FAQ -- Mill/Processing

We typically are about 5 months from in-the-door to ready for pick up or shipping.

While most orders only take one or two weeks to complete (depending on size or need for separation) each incoming order is sitting behind 1000-1500 pounds of previous orders. There are simply too few mills to meet the need for processing.

We prefer to meet with our customers if at all possible, so we can go through your fiber with you and discuss your options. Let us know when you plan to come, so we are not in the barn or out on errands when you arrive. You can mail your fiber to us; please include a deposit check for $10/lb.

Yes. Infested fiber is immediately disposed of. Fleeces that are too matted. If you cannot pull apart the fiber with light to moderate effort -- neither can we. Matting is also an issue for those who dye in the grease. We will reject fiber with too many burrs or wood shavings; burrs choke our separator and chip does not come out (it just gets smaller). If your fiber needs separation for vegetation, but you will not authorize use of the separator, we will refuse to take an order that we cannot produce a good reputable product.

Huacaya, probably. Suri, no. Some alpaca is too slick and too short to hold together through the roving deck. Adding suri reduces the possibility of getting roving from the carder. We cannot run straight suri through our separator or carder. We recommend using suri like silk -- not about a 10% add-in to wool (sheep).

No. Pygora must be de-haired -- leaving the slick angora fiber. That slick fiber will not hold together through the roving deck off the carder, so customers get back separated cloud from pygora orders. Angora need not be separated if low in vegetation and guard hair. We recommend adding mohair/Cashmere -- not more than 50% -- to wool (sheep). Goat fiber will not make alpaca fiber run better.

No. Our carder/roving deck is bigger than table top -- but too small for a French comb. The high combed top offered by the big retailers comes off industrial sized carders with 6 foot or wider webs that can be combed and gathered into the large coiled roving. Our web comes off our carder about 2 feet wide -- producing a 1-2 inch diameter roving.