sharona Rose is due and then Doc will be making his way back to the farm to see us again. Oops, I forgot, we have plans to see him at an alpaca farm open house on Saturday. I wonder if he has plans for Sunday…….

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Cria’s and Their Mothers

It is a cold night here at Encore Alpaca Farm. I still could not resist standing outside and watching the mothers and their new cria. Each mother just like human beings have different ways of watching over their babies. Sarah who is a first time mother has decided to live by the motto, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”. She, although a great mother has found that the other females in the herd do an excellent job of watching her baby when she is away from mom. In fact, some days “Sima” spends so much time with the other in the herd that I think she has forgotten who she belongs to. However, when it comes to food she knows just where the faucets are and has no trouble getting her fill. Lilly, and her cria Lexi have more of a traditional mother, daughter relationship. Lexi comes to her mothers every call and as a six week old, Lexi can not think of anyone she would rather be with. Bretta plays the role of the more conservative protective mother and lets you know that she is keeping an eye on your every move when you are around her baby Brianna. She runs a tight ship however Brianna does not always respect the rules as she should. As a result you can often hear Bretta making clicking sounds at her letting her know to get back in line…… Not that Brianna listens but Bretta still gives a lot of instructions.
And so I watch the dance of the mother and daughters. Fascinated by each interaction. Ain’t life great.

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Farm Day at Encore Alpacas

Thanks to everyone who can to the farm for Alpacas Farm Days. We had a great crowd in spite of some rainy weather on Saturday which slowed things down. Our young boy Shooter had the best time of anyone. He fell in love with the people who came and could not get enough of them. In spite of the fact that alpacas are by nature very shy Shooter decided that he wanted to live a more social life He ran up to almost everyone who came up to his pen and even let the small children rub his neck and pet him. I was surprised to say the least having never really seen this side of him. He was voted most popular for the day.
The spinner, Heidi was a hit. She did such a nice job explaining what she was doing to adults and children alike. She even taught me to spin which is a challenge for anyone.
These animals can not help but draw you in. They are peaceful, graceful and have a wonderful nature about them. Most people were surprised since they had never seen one up close.

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Alpaca Fiber by Mike Safley

Alpaca Fiber from the Textile Point of View By Mike Safley

Once alpaca fleece is in the bag, what is it worth? The textile manufacturer could not care less whether the fleece available for sale came from a prize winning stud or the herd’s ugly duckling. Understanding what qualities the buyer desires most is the key to getting maximum value from alpaca fiber production.

All natural fiber falls into one of two categories, carpet or apparel. Carpet is coarse, apparel is fine. Apparel fiber is more scarce than carpet fiber and sells for considerably more money per unit of measurement on the international market.

The textile market is dominated by sheep wool. All other animal fiber, including alpaca, is known as “specialty fiber.” The results of processing trials conducted by fiber experts Bray, Long, and Van Bergen rated mean fiber diameter as the most important quality of sheep wool immediately affecting its value for manufacturing purposes. Their studies rated the relative value given to various fiber properties as follows:

Relative Importance
Property* Study 1 Study 2
Fineness (mean fiber diameter) 65% 80%
Length 15% 15-20%
Tensile Strength 10% Only important when present or absent to an abnormal degree
Remaining properties 10%
* Color was not considered in these studies

According to Van Bergen and Lang, the reason fineness impacts price is due to its effect on a yarn’s “spinning limit,” which means that, at any given count of yarn, the finer the fiber, the greater number of fibers in a cross section. This, in turn, leads to a more uniform yarn diameter, greater yarn strength, and greater softness of handle.

Soft garments which can be worn next to the skin are most expensive. Cashmere, with its soft, seductive feel, sells for high dollars in exclusive shops. Why is cashmere always soft and wool often itchy? Fiber fineness.

Over 30% of American consumers surveyed claimed to be allergic to wool. These same people can wear cashmere or alpaca with no adverse reaction. The International Wool Secretariat and CSIRO, the Australian research organization, with its wool technology and animal production divisions, were extremely concerned by the perception that wool commonly caused allergic reactions.

Extensive research has identified the cause of the allergic reactions in consumers who wore wool. The research began by administering common tests for allergic reactions. This involved grinding wool to a fine consistency, suspending it in liquid, spreading it on the allergic consumers and pricking the skin with a needle. The result was that consumers, originally thought to be allergic to wool, didn’t react.

What was finally found to be the cause of this so-called allergic reaction to wool? Fiber diameter. The prickle factor was guilty; the coarser the fiber, the more severe the “allergic” reaction.

Researchers found that coarse hairs extending from the yarn or fabric prick the skin and stimulate the pain receptors, thereby causing redness, irritation, and itching. Once fiber diameter was identified as the culprit, studies were done to decide at what mean diameter prickle occurred.

Fiber that averages 21 microns or less tends to be soft to the touch. Fiber with a “coarse edge” over 30 microns almost always itches. Yarns that contain more than 5% fiber over 30 microns create garments that only fleas could love.

Consumers, who previously claimed to be allergic to wool, experience no negative reactions as long as the average micron count of the garment they are wearing does not exceed 21. Further research has conclusively proven that any fabric which is made of any fiber (man-made acrylic, hair from cashmere goats, etc.) averaging more than 21 microns causes pain on the skin and a so-called allergic reaction (see the attached diagram).

Alpaca is no exception. Coarse alpaca itches. Fine alpaca feels smooth and silky next to the skin. That’s why fiber diameter is by far and away the most dominate value affecting fiber prices.

