Washing Alpaca Fiber

By Linda Kernstock, Sage Critter Alpacas

One of the most popular questions I receive is, "How do I wash my fiber?"

I wash my alpaca fiber in big livestock water tanks. We simply use hot tap water and Ajax dish soap. We use Ajax because it is the cheapest surfactant dish soap that I have been able to find.  By the ounce from Wal-Mart (in the big bottles) it is even cheaper than the bulk I have been able to find online. It seems too simple, but it works well for me and I wash a little over a thousand pounds of fiber a year!  (note:  you will see Equate hand soap in some of the pictures, I don’t use that to wash, we use that for felting…. it is NOT a surfactant and it will not be effective in removing  grease from your wash fibers).

SUDSY WASH OF FIBER IN THE MILL

The next question is: “How much soap do you use?”

Well the beautiful part of using Ajax is it will not scorch or dry out your fibers, so you cannot damage the fiber by putting too much in. If the fleece is small poundage (under 4 pounds) and not too dirty, I use “one big squeeze”.

Right... that is where people go “Huh?”

It is as specific as I can get! I use one big squeeze and it makes a coffee cup saucer size spread of soap in the bottom of the tub.  

Then I take my hose and spray the soap to make it bubble and foam.  When I have enough water, about 25 gallons, I add the fiber and push it under the soap bubbles until every piece is wet. With suri or mohair, this may take a little bit of wiggling with your fingers to get it to separate enough to adsorb the water.

I like to let this initial wash sit for a whole night. It makes a big difference with the alpaca fleeces if you let one of the washes sit overnight. Those dirty buggers love to roll and sitting in the wash seems to allow more of the sand and stuff to drop off the fleece.

Next we move the fleece to the second wash. Adding soap the same way we did before.  Question #3 is: “How do you move the wash?” =)

Well, we are pretty simple, we just put our hands in the water and pull out a clump and squeeze it and toss it into the next wash tub!

MOVING THE WASH FROM ONE TUB TO ANOTHER

See…… simple. When the tub is mostly empty of fiber, I use a strainer, or colander, to drag around in the water to catch the little bits. Then I turn the colander upside down over the drain hole after I pull the plug. This helps to keep much fiber from going down the drain. I like a metal mesh type colander the best.

For the second wash, there is no need to leave the fiber in for a night… only 30 minutes or so. Longer will not hurt, but it can be a short wash. Then, on to the rinse tub. Move it the same as previously described.

RINSE TUB WITH FIBER IN THE MILL

The rinse tub is the same hot water, but no soap.  Here we use a little tablespoon of Syntholube. This helps us keep the static down when the fibers are running through the big machines.  You don’t usually need this product for home / hand spinning projects. Do NOT add conditioner to the fibers. Conditioner coats your fibers and if you are going to felt them, they will not felt correctly. In addition when you spin them, they will not hold the twist as well.

Please, please, please, take the fiber OUT of the rinse BEFORE the water gets cold. You don’t want any leftover grease cooling back onto the fibers before you pull it out of the water!

Squeeze this tub really well when you take it out to put it on a drying rack. If you have a spin dryer, those are a dream at this point. The more water you squeeze (or spin) out the shorter the drying time.

DRYING FIBER IN THE MILL

We use wooden racks with chicken wire on it. There are fans at the far left end (you can’t see them in the picture) that I turn on to help speed up the drying time. Direct sunlight on a warm day speeds up drying tremendously as well.

Spread the fiber out thin and it dries a lot faster!  You can see I have some dry batches bundled up in piles here, but the white thin one is freshly washed I am trying to dry in the picture.

No, you don’t have to wash in livestock tubs. You can use buckets, bathtub or utility sinks. Anything big enough to hold the fiber you have to wash. We do big loads here, so we use big tubs.

Yes, people tell me you can wash in a top-load washing machine. I don’t know how to do that, you will have to look online for those instructions. =)

When we have to wash bison or sheep wool (which is MUCH greasier with lanolin than alpaca), we use a stronger soap called: “ECCOSCOUR EF-312 CONC – A biodegradable, non-ionic detergent and scouring agent for both natural and synthetic fibers. The emulsification system is produced solely from derivatives of natural plant & animal products. ECCOSCOUR EF-312 CONC has a pleasant citrus smell and does not contain any petroleum or chlorinated solvents, alkyl phenols, phosphate, glycol ethers or other chemicals that are hazardous to the environment.” (Eastern Color website.) Use Eastern Color and Chemical Co. in the first wash. Otherwise, you have to wash a sheep fleece up to 6-7 times in ajax to get through the lanolin, which is a lot of work.

