AMAZING PRICES!!!!
OK, I need some cash for a non-alpaca project I have been working on for ages. So, I am offering great alpacas at great prices! Call, email, contact me and let’s wheel and deal! 218.243.2845 or 218.243.2700.
Deli’s Delicado (proven herd sire) white $1500
Encore’s Blow Your Horn (proven) true black $500
Jackpot! Stark Raving Mad (unproven) fawn $500
Aura (white and pregnant) $1500
Zoey (pattern and pregnant-Aura’s daughter) $2500
Ava (light fawn-Aura’s daughter) 15000
Penny (nfs)
Flirt – fawn (pregnant bred to DC) $2500
Cinnamon – (fawn-pregnant & bred to DC) (nfs)
Conney – (fawn-Cinnamon’s daughter) $1500
Puffball – (medium fawn) bred $1500
The Case for Crimp
The Case for Crimp By Mike Safley of Northwest Alpacas
There are two ways that Huacaya breeders think about crimp in the United States. One group believes that crimp is not an important trait. The other camp says crimp is highly desirable. The show rings in all countries value crimp and many breeders around the world select for crimp. Is it important, or not?
Animal breeders are constantly faced with subjective decisions: Who to cull and who to keep. They often rely on subjective, type characteristics to make these decisions. If the type traits that they select for are positively correlated or linked to economically important characteristics then their decisions produce good results. If, on the other hand, these subjective decisions are negatively correlated to important traits the results can be harmful to the breed.
Crimp in alpacas is a subjective, type trait. The first question is whether or not it is positively correlated to any important economic traits. If it is we should select for it; if not we should select against crimp or pay no attention to it at all. The second question, which may be more difficult to answer is, which crimp style or frequency is most preferable?
CRIMP IS NOT IMPORTANT
The argument that crimp is not important is primarily made by Eric Hoffman. Here is what Eric had to say in The Complete Alpaca Book published in 2003.
“Huacaya, as a breed, has some amount of curvature in fibers, in other words, crimp or crinkle. In some alpaca show systems, the various types of crimp are assigned different values. Such hair-splitting distinctions between styles of crimp may serve the purpose of identifying differences between individual animals in high-stakes alpaca shows, but the commercial processors in Peru who move tons of fleeces through their scouring vats based on handle classing (with some recently introduced micron sampling) are not making such distinctions in the fleece used to create their high-fashion end-products found in the top salons in Milan, Paris, and Geneva…
At the time of this writing, no research institution anywhere in the world has presented definitive information correlating crimp to other desirable fiber characteristics in alpacas.”
Eric’s primary argument is based on the fact that producers do not pay a premium for fiber with superior expressions of crimp.
CRIMP IS IMPORTANT
On the other hand, Dr. Julio Sumar of Peru had this to say about crimp in Huacaya:
“In the Peruvian conditions of alpaca breeding crimpness is highly appreciated for the breeders. They used to say, “In 90% of the cases a crimped fiber is a visual indicator of fineness.” When I visited an alpaca textile factory in Peru, where the fleece sorting is carried out entirely by woman’s hands, the highly crimped fleeces end up in the very fine fleece section.
Dr. Sumar’s remarks were made at the Gold of the Andes Seminar at the Alpaca Western Extravaganza (AWE) Show at Redmond, Oregon in May of 2004.
WHO IS RIGHT?
First, let’s exam Eric’s argument. It is true that fiber processors do not pay a premium for crimp. In fact, until recently, all fiber purchased in Peru was paid for based only on its weight. In 1998, Grupo Inca began paying a premium for fine fleece. They recognized that the market for finer fiber was strong and that their previous purchasing practices, of paying based on weight, were causing breeders to select for coarser fiber. The fashions they create depend on fine fiber.
There is a limited supply of fine fiber. If the alpaca industry can find a selection pathway to finer fiber then the breed as a whole will become more valuable. The Quechua Indians are some of the world’s poorest people. They breed alpacas in the Altiplano and could increase the value of their only cash crop: alpaca fleece, if they had a proven selection marker for fineness.
CRIMP STYLE
If you are selecting for crimp in Huacayas and it leads to finer fleeces and there are many styles of crimp, then the question becomes; which style of crimp is best? In sheep, the wool with the most frequent crimp count is often the finest. The style of crimp in sheep is also moderately to highly heritable. In alpaca the style of crimp is variable. There are no bloodlines identified with a particular crimp style or frequency.
It is likely that once alpaca breeders decide which style of crimp results in fleeces with the highest textile value that they will be able to fix that particular style. Grupo Inca’s genetic improvement project at Paco Marca takes extensive measurements on each alpaca in their herd. They record fineness, curvature, staple length, and fleece weight for each fleece. Once an animal is shorn, and its measurements recorded, the individual fleece is transported to Arequipa where it is sorted for grade. Each grade in the fleece is sorted, weighed and valued at the current market price. This total becomes the textile value of the fleece.
