Castle Hill Show, near Sydney, Australia, on the 9 March was another great show for SRS(R) studs.  Walkley Fields (Richard Brennan) and Gunnamatta Alpacas (Sue Maynard and John Hay) had a very succesful day collecting 7 out of 10 Champions, with Walkley Fields taking out Supreme Huacaya Alpaca and Sire's progeny.

Judge Joanne Ham commented on the "super softness" of the animals. 

Congratulaions to Vellum Farm Alpacas from Maylands Western Australia on their purchase of Glenhope Chester.

Excellent test results for softness have been received for each of the five bales of Huacaya alpaca wool put together by the SRS Group.  The wool is being offered for sale by Perth wool brokers. Primaries.

Resistance to compression tests are used to measure softness. The lower the measurement, the softer the alpaca wool is. The softness measurements ranged from 4.2 to 4.6 kilopascals for the five bales. Cashmere measures at about 5.8 kilopascals, and Merino wool from 8 to 12 kilopascals. 

Fibre diameter measurements of the wool bales ranged from 20.8 microns to 24.8 microns. In each case, vegetable matter content was low (0.3 to 0.8 %) and yields high (86.2 to 89.0 %). 

 

 

 

 

From The Farm Weekly newspaper, Thursday, March 10, 2011, written  by Caitlyn West:

" In an Australian first, a bale of alpaca wool, believed to be the only one ever offered through the Australian auction system, was sold at Fremantle last week for 2800 cents a kilogram greasy.  

The single bale was the result of a two year process for Suncloud Farm owners, Peter and Carolyn Richards, who sold the alpaca fleeces to a Chinese buyer with the assistance of Primaries Central Wheatbelt wool broker Greg Tilbrook.  

Peter and Carolyn's dream of breeding alpacas for the commercial fleece market were finally realised when the auction hammer went down last week, after navigating through a unique process to get the bale onto the show floor ....

The Australian wool Testing Authority (AWTA) tested the bale using the manual core method and produced a guidance report including details such as 19.6 micron average, 97.5 % comfort factor and 91.5 % yield....

The Richards said the sale was a significant move forward for the Australian alpaca industry, as they believed alpaca wool needed to be pushed through the channels other fleece producers used.

"For alpacas to be commercially viable, their fleece has to be presented and showcased through the normal international wool market," Mr. Richards said....

(Peter and Carolyn Richards are members of SRS(R) Alpacas) 

 

This report was kindly prepared by Susie Clark, Chachani Alpacas, Robertson, New South Wales:

Canberra Royal 2010 was a successful showing of alpacas with approximately 240 Huacayas and 65 Suris present. Also judged were 195 Huacaya fleeces and 22 Suri fleeces.

The judges, Kylie Martin and Peter Kennedy, spent a day and a half on both animals and fleeces and made particular comment on the softness (fineness and lack of medullation), lustre, density, bundling and uniformity of the winning fleeces, not to mention the conformation and size of the animals. They also asked for shearing dates which indicated they were looking at growth rates and length.

SRS® breeders were very well represented amongst the ribbon winners with:

Huacayas

Flowerdale

Champion Junior Female

Illawarra

Reserve Champion Junior Female

Chachani

Champion Intermediate Female

Reserve Champion Intermediate Female

Ngullaminya

Reserve Champion Adult Female

Wyndarra 

Champion Adult Male who was also Supreme Champion Senior Male

Illawarra

Reserve Champion Senior Male

Suris

Baarrooka

First Junior Black Female and 4 blues in the fleeces

Tularosa

Two firsts in Junior Male and the Reserve
Champion Junior Male was sired by a Surilana Male

Huacaya Fleeces

Chachani

Champion 6-12 months

Illawarra

Champion 12-18 months
Champion 18-30 months
Champion 48-60 months and Supreme Fleece

Currumbong

Champion 60 months and over

Jim and Murray Ventris, Breeding Advisor, for Western Australia held a workshop for breeders in Perth in early November. A number of subscribers attended with 4 new subscribers signing up at the workshop. Thanks to Suncloud Alpacas for organizing the event and bringing animals and fleeces. More detail to follow as photos come to hand.

At present animals to be skin tested needed to be 18 months of age or older and be weighed. From now on animals need to be 24 months of age for a skin test to occur. The reasons behind the changes are:

• Animals were being skin tested before 18 months and not weighed which meant that comparisons between animals were less valid as it has been shown that animals can change after 18 months of age while reaching mature sige.
• The fleece test that Jim has developed provides a good indicator of how an animal may skin test. This is especially so for subscribers wishing to use a male for breeding before he has been skin tested.
• To provide a quality control measure so that animals that are skin tested at an age greater than 24 months are not disadvantaged in relation to their usefulness in breeding programs.

Could subscribers please make this change in their "Subscribers Handbook" dated 10/09 as a version control measure. If everyone follows the same procedures it will benefit the SRS® breeding system, ensure its integrity and provide a common basis for comparisons between animals. For animals that are over 18 months the new fleece test provides a cheaper alternative yet gives very useful information.

Julienne Gelber, Michael Anderson, Bob Richardson and Jim have worked hard in developing the protocols and survey to assess the amount of alpaca fibre available, within various classifications, that could be collected for processing. This is a very important step in determining what quantities of fibre are available. As Julienne stated in her letter the process is time consuming but one that we trust will be of great benefit to growers at a time when world fibre prices are depressed. Please take the time to fill in the survey based on the classing data that you have available to you. Completed forms should be sent to Michael Anderson at mikando@bigpond.com.

Latest News

24/04/13 - Castle Hill Alpaca Show 

Castle Hill Show, near Sydney, Australia, on the 9 March was another great show for SRS(R) studs.  Walkley Fields (Richard Brennan) and Gunnamatta Alpacas (Sue Maynard and John Hay) had a very succesful day collecting 7 out of 10 Champions, with Walkley Fields taking out Supreme Huacaya Alpaca and Sire's progeny.

Judge Joanne Ham commented on the "super softness" of the animals. 

24/04/13 - Hawkesbury Alpaca Show 

Hawkesbury Show on the 20th of April was the latest in the show successes for SRS(R) herds. Walkley Fields Alpacas (Richard Brennan), Patagonia Alpacas (Ian Braithwaite and Cathi McMullen), Millpaca Alpacas (Ian and Annette Frith),Signature Alpacas(Debbie and Laurie O'Neill), Gunnamatta (Sue Maynard and John Hay) and Ngullaminya (Tom and Joan Kent) all enjoyed some fantastic successes both in the halter and fleece competitions.

Highlights of the day had to be SRS(R) breeders winning 7 out of the 10 class Championships, both sire's and dam's progeny, and to top the day off, Champion Huacaya fleece. 

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