One of today's tasks is to weigh each of the alpaca fleeces.
When we were shearing each alpaca clip was sorted into three bags:

The Saddle - this is the prime part of the fleece.
The Neck - known as seconds
Legs - known as thirds and includes fibre from the legs the tail and any second cuts that are lying around.



Second cuts are where the shearer makes his first pass with the clippers and removes most of the fibre then makes a second or third pass which produces short hairs which are pretty much unusable.

One of the easiest ways to weigh the fleece is to buy a small hanging scale of the type used when fishing. $10 will get you an accurate digital model like the one pictured below.



So for each alpaca we can record the total weight of the clip and saddle weight.

For those animals where it is appropriate we send a sample to the laboratory at Yocom McCall for analysis.



When we get the analysis back from the lab I will explain what it means and how to interpret the results.

Adrian Stewart