Manufacture

Alpaca fleece can be spun in several ways.

• By the hand spinner. Thought please remember that one alpaca fleece will keep a hand spinner going for a long time.
• In a Mini Mill. There are a number of Mini mills set up around the country which will spin individual fleeces into whatever thickness yarn you require.
• A large commercial mill. We are fortunate in the UK to have several medium sized mills solely dedicated to processing alpaca. The minimum required by this scale of mill is 25kg. Which is roughly a builders bag full of fleece.
• The big Commercial Mill. Processing fibre in large volumes is all about scale. A large commercial wool mill deals in volumes that are mind boggling when placed against the total volume of the national UK alpaca clip. We still count our alpacas in thousands where sheep are counted in millions. One day it might happen but at present the 25kg a time of one colour one quality  is where most breeders operate.

For those new owners who are considering processing for the first time, a warning: you can only get out of the process what you put in. Fine quality,well sorted, clean alpaca fleece produces beautiful, useable and saleable yarn. Contaminated or coarse fibre produces coarse and unusable yarns. The mills merely process what you give them they do not improve on what you give them. It may seem obvious but in the excitement of getting it done it is often forgotten and disappointment results.

Throughout the UK breeders are processing their fibre into products for sale via farm shops, internet or shows. There is great interest in processing alpaca fibre for the manufactures but it needs dedication, taste, drive and talent to move with a bag of fleece from your alpaca to a product that people will pay good money for. Design and finish are paramount as of course is price and presentation and all the other things that factor into retail.

Processing fibre and manufacturing commercial products is a vast science in its own right and its not to be underestimated the challenges that this process brings. The rewards however can be great and adding value to UK alpaca fleece should be the primary concern of all UK breeders.

At Toft we have a thriving farm shop open six days a week dedicated to alpaca knitwear , garments, jewellery and accessories. Our online shop never shuts and our show trailer is busy throughout the season. All our annual clip is processed into useable and saleable products. Check out what can be achieved at www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk