In March 2006 we added huacaya alpaca to our lives. We had searched for 18 months doing research on the internet and visiting farms both locally and nationally.
We finally made our choice of 3 pregnant females in Wisconsin. I saw the cria they had produced and their gorgeous fleece during a January visit with my daughters. When we went back in March for the birth of our grandchild we finallized the deal and brought our new family home.
4 months later our first cria arrived and she was exactly what I was hoping for, tight little bundles of fleece and such a cute face. The next month our little black male arrived, and like his half sister he had lots of fleece. The 3rd cria finally came, mom was a maiden and the cria came out with hip and shoulder deformities and had to be put down. She never did stand unaided but her fleece was magnificant.
18 months later and we are looking at all that fleece now in bags wondering what to do with it. The search started again, first for locations of mills and then for reasonable pricing and turn around time. Then we considered doing it ourselves so the research changed directions and again we spent time on the internet and road. We drove to Prince Edward Island, home of the international headquarters of Belfast Mini Mills, in February of 07. Then we toured 3 working mini mills to obtain knowledge.
We wrote our business plan, talked to bankers and bought a used mill out of Ohio. That mill didn't include the tumbler or separator so we bought the separator and had the tumbler made to specks obtained from the internet. We broke ground in Aug of 07 and the machines went in Dec 18.
We had some problems in the beginning with machine settings, had to replace some parts to improve rovings and plying. Didn't feel I had enough training so I talked with Morning Star Fiber in Ohio and Karen Christianson invited me to come work with her for a week and she and JC would train me. It was a great learning experience and when I got home and put that new knowledge into practice I found several more key parts needed replacing so that I could accurately spin and ply.
I also learned during my training that the condition of the fleece makes a big difference on the outcome of the yarn. Too much vegetation and the machines can not remove it all, to many second cuts and little balls end up in the yarn, if the fleece is too brittle it will break during processing and the carder vacuum ends up with a lot of short fibers.
With only 7 alpaca I ran out of yarn faster than I could imagine, so after Christmas we went back to Wisconsin and made deal for 5 more alpaca. This time all male 4 suri and 1 more haucaya. We got home with them just after midnight 01/01/09, so we are starting our 3rd year with 12 alpaca. We are hoping for 2 healthy cria in May after shearing.
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