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How to prepare fleeces for show

• Look at the alpaca's fleece when ready to be shorn and define the prime fleece area for the shearer (consider uniformity in staple length and presence or absence of guard hair)
• When shorn in halves put halves cut side down on sorting table and join them at the top line.
• Check the fleece for soundness. Take a pencil sized staple from a location in the fleece and hold each end with your thumbs and index fingers. Gently tug on each end and flick the middle of staple with your finger. If it holds up to this procedure without breakage the fleece is sound. If the fibres break take 3 more random samples and proceed with checking. If samples break, do not enter fleece for showing. It is a major fault. Set fleece aside and label it 'tender' with the name of animal on it. Tender fleeces occur due to stress on the animal. It is advisable to examine alpaca for reason of bearing a tender fleece.
• Gently lift the fleece in various sections and shake it to remove dirt, dust and debris.
• Scan the fleece for

'hairy' sections (armpits, along the peripheries of the fleece)
a spot of different colour
stains
debris such as hay or other contaminants that do not belong in the fleece (Bird's nest, top line)
any sections that look considerable stronger in micron than the majority of the fleece

and remove those.

• Take a lock from the middle of fleece halves and use it as guide to skirt for uniformity in length, staple definition (crimp) and micron.
• Be careful not to overskirt the fleece to preserve as much weight as possible.
• When fleece is ready fold one half over the other. Now scan the part with cut side out for second cuts and remove them.
• Gently roll folded fleece from the britch towards shoulder and while doing so scan the cut side out of fleece for second cuts and remove them as you roll up the fleece.
• Insert the folded fleece in a clear plastic bag and insert the accurately completed show form .
  

 Note: If you don't have time to skirt the fleece at shearing time spread the prime fleece sections on sorting table like mentioned above. Lay a layer of tissue paper (no coloured tissue paper) over the entire fleece and then roll it up from one end to the other like a sausage. Put it into a labeled plastic bag. It is much easier to unroll the fleece that way and prepare it for show.

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