Bruce McGregor is a senior scientist with the Victorian Department of Agriculture in Australia, specializing in improving the production and quality of specialty animal fibers. He wrote an extensive article for Alpacas Australia (issue 13, 1995) entitled Alpaca Fleece Development and Methods of Assessing Fibre Quality. His article ranked, in order of importance, the qualities of alpaca fleece that processors have valued over many years, as follows:

1. Fiber diameter
2. Fiber length
3. Fiber color
4. Freedom from contamination
5. Degree of medulation

McGregor does not include tensile strength as a quality affecting value. The strength of alpaca fiber is so superior to other natural fibers, such as wool, that it is not considered an issue in pricing.

Alpaca fiber’s staple length is important. Length commands a premium in the market. This is because length increases the manufacturers’ ability to spin finer and stronger yarns for weaving. But McGregor still concludes that “Markets usually discriminate against length to a lesser degree than fiber diameter.”

The best way to increase uniformity is to reduce the average micron count. A finer fleece has less standard deviation. This is just another reason why micron count is the primary determinate of a fiber sale price.

Another reason for fiber diameter to be the dominate value is that the fiber diameter distribution (FDD) can not be accurately measured on large sale lots. There is too much variability from one fleece to the next. Furthermore, textile manufacturers almost always combine fiber from several lots to make tops. They purposely mix fiber with various micron counts, strength, and length to create a top that meets a certain specification. Finally, the cost of measuring standard deviation in large lots is prohibitive.

There is considerable research which establishes the fact that a more uniform fleece is more “spinnable.” A fleece with a co-efficient of variation that is 5% less than a fleece of comparable micron will spin a yarn that performs as if the fleece is one micron finer.

The most dramatic evidence of the influence of micron count on price was the million dollar bale sale which occurred at the annual Australian wool sale. Each kilogram in this one bale of sheep fleece sold for $10,030 Australian. The entire bale made up of 100 kilos of fine merino sheep wool sold to a Japanese textile manufacturer for $1,030,000. The fleece, the finest sheep wool ever tested, averaged 13.8 microns.
Alpaca Breeding for Maximum Value

Any business needs a plan. It really doesn’t matter whether you are manufacturing cars, growing corn, or raising alpacas. See How to Buy, Breed, and Succeed in the Alpaca Business. You need a plan. A sound plan begins with an inventory of your product’s strengths and weaknesses. If you believe that the ultimate goal of the alpaca business is to produce fiber as opposed to pets, please continue reading.

Alpaca fiber is known as a specialty fiber. In fact, every fiber, other than sheep wool, is known as a specialty fiber. Wool is grown world wide in huge quantities – 432,000 tons in 1994 alone (source: Wool International). Specialty fiber production totals about 142,000 tons per year. Of this, approximately 4,000 tons is alpaca. Scarcity or rarity is one way alpaca fiber competes.

R.C. Couchman, a well known Australian fiber expert, authored an extensive series of articles for Llama Life about alpaca fiber. He made the following point many times over, “Fineness is what specialty fiber is all about.” Alpacas shouldn’t compete with sheep, which produce large volumes of coarse fiber, when they have an excellent potential to produce fine, soft fiber and receive a significant price premium upon sale.

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Alpaca Fiber Symposium in October

Save the date! October 23-25, 2009 will be the next Alpaca Fiber Symposium to be held in the Denver area.

Registration is now open!

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National Alpaca Farm Day One Was GREAT!

Considering that it was overcast and rained most of the morning and part of the afternoon we had a pretty good farm day. We had about 75 people. Some just came to see what these alpacas were all about while a few were thinking about getting some an…imals in the future. A benefit of the day was I finally learned to spin on my spinning wheel. Our guest spinner was a great teacher. Tomorrow is my next lesson.

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National Alpaca Farm Day

On September 26 and 27, alpaca breeders from across the United States and Canada will invite the public to come to their farm or ranch to meet their alpacas and learn more about these inquisitive, unique animals. From 10 to 5 on Saturday and 11 to 4 on Sunday, Encore Alpacas, 4 Musketeers Alpaca Farm LLC, Blue Oak Acres, Teal Water Ranch LLC will welcome guests to join them for many activities including alpacas, fiber spinning, alpacas agility demonstrations and much more, all FREE!

Encore Alpacas is located at 9711 19 Mile Road, Marshall, MI 49068 (269-781-2351 or 269-275-5533)

4 Musketeers Alpaca Farm is located at 13201 Brady Road, Bellevue, MI 49021 (269-763-3625 or 269-420-1533)

Blue Oak Acres is located at 25180 M-78, Bellevue, MI 49021 (269-763-2753)

Teal Water Ranch is located at 1312 N. Ionia Road, Vermontville, MI 49096 (517-726-0899)

To find out more about National Alpaca Farm Days visit www.NationalAlpacaFarmDays.com. To learn more about any of the farms call 269-781-2351 or 269-275-5533.

Reprinted from the Battlecreek Enquirer

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Encore Alpacas…The Closer You Get…The Better We Look!

Encore Alpacas…The Closer You Get…The Better We Look! Welcome to Encore Alpacas. Based in historic Marshall, Michigan, we are home to some amazingly wonderful Huacaya Alpacas. We welcome your questions, inquiries, and farm visits.

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Awww

This is absolutely one of our favorite pictures and here it is for you.

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The Kiss

Our Marissa is giving her new cria a welcoming kiss.

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