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Articles

        Preparing Your Fleece to Show – by Lee Ann King, Royal T Llamas, Perrysville, OH

        Dyeing Wool – by Judy Smith, Five Points Llamas, Williamsport, OH

        How to Sort Your Fiber for Processing – Very educational!

        Dust If You Must – Select to read and enjoy!

Photo

        The photograph at right is of Cherreen doing her favorite thing!  Shearing at Doran's Suri Alpaca & Llama Company, May 2004.

Helpful Tips Cherreen Thompson Shearing at a workshop

What’s the minimum amount of grooming I can get away with????

Top Brushing and blowing out the fleece will help considerably.

As your animal is being shorn, discard the wool that is matted, soiled, and coarse so you don’t have it mixed in with your good stuff.

For those fleeces with very coarse guard hair and a beautiful clean down undercoat ----- take 10 minutes to pull out the guard hair.  You’ve just moved your fleece from a 3rd quality to a 1st quality!!!

If your fleece has weathered, matted tips but the underside is good: 

  • Take 10 minutes to cut off the tip ends.  You’ve just saved your fleece from  being rejected from the fiber mill!!!

  • Note – only cut tip ends for fiber being sent to a mill for processing – NEVER FOR COMPETITION!

The definition of skirting a fleece: 

          Lay out your fleece, pick out debris, second cuts, and guard hair

          Pull off coarse belly and leg wool. 

          Also pull off long lengths of fiber that are not consistent with the rest of the fleece.