Classing
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Are We Presenting Our Best Lines For a Good Yarn? A Critique of the Current Standards Governing Australian Alpaca Fleece Classing
Since about 2008, the Australian alpaca fleece market has moved from a single desk marketing system dominated by the Australian Alpaca Fleece Ltd, to competitive supply networks incorporating a number of fleece collection and buying entities. The entities range from producer based collectives to commercial businesses. Further, these entities are able to adopt any one, or a combination of fleece collection protocols or standards that have been developed over recent years to provide guidance on how to class alpaca fleeces into commercially driven consignment lines.More » -
NEAFP Guide: Grading Fiber
Our goal is to keep fiber grading as straight forward as possible on the farmer's end. Our system is designed to be simple to understand while identifying the areas of the alpaca with different levels of fineness and staple length. We ask that all farm's submitting fiber keep it separated into the three basic grades, based on how it comes off during shearing. Fiber should be sheared, kept separate by shearing location, and quickly skirted to remove barn yard debris and short cuts under 1.5” in staple length.More »