Our Silverstream Alpaca Fleece

The animals at Silverstream Alpaca Stud are mainly white and light fawn. By restricting the colour range we can produce commercial quantities of white and light fine fibre.

The qualities of a great fleece can be categorised as:

• Handle – the fleece must be soft and silky to the touch

• Lack of Guard Hair – these are coarser fibres that affect the handle

• Fineness – the lower the micron, the finer the fibre

• Lustre – the fleece should have a silky sheen – this improves the handle

• Crimp – can be an indicator of fineness and density – provides a wow factor

• Density- the greater the density, the greater the weight and more commercial value

• Uniformity- the greater the consistency or uniformity of the fleece, the greater the commercial value ie a greater percentage of the fleece can be used for processing.

• Fleece length – a fibre length of at least 120mls ensures easy processing

• Colour variation – there should be no spots or coloured fibres within the fleece.

Silverstream’s mission is to produce, soft, well-nourished fleeces that are uniform in micron, length and colour.