OAK GROVE ALPACAS

Ultrafine Alpaca Fleece

Ultrafine Q & A

 

What is ultrafine fleece in alpacas?

Ultrafine is a term developed more recently by the fibre focus group known as ‘Alpaca Ultimate’ of which we were co-founders. The term has been used for the ‘Ultrafine Bale’ to indicate alpaca fibre testing at less than 18.5 micron on average, but generally refers to fibre in the under 18 micron range.

 

Why bother breeding for such ultrafine fleece when it is much easier to breed just fine to medium?

The answer is simple – ultrafine fibre is very financially viable fibre. The finer the fibre in all natural fibre industries, the higher the price paid for that fibre.

Ultrafine fibre makes $60– a kilo, that’s nearly 5 times what ‘fine’ (20-23 micron) fibre makes at current prices.

Recent word from Peruvian processors is that the future for alpaca fibre is sub 18 micron (Source: C.Holt, Bega Show 2008)

 

What does fine really mean?

In the alpaca industry the word ‘fine’ means different things to different people, some call a 24 micron fleece ‘fine’ but to a breeder aiming for ultrafine fibre it is nowhere near fine enough! Technically the categories of fleece as listed by Alpaca Ultimate & AAFL as at 1/7/07 for white fibre are:

 

 

Ultrafine - Under 18.5 micron / Length 75 to 100mm /  $60- kilo

(Alpaca Ultimate category only)

 

Superfine - 18.6 to 19.9 micron / Length 75 to 100mm / $27.50 kilo

(Anything under 20 micron at AAFL & 80mm to 120mm)

 

Fine - 20 to 23 micron / Length 80 to 120mm /  $12.10 kilo

 

Medium - 23.1 to 26 micron /  Length 80 to 150mm /  $5.95 kilo

 

Strong -26.1 to 30 micron / Length 80 to 150mm / $4.40 kilo

 

Course - 30.1 plus micron / Length 80 to 150mm / $2.80 kilo 

 

 

 

But if I breed heavy cutting fine to medium fleeces won’t I make just as much?

This is one of the most common held beliefs out there, but it is wrong. Just do the math!

To make the same money as just 1 kilo of Ultrafine fleece you need to grow over 10 kilos of medium micron fleece & nearly 5 kilos of fine fleece!

It has been proven in studies done in the sheep wool industry that heavier cutting animals cost more to feed & are harder on the paddock soil & thus have a lower stocking rate, which increases maintenance costs. So each kilo of fleece from the heavier cutting 25 micron animal for example is actually making you even less money per kilo when all factors are considered, in relation to the lower fleece weight 17 micron ultrafine animal.

 

Don’t most ultrafine alpacas only have an ultrafine first fleece then blowout?

Many alpacas that are advertised as having an ultrafine fleece may have already moved to the fine category on the 2nd fleece or have had fleece tests done at only a few months old, only to end up several micron higher at 1 year of age.

What is just as important as starting ultrafine is staying that way for as many years as possible.

Micron blowout we believe is more important to consider than just going for density or style, as many prize winning animals have stylish dense fleeces worth only $20 or $30, the ability to maintain a low micron over time makes an animal worth it’s weight in gold to us, especially if it also has good style & structure etc.

Web Design & Content  © Oak Grove Alpacas 2006-2008        

Stud male Nemisis -3rd fleece-

17.5 micron, SD 3.6 (1.84kg saddle)

Does a few micron make a difference in the very fine categories?

Currently (but watch this space) there is no higher price category lower than ultrafine in the alpaca industry, this is because of the lack of quantity of this very fine fibre.

But it is worth taking a lesson for the future from the sheep industry where ultrafine fibre jumps $100 extra per kilo for a 14.5 micron fleece compared to a 15 micron fleece- that’s only 1/2 a micron difference but was equal to almost 3 times the price!

 

In 2007 the highest price paid for merino was a wopping $953- kilo for 12.3 micron & could not be longer than 70mm!

 

When the alpaca industry starts to produce higher quantities of ultrafine fibre categories, we to can expect to receive higher payments. But we can’t expect higher payments before we can guarantee manufacturers quantity of this precious fibre.

What about coloured fleece?

Because manufacturers demand white fibre that they can dye any colour to meet current fashion demands, white fibre will always command higher prices commercially.

 

Coloured alpacas in general have not been producing fibre as fine as whites, but it can be done & once we have more of it we may see the prices for coloured ultrafine increase also. The fleece on the right is a 2nd fleece of only 17.7 micron, SD3.6 from a breeding female.

What sort of fleece weights do ultrafine alpacas cut?

Ultrafine fibre weighs less as the fibres are finer & in general you won’t find alpacas of 17 micron cutting 5 kilos of fleece. This is simply the nature of fleece which we are trying to improve without sacrificing micron, because as shown above, the illusion of density alone being a way to high fleece prices is a fallacy.

Ultrafine merinos that have had a century and more of development only cut on average 3 - 4 kilos, so an ultrafine alpaca cutting 1 - 2 kilos of saddle fleece is quite good at this stage.

What else is important in Ultrafine fleece?

Like any fleece ultrafine needs to be as good as possible in all aspects, such as defined crimp & staple structure etc.

Having a fleece that is even in micron throughout the body of the alpaca is also very important.

 

A low SD (standard deviation) is the best way to see if there is variation in the fibre , we aim for SD’s under 4.5 on early fleeces, but preferably in the 3’s or lower!

 

The best way to determine if an animal has an even micron throughout the body is to do a grid test - this is where several samples are taken from different areas such as the mid side, hip, topline, brisket, neck etc & compared to see if there is any notable variation.

A difference of 5 micron between the mid side & the hip for example is not good, whereas only 1 micron variation is much better.

 

Also having a useable fleece length of 75 to 100mm approx for ultrafine is important- over long or over short fibre is not currently wanted by most fibre processors.

 

Our herd average fleece statistics for the 2007 year are shown below.

 

                 This included all animals in our breeding program including the 3 stud males aged between

 3.5 & 8 years old that we owned at that time.

It does not include statistics from cria.

Stud male Giovanni -6th fleece-

22.6 micron, SD 4.6

MICRON 21

SD 4.1

CF 94%

CV 19.5

Oak Grove took out 1st, 2nd & 3rd  in the over 30 months white fleece class at the Far South Coast National Show in 2008. All these fleeces scored very high for micron fineness & handle.

This is what we are breeding for, alpacas that stay fine with good style & character in their fleece as they age not just in their cria fleeces.