Admittedly, I do not like to use much of the eccoscour, and we are lucky we don’t have to. It smells different and sometimes that gives me a bit of a headache.

I hope this helps. Nothing fancy, simple process, easy to do at home.  =)

by Julie Koerber — 23 February 2016

Predator protection on four legs

Since the dawn of time, man has found refuge and comfort in his partnership with dogs. For millennia, these loyal friends have shared our hearth-fire, hauled our heavy loads, assisted our hunts, and protected our families from harm. However, one of the most interesting services that these faithful companions have provided over the generations has been the protection of our vulnerable livestock from threats, both large and small.

Livestock Guardian Dogs (or LGD’s), have a long and fascinating history with mankind, spanning thousands of years, and hailing from nearly every corner of the globe. Anywhere that you find humans raising livestock, you’re likely to discover a specialized breed of LGD dutifully living and working alongside their masters.

Skeletons of dogs and domestic livestock, such as sheep and goats, have been found side by side in archaeological sites, dating back at least 6000 years. Varro’s classic Roman text on agriculture, written around 100 B.C., lends support to this early use of dogs as guardians, asserting, “It is of great interest to those of us who keep fleece-bearing flocks, the dog being the guardian of the flock, which needs such a champion to defend it. Under this head come especially sheep but also goats, as these are the common prey of the wolf, and we use dogs to protect them.”

The dogs that Varro spoke so highly of in his texts were likely the same big, white Maremma dogs still seen guarding flocks across Italy today. Similarly, to this day, one can find Great Pyrenees dogs patrolling the mountains of France, Spanish Mastiffs battling brown bears along the Cantabrian Peaks in Spain, and dread-locked Komondors fending off packs of wolves in the Carpathian Mountains.

Closer to home, LGDs have developed a loyal following among farmers and ranchers in North America. Louise Liebenberg is one of those devotees.

Working with Livestock Guardian Dogs

Louise has raised and worked with LGDs for decades, and in many different environments around the globe. She worked as a professional shepherd in South Africa and the Netherlands, before settling into her current home in Alberta, Canada, where she keeps over 500 sheep.

She has learned a lot about LGD behavior, over the many years of close partnership she’s shared with her Sarplaninacs, an ancient breed from Kosovo. “There are a number of techniques that the livestock guardian dogs use to deter predators,” she says. “One of the primary ones is simply claiming territory. When LGDs live within a group of sheep, that area becomes the territory of the dog pack.”

She explained that the LGD will claim their territory by scent marking, patrolling the perimeters, and barking to make their presence known. They sometimes even speak the language of the wild canines they are defending against. “A common dusk activity is when the coyotes and wolves howl, the LGD will respond back. Sometimes howling, sometimes barking.” She continues, “We have seen our dogs respond to a serious threat by positioning themselves strategically around a flock of sheep. The intensity and focus with which the dogs do their job is amazing. For both the dogs and the predators, it’s not so much about engaging with the predator, it’s all about deterring. The dogs and the predators know that in a serious encounter with each other, they can be injured or even killed.”

Louise tells a story about an overly enthusiastic coyote that made the dire mistake of jumping into the sheep pen, and was promptly killed by two of her dogs. She recalls the event with sadness, but says such incidents are, luckily, a rare occurrence. “Overall, the best protection for the flock is provided when the LGDs form a barrier, and the predators simply avoid the area.”

Value of LGDs to the Farm

Tim and Natalie Thurman raise Tibetan Yaks and Nigerian Dwarf Goats near Missoula, Montana. They, too, have experienced first-hand the value of LGDs on their farm. “We have neighbors with sheep, cattle, and alpacas. They have had major injury and losses of stock from the local cougars, bears, and wolves, but we have been very fortunate to have zero stock losses since the addition of our LGDs. We currently keep two adult dogs and an adolescent, and plan to import two more Sarplaninac dogs from Macedonia in 2016.”

Louise and the Thurmans’ experiences with these dogs certainly aren’t unique among livestock stewards. According to a 2004 report from Colorado State University, the most recent significant study, LGDs have been found to have a profound impact on rates of livestock loss among ranchers who use them. According to the report, sheep producers in Colorado who did not use dogs lost about six times more lambs to predators than producers who did keep LGDs with their flocks. The report states, “A total of 125 producers in Colorado estimated that their 392 dogs reduced predation losses by $891,440 in [a single year]. Thirty-six producers in North Dakota reported guarding dogs reduced predation on sheep by 93%.”

