NEAFP Note - April 2010
Preparing for your Fiber Harvest / Afghan Sale!
Preparing for your Fiber Harvest / Afghan Sale!
Afghan Sale!
NEAFP is happy to announce for the rest of April we will be selling our Throw Size Afghan and Baby Blanket Afghan 10% OFF their regularly pricing. Everyone who has had the pleasure of getting their hands on them in our booth at shows has absolutely loved them and we are sure you will too!
Throw Size Afghan
The Throw Size Afghan measures 60" by 46" and has a Cable Knit pattern design. It is made from 100% Prime U.S. Alpaca Fiber. Available in quantities of 1 and 3.
Baby Blanket Afghan
The Baby Blanket Afghan measures 48" by 42" and has a similar patterned design and is made from 100% Prime U.S. Alpaca Fiber. They are also available in quantities of 1 or in 3 packs.
Click here to head to them in the product catalog!
Preparing for your Fiber Harvest!
After a month of straight rain, Spring is finally in the air here in New England and that means it is time to start planning out shearing for this year's alpaca fiber harvest. As Alpaca Fiber becomes a larger part of each farm's business plan, it is important that more thought and attention goes into harvesting each years fiber crop to ensure maximum value and usability throughout the value add chain. In our opinion, Shearing Day is the most important day of the year on an alpaca farm, so let's compare notes to make sure as much usable fiber is harvested this year!
First things first, if you do not do your shearing yourself, it is important to talk with the shearer before hand to make sure they know you process the fiber each year and are looking to maximize the value of the harvested fiber. Second Cuts are the enemy of processors everywhere! You want a uniform staple length throughout the blanket and as consistent as possible throughout the rest of the animal. Have your shearers focus on getting usable fiber off the animal first, and once it is separated have them go back and tidy up the animal.
Vegetable Matter - VM and other foreign objects have a tendency to lock into fiber, especially crias, and it becomes quite a chore for sorters to work through a fleece if it is highly contaminated. Sorting on a commercial scale boils down to efficiency and accuracy and the system breaks down quickly if sorters are tied up working on trouble fleeces. To help prevent this clean paddocks and pastures of loose hay and bedding. Also clean barns of winter bedding and sweep daily. Keeping the barn and paddocks clean 1 month prior to shearing will reduce VM greatly at shearing time. It also helps to feed alpacas close to ground level in the days leading up to shearing day, whether it be in a trough or low hay racks. This will prevent hay catching in the nap of the neck.
Cleanliness - If you are keeping your animals on dry lot while they wait to be sheared, spray the area down to cut down on dust and to prevent them from rolling around on the ground and picking up a ton of extra dirt in their fleeces. Many use a dry vac or blower on their animals to clean as much dirt and debris off them as possible which helps while processing, as well as saving unneeded wear and tear on your combs and cutters. If you are shearing on the ground, put down a tarp large enough to catch all the fiber as it comes off the animal so you are not picking it up off the ground.
Colors - Most farms start off with their lightest animals and shear from light to dark to ensure the fiber collections for each animal do not become color contaminated. Have plastic bags pre-labeled with Animal and Grade ready to catch each grade of fiber as it comes off the animal. You should also be skirting away armpit and chest guard hair before bagging up your fiber as it becomes a chore to go through and do this after the fact. Between colors, thoroughly clean the area of excess fiber to prevent cross contamination.
Dry Fiber - In a perfect world, the Sun will be shining for two full weeks prior to shearing day/weekend but as Alpaca Farmers know all to well, the weather does not like to cooperate. Before bagging up your fiber to store and or ship in to be processed, it is very important the fiber is completely dry to prevent mold damage which will rot the fiber, causing it to become brittle and useless in commercial manufacturing. If your animals are not 100% dry, make sure to let the fiber dry out properly before bagging it up.
By cutting down on 2nd Cuts, Vegetable Matter, Excess Dirt, Color Contamination, Armpit and Chest Guard Hair, and keeping your fiber dry you will be making the very most for this year's upcoming fiber harvest. The next steps are to get that fiber out of your barns, basements, college bound children's old bedrooms, and into the supply chain! NEAFP is more than happy to receive your fiber right after shearing season to get into our manufacturing chain and store in your Fiber Bank Account. This will ensure the fiber gets put to use right away, when it is freshest and least susceptible to contamination or moth damage, returning the most value per pound processed.
2010 Scheduled Fiber Pickups
Save on Shipping, let us haul your fleece for you! NEAFP will be running Fiber Collections at the following upcoming events:
Click through to search LocalHarvest's 3000 Markets!
Our Best Selling Survival Sock now available in X-Large!
Catch up on all the Resources you missed!