OUR BUSINESS

Our business is focused on breeding huacaya alpacas with high quality fleece to be processed into yarn. We have concentrated on Huacaya - the most common alpacas, but we have two suri as well, whose fleece can be milled separately or in combination with huacaya to produce an even silkier yarn. Quality for us begins with healthy animals. Quality fleece is evidenced by low micron, high comfort factor and a range of natural colours. To achieve this quality, we use natural processes and procedures, including natural land management as far as possible, feed for our animals and the milling and production processes for our fibre.

We decided early on to manage matings in our herd, with the aim of a range of colours and to utilise the best genetics we could. Using our own studs as well as some introduced ones, we have bred many alpacas with very low micron. Currently one third of our herd is in the ultrafine and fine category of fleece, most are medium and under 25 micron, and one quarter (mostly older) are in the strong category. Some of our animals have maintained a low micron over many years and have not "blown out" into increasingly coarse fibre over time.

We have been well supported by Ian Elkins as shearer. Ian is a highly skilled and experienced shearer, so the fleece is well shorn and ready to be sorted and he works well with the team of people needed to help on shearing day. He is generous with his knowledge and teaches those helping how best to handle and manage the animals during the shearing process.

At shearing we take mid side samples of each fleece, and these are sent to Australian Alpaca Fibre Testing in Tasmania. Using these results, we select the best fleece, both white and colours, under 25 microns and with a very high comfort factor, for our yarn. Recently we have been sending lesser quality fleeces to the Waratah Fleece Cop-operative for selling on to interested buyers.

The high quality fleece is sent to mills, either Fibre Naturally in Macclesfield, Victoria, or Boston Fine Fibres in Burra, NSW. As alpaca does not have the lanoline of sheep’s wool, it does not require scouring and is washed and dried as naturally as possible, then processed into a range of yarn types.

From our yarn, using hand techniques of crochet, knitting and weaving, we produce garments for adults and children. Some of our side products have proved popular, such as alpaca poo (especially in spring, for gardeners) and toys, cushions and dog beds (stuffed with alpaca fibre).