It’s not too early to plan your spring shearing. Take a walk out in your pasture during the next break in the weather and access your herds’ fiber. The information that follows will help you decide if your shorn fleeces could be sent to a regional fiber pool this summer.

Any llama, or alpaca, with more than 5 inches of undercoat in the barrel and rump area is a candidate for shearing. This is based on 3+ inches for spinning and 1 to 2 inches left on the animal for sunburn protection and preparation for next winter. However, if the shorn fiber length is more than 6 inches, it will need to be cut into 3 to 6 inch pieces before it can be spun.

Fiber that has been on the animal for 2 years or less could be sent to a fiber pool. Fiber that is more than 2 years old will probably be too matted, dirty, or weathered to be accepted. Shear it off and start over again. Old fiber is still usable for padding, insulation, birds’ nests and garden mulch.

Next, do a hands-on evaluation of the quality, condition and cleanliness of each animal’s fleece. Give a grade of 1 to 5 for each of these criteria on the worksheet that follows:

Quality refers to the feel of the fiber – how soft, fine and pleasing it is to the touch. Would a garment made from it be comfortable against your skin? Good quality fiber has a natural luster or shine. The quality should be consistent throughout the entire blanket or prime area.

Condition is a measure of fiber health. Is it strong, flexible and alive, or weak, brittle and dead from being left on the animal too long? Mats that can be pulled apart with your fingers will be removed by carding when the fiber is processed. All the fibers should be approximately the same length; none over 6 inches or less than 3.

Cleanliness is of equal importance. Vegetation, dust, and insect eggs can ruin a quality fleece.

FIBER GRADING WORKSHEET

1. Very coarse, dull, rough to touch, stiff guard hairs

2. Medium coarse, too many guard hairs to remove

3. Medium, removable amount of guard hair

4. Medium to fine, small amount of guard hair easily removed. Some luster

5. Finest fiber. No guard hairs, or so fine that removal not necessary. Soft enough to be worn next to skin, lustrous

1. Dry, brittle, completely matted, weathered tips, too long or short fiber lengths

2. Dry, matted, weathered tips, variable fiber lengths

3. Healthy fiber, few mats that can be pulled apart with fingers, minimal weathering, adequate fiber length

4. Healthy fiber, no mats or weathering, may be some cotting (web-like tangling – preliminary to matting) Uniform fiber length

5. Healthy, prime condition fiber. No cotting. Uniform fiber length

1. Too dirty to work with, filled with vegetation, dust, smells bad, moldy or insect eggs of any type or amount

2. Dirty, lots of vegetation, but cleanable with lots of time

3. Moderate dust, vegetation, can be cleaned in reasonable amount of time

4. Minimal dust, vegetation and cleaning time

5. Very clean, no dust, little or no vegetation, ready to use

_______ Total of 3 scores

12 - 15 Very fine quality fleece, acceptable for garment quality yarn from the fiber pool

8 - 11 Average quality fleece, acceptable for craft quality yarn from the fiber pool

7 or less Reject. Any fleece scoring a 1 in any area would be rejected from a pool