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Your Waratah Co-op needs to know now, how much fleece might be expected, as there are orders to fill. You do not want to lose these orders! There are many orders! So please….if you want payment for your fleece, please let Waratah know how much fleece they might expect from your alpacas. Buyers are ordering now! It is easy to work out. It is an average. A ball park figure. An estimate. E.g. if you have 10 brown alpacas and two white alpacas Fleece 10 x 1.5 = 15 kg of brown fleece Skirtings 10 x 0.8 = 8 kg of brown skirtings Fleece 2 x 1.5 = 3.5 kg of white fleece Skirtings 2 x 0.8 = 1.6 kg of white skirtings Remember….. As an industry, Waratah will be in a better position, if we know what we will have to sell, rather than chasing fleece to fill orders.
Preparing for shearing clear out your shed of ALL *baling twine and *wool packs that have blue stitching. *Polypropylene boxes. These are a huge NO NO in a wool room. Please do NOT store fleece in polypropylene boxes. Tiny bits polypropylene can attach to the scales on the fibre and they are undetectable to the naked eye. Polypropylene has dramatic effects on processing and the quality of the end garments. The Classer Declaration states we 'process free from both soft and hard contaminates'. Important.... If Waratah arranges to collect fleece from intestate.... We can only collect hand pressed butts over 100kg in wool packs, with 4 x Wool Bale Clips on the bottom flaps and 5 x Wool Bale Clips on the top flaps. DO NOT tie fleece bags or wool bales with baling twine. Bale clips cost only $7 for 100 ...the contaminates are costing everyone $$ by devaluing your fleece. To sum up when preparing for shearing *NO baling twine *NO wool packs with blue (or any other colour) stitching *NO polypropylene *DO use bale clips
You have fibre still? You will also be shearing soon! Could you please email ….. bob@waratahalpacafibre.com.au with any fibre you have already, and your forecast of what you expect, after this year’s shearing - it doesn’t have to be exact, more an estimated forecast. To estimate …. multiply the number of animals in each colour by 1.5 (this assumes an AVERAGE fleece weight per animal of 1.5kgs) some animals will give you 2+kgs of fleece, and some will give less than or about 1kg. So if you have e.g. 10 white alpacas…. 10x1.5 = 15kgs white This gives Waratah has some idea of what is available. Don’t forget to send the email!
Waratah Q&As (set 4) Quick answers to some questions *Our fleece is wet. Do you want it? Yes we want it BUT… if saturated…wait and hold onto it till next year. If damp it will be ok to deliver If you are able let fleece dry in sunlight or an airy place. There is a difference between 'damp' and 'saturated'! *Our fleece is mouldy, do you want it? Yes! This fleece might only fetch a small amount, however it can still get you some money. White mouldy fleece will still get you a skirting price. *What about moth eaten? No. NO! NO! Definitely NO! *Rat contamination ? Not really, however if you send it, please label it clearly so it can go into a line to be carbonized. Also, … could you please rebag fleece that is in a bag that is breaking down.
Waratah Q&As (set 3) Some quick answers to your questions *We have animals with really high microns. Should they just go into skirtings? Definitely NOT! How much should I skirt? *Please ….you need to underskirt. *Should light coloured fleece be removed from the edges of a darker saddle as if for a show? No *What about hairy pieces? Do we skirt it off? Depends on micron..……If strong or medium (article..Micron is just the start, part 2)…… For fleece with a micron above 28 micron …don’t skirt hairy pieces off. Under 20u or if fleece is superfine, DON'T put hairy pieces into skirtings. Remember……..Skirtings….separate colours for all.
Waratah Q&As set 2 More quick answers to some of your questions *Skirtings apart from white, should the other colours be kept separate or combined? Separate. Definitely keep separate. *If no fleece is wasted, what about the bird's nest? If the bird's nest is really bad, probably best to keep it out of skirtings, but it can always go into a mixed colour skirtings that will be carbonize. If white or LF put it into skirtings as it WILL be carbonised.
Waratah Q&As A few quick answers to some of your questions. Today….looking at necks and tails Q: Should necks stay with their own saddle fleece? A: If the necks are exceptional yes, keep the neck with the saddle. Otherwise, put coloured necks in a class line together….white with white, fawn with fawn, brown with brown etc! Q: Necks that are short, should they just go into skirtings? A: Yes if you ONLY have one or two short necks, other wise, keep with the saddle or put with other necks and label them short. Still keep all colours separate., white with white, fawn with fawn etc. You can keep them in their own bags and put the bags in a wool pack. Q: What about the tail? A: Treat like a neck.
Waratah are currently filling export orders for containers scheduled to leave in August, October and December. We will take as much white as possible, all microns – both Huacaya and Suri for the August container. We still need 1500kg white Suri to meet the 5000kg requirement – currently only have 3490kg. October Container - All white and coloured Huacaya. December - All white and coloured Huacaya. With these containers gone it will mean over 100,000kg of raw Australian Alpaca Fibre out of our sheds and potentially walking the streets of the world!! If you would like to receive a return for your fleece, Waratah are looking for fibre to fill all these containers. Payment is made within two weeks of each container leaving our storage facility. Waratah buys from all growers, no need to be a member, check out the website for current pricing and contact details. Remember money in the bank is better than fleece in the shed.