The data that is collected from the Paco Marca herd should allow for correlations to be drawn between particular fleece traits such as curvature (correlated to crimp) or fineness and total fleece value. It will be a small step to visually identify the crimp style of each fleece and determine if there are positive correlations to a particular style of crimp. There may also be negative correlations such as fineness to staple length or fleece weight.
I am working with Alonso Burgos of Paco Marca and geneticists at a major university to analyze the data collected by Alonso and his team. We will also be conducting a similar study of suri lock style as it relates to textile value. The results of this analysis have the potential to revolutionize the selection criteria for Huacaya and Suri.
Alpaca Fiber From the Textile POV 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.
The business plan at Northwest Alpacas is based on breeding alpacas which produce fine fiber in high volumes. This strategy should enable us to compete effectively at several levels: 1) the textile market, which pays a significant premium for fine fiber; 2) with sheep wool, the bulk of which is coarse; 3) the South American alpaca fiber producers who sell their fiber based on volume, not fineness; and 4) with other ranches selling bloodstock that produces alpacas having coarse hair and lower fleece weights.
Reproduced from http://www.alpacas.com with permission of Northwest Alpacas. Copyright © 2003 Northwest Alpacas.
Not Just Another Pretty Face
Believe it or not, many alpaca people have been asked if their alpacas are EMUS or OSTRICHES? Alpacas are mammals and both the aforementioned creatures are BIRDS. Yes, I am laughing a bit…but not kidding!
Alpacas are not another exotic pet fad – they produce exquisite fiber that has been revered for centuries. In ancient South American cultures, Alpaca fiber was prized on par with gold! The fiber is prized to this day, worldwide, and the animals themselves are very easy on the environment. Many believe that alpacas will be the next “green” sustainable fiber source.
As you would expect, fiber quality varies greatly among alpacas. There are two types of fiber Huacaya (fluffy, teddy bear) and Suri (dreadlockey). Huacaya fleece is usually crimpy, and grows straight out from the alpaca’s body, they are the fluffy ones. Suri fleece has a long, silky look, hanging straight down from the alpaca’s body. Suri and huacaya fleeces each have desirable characteristics making them highly sought after for different uses in the textile industry.
EVERYBODY Can Profit From Alpacas…
Beating The Horse Market • Minnesotans profit from growing alpaca industry
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, by Ann Behling
With a little help from Hay& Forage Grower, Butch Cardinal and his family added nearly $40,000 to their commercial hay income last year.
“I read an article in the magazine about the growing demand for high-quality grass hay to feed expanding alpaca numbers and thought it might be a good way to increase our profitability,” recalls Cardinal. He operates Cardinal Brothers Hay Sales, Hugo, MN, with his brother, Jim, and nephews, Steven Benkler and Andrew Venzke.
The story, “Alpaca Opportunity,” was in the February 2006 issue. “At that time, we were marketing about 95% of our crop to horse owners, with the remainder going to feedlots,” says Cardinal.
He visited the Web site given in the article, www.alpacainfo.com, and it led him to other useful sites.
“I put a classified ad for our hay on www.alpacanation.com and the phone started ringing almost immediately,” says Cardinal.
The inquiries came from as far away as New York and Pennsylvania and as close as 20 miles down the road. The partners weren’t interested in selling hay several states away, but were anxious to meet the local demand. So they shifted some of their sales from horses to alpacas.
“We get almost $40 more per ton for our hay from alpaca owners vs. horse owners,” he says. “If we can supply them with palatable, sweet-smelling, soft orchardgrass hay, they are willing to pay premium prices.”
In 2007, the family put up nearly 60,000 small square bales and 1,200 large rounds from more than 600 acres of owned and rented land. A majority of the acres are seeded to orchardgrass-timothy mixtures, with the rest in alfalfa-orchardgrass. The grass stands yield up to 4.2 tons/acre; alfalfa-grass fields average a ton per acre more.
The alfalfa-orchardgrass hay is marketed to horse and beef interests. The first cutting of orchardgrass-timothy is marketed as horse feed, and alpaca owners get the next two cuttings.
“Alpaca owners won’t buy the first cutting because there’s a fair bit of timothy in it and it’s quite stemmy. But the next two cuttings have very little timothy in them because it grows so slowly during the summer’s heat,” says Cardinal. “Also, the second and third cuttings of orchardgrass are pretty much all leaf.”
“They’re very particular about the quality of hay they buy — even more so than horse owners. They want weed-free hay without any seed heads, which can stick to the animals’ fiber, making it less valuable. If you give them what they want, they’ll be satisfied, long-term customers and tell their friends.”
Cardinal says he and his partners have been paid for every bale they’ve sold to alpaca owners, all of which are within 90 miles of their farm. Most buy only 100-300 small square bales per year, but the biggest customer takes a semi load every month to feed his 500-head herd.
This year, Cardinal and his family will add 150 acres to their operation. Two-thirds will be planted to teff for horses; the rest to straight orchardgrass for the alpaca market.
Copyright 2009 Hay & Forage Grower
