I have loved fiber for many years, yet still would not call myself an expert. I am especially in love with Camelid (llama and alpaca) and Pygora fibers. All three are light in weight and provide great warmth without bulk.
Llamas are two-coated animals. The undercoat (the down) keeps the animal warm and the top coat (guard hair) protects the animal and the down fiber. I have the guard hair removed during fiber processing, which leaves only down fiber that is easy and lovely to work with.
I’ve been working with this fiber since 1986, at which time little was known about what to do with it. Over the years, those of us who work with llama fiber gained a greater understanding of what a fabulous fiber it was and learned our trade from the ground up.
Llama coats can be different from animal to animal—you may get fantastic fiber from one and mostly guard hair from another. That’s why dehairing is important to me. Llama’s fiber yield (weight) after washing is 90 percent, which means that less than 10 percent is lanolin. It is odorless and hypoallergenic. The yield per animal averages approximately five pounds per shearing, and the animals are sheared every one to three years.
Alpaca fiber, which is newer to me, is wonderful as well. There are two types: the Suri, which can be very silky or flat, is very easy to spin, and makes a lovely scarf; and the Huacaya, which is more common and has the same feel and handling as dehaired llama fiber. Alpacas are sheared yearly and yield an average of three to four pounds of top per shearing. I use the neck and leg fiber to make my felted sheets.
Pygora fiber is very soft and silky and has great luster and loft. The yield is not as great as with llamas and alpacas, so Pygora fiber is pricier. On average, I obtain one pound per animal per semiannual shearing, then lose up to half of that in the dehairing process. But it is so lovely that it’s worth it. There are three types of Pygora fiber and all three are represented on our farm. I combine many of my fibers in spinning and many of my garments have a mix of llama, alpaca, and sometimes Pygora, in a single
item.
We have 25 chickens that are currently laying and 35 on deck that will start laying in spring. We have mostly Black Star hens because they are calm and good layers of brown eggs. They are a relatively new breed that are “sex linked.” That means that male and female chicks are different colors when they hatch, so you never have to wonder whether you’re getting a pullet or a cockerel. We rotate our chickens out every three years.
Banner photos (from left to right) were taken by: Penny Bauer, Nancy Richardson, Mary Donaty, and Sonny Richardson. The llama photo was taken by Mary, the alpaca and chicken photos by Nancy, and the goat photo by Jill Mann.