Experience shows that predation is not a problem that can be easily fixed by simply killing the bears, cougars, and wolves that live alongside farms and ranches. Research shows when a predator population is reduced, or temporarily eliminated, an empty niche is created that will be filled. Another pack of wolves will move in, a new cougar will claim the territory, or strange coyotes will take up residence. They will also, in many cases, double-down on their reproduction, causing the population to grow even faster than it would without human interference.

Additionally, if an adult female is killed that has half-grown youngsters back at the den, the likelihood increases that those babies will grow up and stay in their home territory, instead of moving out when they reach adulthood, as they normally would. Instead of having an adult cougar or wolf in the area with an established routine and territory, it is common to discover that there are now yearling cougar cubs or wolf pups without adult guidance, getting hungry, confused, and looking at our pets, kids, and livestock as easy meals.

According to Rob Wielgus, Senior Director of Washington State University’s Large Carnivore Research Laboratory, “We observed that when a wolf was killed, the chances of livestock getting killed increased the following year in that area — by 5 to 6 percent for cattle and 4 percent for sheep. With each additional wolf killed, the chance of livestock attacks rose further. The trend didn’t reverse until more than a quarter of the wolves in the state were killed in a single year. Then, livestock losses started to decline.” He has strong suspicions that the issue is caused by changes to the pack structure, social behavior, and hierarchy. “Packs are led by a male and female breeding pair,” he explains. “If one or both of those wolves is killed, the pack will often break up, giving rise to several breeding pairs—and thus an uptick in the wolf population.”

Wielgus and his team have not only studied wolves, but have also researched cougar behavior in areas where hunting and livestock clashes resulted in removal of the big cats. Cougars tend to establish a sizable territory for themselves, which they will often maintain for their entire lifetime. They will patrol, kill or chase away younger cats who try to come in and create chaos. If the established adult cougar is killed, Wielgus explains, “about three of these young guys come for the funeral and take up residence.”

As Wielgus and his students’ research shows, when new predators move in to fill a vacant niche, they don’t know the territory, don’t know the boundaries, and don’t respect human rules.

Dogs Establish Territory as a Human Ground

That’s where the dogs come in. A good LGD isn’t put in place to kill or injure predators, though they will certainly take that step if it becomes necessary. Rather, their job is to establish the territory as human ground. The local predators learn to give the dogs’ territory a wide berth, forcing them deeper into the woods and away from valuable livestock. The dogs aren’t eliminating the threat. They are setting boundaries, and giving these predators an incentive to search elsewhere for their food.

While there are many predator-friendly management solutions available to livestock owners, statistically and anecdotally, the clear winner among these has shown to be the Livestock Guardian Dog. Many producers report that they’ve not had a single loss of livestock to predators since their dogs arrived, and are finally able to sleep through the night without fear of prowling threats. To most farmers and ranchers, that’s the greatest measure of success possible.

RESEARCHING THE LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOG REGIONAL STUDY UNDERWAY

Right now, a three year study is underway involving Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana sheep ranchers hoping to identify the dog breeds best suited to protect livestock from wolves. The study is being conducted by the National Wildlife Research Center in Utah and the findings are due out sometime within the next year.

Alpacas of Montana raises Turkish Anatolians as part of our herd protection program.

Camping Adventure

Summers in Montana are so short. Most of us plow through the cold season for the reward of a Rocky Mountain Summer – the smell of lilacs and cut grass, amazingly sunny blue skies and outdoor adventures.

Years ago in our high school and college days, my sister Jessica and I used to camp quite a bit throughout the various mountain ranges around Bozeman, Montana. We would hike in, set up an on-a-budget camp with a tarp and old backpack and enjoy a couple of days in the woods.

Nearly 20 years later, we decided to venture out again. But this time, we were going to bring her 2 eight-year-olds and a six-year-old kids. A slight but fun twist.

Since was early in June, many higher mountain areas are still snow packed, so our options were slightly limited – we wanted a 2-3 day hike, not too steep, scenery is optional. A friend suggested the Tobacco Root Mountains. We negotiated and rescheduled our calendars and finally committed to several days into the woods.

We packed – and packed – and were finally in the car ready to roll. After an hour and a half drive with a “progressively worsening” road, we made it to the trailhead. The sign stated “Louise Lake: 3 miles”. But, the 3 miles part was scratched out and “14 miles” was written in.

We We were already committed to the trail, so we decided to go for it and see where it took us. If it was getting to be too long, we would just stop and camp.

