- Everyone who comes on the farm these days is concerned about two items - micron count and crimp. I, myself, have written much about the virtues of skinny fleece and bold crimp, so I began to ponder whether this narrow focus was all that healthy for our industry. more »
- My goal is to breed alpacas with the fineness of cashmere and the crimp of merino. Fineness is measured in microns and finer fiber has a smaller micron count. As an example, human hair can have a micron count of 40-80+ while most cashmere is in the 15-19 micron range. Alpaca fiber can range from 15 -40 microns—depending on their breeding and age—with younger animals having the finest fiber. more »
- In order to make informed decisions on selecting quality foundation herd animals with desirable fiber characteristics, the new alpaca breeder must understand basic fiber anatomy and physiology. This section provides information that will help you understand the differences between suri and huacaya fiber and what makes a good fiber producing alpaca. more »
- Alpacas are members of the camel family, which originated in the Great Plains of North America. The earliest fossils date back 40 million years ago, when the “camels” were cat sized with four toes. About 5 million years ago, some of them migrated west into Asia where they evolved into Dromedary and Bactrian camels. Others traveled south into South America. The varieties that stayed in North America died out 10-15,000 years ago. more »
- Covers a brief history of alpaca fleece, its structure, how to evaluate it on the alpaca, and how to care and prepare it. more »