There were many presentations from different perspectives but I heard a common theme, a concern which is very important for fiber producers to take to heart.
Mills want clean fleeces to process. For commercial mills who don’t offer scouring service, that means washed before it comes to them. Most mini mills include washing service. For all mills that means fleeces well skirted to remove VM and other non-fiber contaminates. I personally recall the recommendation to blow/vac fleeces coming from a mill who is using a card or dehairer to remove particles which should have been removed from the fiber before it was submitted for processing. (not that my memory is all that good!!!) His point was that its easier to clean up the alpaca before shearing than it is to clean up a filthy fleece afterwards. I personally believe we should bring reasonably clean alpacas to the shearing floor rather than trying to blow/vac them right before shearing. Heck, Shearing Day is busy/stressful enough without that thing roaring and blowing and sucking!!
Another couple of points I took home:
Producer education - all of the above plus much more. Fiber production starts the day after shearing and ENDS on shearing day. Everything after that point when the hair is cut off the alpaca’s body is manufacturing. Your every day husbandry plays a critical role in your fleece being the best your alpaca is genetically capable of giving. producers ought to insist that their shearer give them a quality shearing job for their pay. I’m talking second cuts/chopped fleeces as well as blankets contaminated with hairy/short pieces because the shearer won’t slow down enough to let you collect the blanket before he continues with the other parts. Again, if you skirt the bejeebers out of a fleece you should be able to clean up those shorts and hairy parts but wouldn’t it be easier if you could get a reasonably clean fleece to start out with on shearing day?
Collection, sorting & grading - Inconsistency of grading between co-ops & pools and/or no grading. AFCNA sorts by micron 1 way, NAAFP does it another, I’m not sure what CanCan does but it’s probably slightly different as well. Some people sort into many bins, some just use a sort of “feels good” kind of test. Same thing with color – sure there will be variation in color with all the wonderful shades of alpaca but I think we need to establish a “North American” standard… 1 standard that we all agree to abide by. Micron ranges, staple lengths, colors, whatever it may be, we need a “standards committee” to resolve the current differences. Particularly if we think we may want a national quality mark.
Infrastructure - Scouring (by which I mean gently washing alpaca fiber) on a “right-size” commercial scale is an opportunity waiting for the right entrepreneur. Currently there is nothing between a mini-mill capacity to a mega-scouring facility. That is going to be a limiting factor in growing our fiber market unless someone steps up & starts a business (or two). Dehairing – another opportunity awaiting the right person because there is NO commercial scale dehairing process left in North America. Mini-mills can do it on a small, slow scale. Some mills can “kind of” manage it with extra combing, but what we need is a good solution to dehair large volumes quickly and efficiently. Any mechanical wizards out there?
Research - currently as an industry we do not fund any alpaca fiber related research. We cannot resolve many questions about our industry until we are able to have research performed – original research or even just a literature review of what is already published in Australia or South America. We farms generously fund health related research individually as well as through our Organizations. Why don’t we start to set aside a few dollars for fiber research?
We must hang together or we will surely hang apart - What I thought was the best part of the Symposium was an initial effort to link up our many components of our fiber industry. I’m not talking merger but I am talking joint projects or “industry standards committees” instead of each of us going along on our own path. We are just not big enough (in total!) to separate into fractions… well, at least not yet.
I’m totally charged up after this Symposium.
& let’s remember, the United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibers!!
This is a great time to be in the alpaca business!
Tags: alpaca, fiber, industry, international year of natural fibers, textile
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