Usually, we are quite efficient and light campers. However, 2 adults were carrying enough for 5 people to eat for 3 days, 4 sleeping bags and one TWO MAN tent (there are photos to prove that we all fit!). With each pack over 60 pounds, we headed up the trail, crossing creeks and winding our way through the woods. At 3.5 miles, we started to get nervous. We needed to detour off of the trail because it was snow covered. This trail is primarily switchbacks on the side of a mountain in steep terrain, so there were no opportunities to set up camp. At 4 miles we were getting not sure what to do. The twins ran head and around each corner would get excited, but the trail would continue on.

Finding the Lake

Then, at 4.5 miles Gracie screamed that she saw the lake. Her brother Bryce took off to make sure it was true. Jessica and I were at a breaking point with our backs, but we slowly made it.

What an amazing reward for all of our walking and working up the hill. The setting of Lake Louise is amazing.

Our campsite was ready to go, with not a single person seen on the trail or at the lake. We settled in the cirque with the massive, 10,353 Middle Mountain to the south. The fire was started, tent put up and it started to rain. There were bursts of rain here and there, but our fire persisted through it. We had seen bear warning signs on the way up, and we hung a rope to tie up our food. The first night we heard crackling and splashing in the lake, near the tent, but the critter never came closer.

The next day we awoke with sunrise, stoking the fire, drying out our sleeping bags and picking up the camp. Eventually, we decided to go for a walk around the lake. Much of the perimeter is made up of landslides, so we jumped rocks and negotiated boulders, working our way around pine trees and post-holing though snow. On the opposite side of our camp, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the alternate view of this crystal-clear lake. We continued on, exploring the sides of the mountain until we finally reached our base once more. It was 11:30 am. Uh oh…now what?

Time is a funny thing when you are not hooked up to wi-fi, cell service or your calendar of events that need to be completed each and every day. Bryce fished for lake trout; we made up a couple of games, read a book and just relaxed. All of the kids- who live in the city but definitely know how to self-entertain – said it was a great time. Not one of the three had a single complaint or whined during any of the 3 days we were on the mountain. We munched and ate our way through most of the days and had a pea size hail storm we avoided under the trees. The kids made inventions and games and we just enjoyed downtime from the real world and ourselves.

Finally, it was time to go. We sang songs on the walkie-talkies and knew we had a far too infrequent experience of getting away for a while. Hopefully it will not take another 20 years to have such a great time again.

Difference between wool and Alpaca fleece

From my reading, research and use in the field, I would say yes, there is a difference.

Alpaca fleece is as soft as cashmere, warmer than sheep’s wool, hypo-allergenic and almost completely waterproof. This is the tag line I hear most often in the alpaca world. I am going to dissect this phrase comparing the two fibers.

Alpaca fleece is as soft as cashmere: 

Sometimes. Some alpacas can also feel as cuddly as a Brillo pad. However, many farms promote quality breeding programs with super fine, 16-18 micron fleece, which is extremely soft. Plus, alpaca does not have the scales that wool has, so the strains are smoother. Wool production has made great strides in increasing the softness of the strains of various sheep herds. This is evident in a company call Rambler's Way with great wool products.

Warmer than sheep’s wool: 

Alpaca is a hollow fiber, where sheep wool has pockets of air. Much like Polar Bear fur, the air pockets allow for heat to be trapped, creating greater thermal capacity. Thus, alpaca does tend to be able to be warmer than wool.

Hypo-allergenic:

Alpaca is considered a dry fiber, without lanolin that is found in sheep’s wool. Some clothing lines of wool are now being promoted as “superwashed” for next-to-skin capabilities by removing the wool’s lanolin and barbs. According to Textile Chemicals: Environmental Data and Facts, the superwashed wool is treated with synthetic resins (polyamide / epichlorohydrine or polyurethane), a method that can include such chemicals as chlorine and hypochlorous acid, sulphuric acid, sodium hypochlorite, alkali metal salts of dichloroisocyanuric acid (DCCA) and an acid-stable wetting agent. The chlorination process for wool has lead to enormous environmental problems. Alpaca now offers an eco-friendly alternative to natural fiber active wear.

Almost Completely Waterproof:

Yes, if you pour water on alpaca, it will get wet. However, it does offer great wicking abilities. Wool will absorb up to 50% of its body weight in moisture, but after this there is a saturation point and the sweat can sit next to skin, increasing discomfort and likelihood of blisters (socks rubbing against the skin). Because alpaca is hollow, it traps in more heat and mechanically pushes the water away, never having a saturation point on the skin. Essentially, the water evaporates because of the warmth of the alpaca.

So the answer to my initial question, is there really a difference? Definitely.