Each year we fibre test every alpaca on the farm. What happens is that just before Alan Godsiff our New Zealand shearer makes his first cut along the alpacas back he takes a "sample" from the midsection of the alpaca.



As Angus McColl puts it:

The integrity of sampling, the careful and proper selection of a sample, is the most critical factor involved in measurement of fiber diameter in individual animals. The samples must be taken at the middle of the side in the blanket location. The sample should be uniformly cut at the skin level, which is the base of the staple, and should be no smaller than a two-inch square in size. The sample should be kept in the staple configuration, which is its natural growth state. It should not be brushed out, cleaned up, or folded. Flat bladed shears or clippers are recommended as the safest tools to use in the taking of samples.

This sample of alpaca fibre is then sent to Angus McColl at Yocom McColl fibre laboratory who sends you back the following report ( and an invoice ). To be accurate this is the report you receive if you are members of the Ideal Alpaca Community - the IAC report is more comprehensive than the standard Yocom McColl report.





Histograms are quite useful when it comes to looking at an alpacas fibre and making breeding decisions. To take this information to the next level is the work of the IAC and its quest to produce EPDs or Estimated Progeny Differences to give them their full title, for alpacas.
The work has been underway for some time now to calcu;ate EPDs and you can read more about what EPDs are the Mulberry Alpacas Library