Shearing of our alpacas takes place around the middle of May when the weather is more likely to be consistently warm, allowing the alpacas to adjust to not having their full fleece coats.
At Salem Alpacas we use a shearing table specifically designed for alpacas. This table flips vertically, allowing us to walk the animal right up beside it. We fasten the alpaca to the table with a belly band then adjust the table to a horizontal position with the alpaca lying on top. After their feet are fastened with adjustable straps, to keep them safe and secure, we remove the belly band and start shearing.
We separate the fibre as we do the shearing, with the premium fleece coming from the main part of the body (also known as the blanket area), and the seconds coming from the legs and neck. We make use of all of the fibre with the premium, or blanket, being used for yarn and knitted goods and the seconds being used for batting and felt. We shear one side of the alpaca then we roll them over and do the other side. Having the alpaca on the table also makes it a good time to trim toenails, clean teeth and clean up top knots.
We use only seconds, from the neck and legs, for the production of duvets. We sort the fibre by hand on a sorting table made of a one inch wire mesh grid on a wooden frame. This allows any soil the animal may have picked up to fall through. We also use this time to sort out vegetation and any short ends or soiled fibres.
All fibre colours are mixed together so that when it is processed at the mill it blends into a neutral colour giving us batting that will not show any dark or light spots in the finished product.
While it is very time consuming, we take extra care and pride in the sorting of the fibre knowing that this adds to the quality of our Salem Alpacas Duvets.
Processing Our fibre is then taken to a mini mill to be processed. Here the raw fibre is weighed out into 12 pound lots for hand-washing. These lots are then divided into three tubs, with four pounds of fibre per tub, and hand-washed in an environmentally friendly soap made specifically for natural fibres. The fibre is then rinsed twice before being spread out on drying racks overnight.
Picker The first machine the fibre goes through is called the picker. This picking process "opens" the fibre to prepare it for further processing. Special conditioners are sometimes added at this point to help with any static that may have built up.
Fibre Separation While most fibre goes through a machine called the separator next, the time and care Salem Alpacas takes in sorting and preparing the raw fibre for our duvets results in ours being able to bypass this step.
Carding The carding machine then combs and aligns the fibre onto a rotating drum which forms a "batt". The batts are then weighed out by hand as specified by Salem Alpacas for each of the various size duvets we produce.
Once returned to the farm, the batts are sorted according to the size duvet they will be used to make and stored in an environmentally controlled storage area.
A layer of 100% cotton fabric is laid out on the production table where the appropriate size batt is then unrolled and spread evenly over the fabric. A second layer of 100% cotton is then laid in place on top of the batt. The three layers are clamped securely together, keeping everything aligned, and the pinning process begins. Following a six inch grid pattern the duvet is pinned completely in one direction. This is very time consuming but by following this pattern we can be assured there is no opportunity for the fibre to shift or bunch.
The duvet is sewn completely in the same direction as it has been pinned. It is then laid back out on the production table and completely pinned in the opposite direction and stitched again. This completes the six inch grid pattern assuring that the fibre has nowhere to move. By using this method there are no cold spots, since the fibre is stitched in place rather than being stuffed in after stitching, and it won't bunch or shift as feathers might.