Alpaca fiber is warmer than sheeps' wool and lighter in weight. It is soft and luxurious and lacks the "prickle" factor. However, as with all fleece producing animals, quality varies from animal to animal, and some alpaca produce fibre which is less than ideal.
Alpaca have been bred in South America for hundreds of years (mainly Peru, but also Chile and Bolivia), but in recent years have been exported to other countries. In countries such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand breeders shear their animals annually, weigh the fleeces and test them for fineness. With the resulting knowledge they are able to breed heavier fleeced animals with finer fibre. Fleece weights vary, with the top stud males reaching annual shear weights up to 6kg.
Two types of fleece are produced: huacaya and suri. It has been proposed that in fact these are two different breeds of animal, and that camelids come in five types - guanaco, vicuna, llama, huacaya (alpaca) and suri. This view is not commonly accepted however.
In physical structure, alpaca is somewhat akin to (human?) hair, being very glossy, but its softness and fineness enable the spinner to produce satisfactory yarn with comparative ease.
Cite: Wikipedia
source : hydroponicsearch
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