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When we were investigating the alpaca business, we ran across some very unusual, and sometimes humorous, words that left us scratching our heads and turning to our dictionaries. We wanted to provide some of those terms here, to help you out as you journey into the wonderful world of alpacas.
Agist: Boarding, or having another farm house your animals. Purchase contracts often include free agisting for a specified length of time, usually to aid the new buyer in getting their farm setup correctly before taking their animals. If you wish to market your animals in a different region of the state or country it can also be helpful to agist them at another farm in the region you are marketing to.
Batt: Carded fiber/fleece that can be made into rovings for spinning, or used as batting.
Beans: Alpaca manure, dung. Alpacas use communal "dung piles" which make pasture clean up easy and helps control the spread of parasites.
Biosecurity: Precautions taken to minimize the risk of introducing an infectious disease into an animal population. For alpaca farms, the highest biosecurity risks come from shearing (especially blades used on sheep) and use of non-alpaca colostrum on cria.
Blanket: The part of the alpaca's coat that extends from the nape of the neck at the withers along to the base of the tail and down the flanks to the belly and haunches. This is usually the softest "prime" fleece.
Camelid: A family of two–toed ruminants with a three–chambered stomach that includes camels, llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicuñas.
Catch Pen: A pen about 10’x10’ used to maneuver animals into prior to handling them, making herd management chores easier. Here is a great article by Marty McGee Bennett of Camelid Dynamics on setting up your catch pens to maximize efficiency of herd management chores using a Flow Through Facility.
Colostrum: The thin yellowish fluid secreted by the mammary glands at the time of parturition that is rich in antibodies and minerals, and precedes the production of true milk.
Coverage: A characteristic of fleece, how much of the alpaca body is covered with continuously growing fleece.
Cria: Baby alpaca, until the age of weaning. See also Weanling.
Crimp: Waviness of the individual fibers. It is said that the higher frequency of the crimp (crimps per inch) the finer the fiber, but this is a generalization only.
Cush/Kush/Cushing: An alpaca position which is sitting down on the ground with all four legs tucked underneath. Alpacas may also lay out on the ground on their sides.
Dam: The female parent of an alpaca.
Density: Measurement of fibers in a square unit area. The more fibers per skin follicle, the denser the fleece. Density is a highly desirable attribute, especially if the fiber is very fine (low micron).
Dung Pile: Alpacas use a community dung pile or piles for elimination. This makes pasture and pen cleanup much easier and alpacas are less likely to ingest parasites during grazing.
Fiber: The coat of an alpaca. Fleece industries generally refer to the coat as Fiber. See also Fleece.
Fleece: The coat of an alpaca. Alpaca shows refer to the alpaca coat as Fleece. Characteristics of fleece: micron, density, crimp, handle, luster. See also Fiber.
Foundation Herd: The base breeding herd used by a breeder. Animals not staying in the foundation herd are usually either gelded males or animals for sale.
Gelding: A castrated male alpaca. Approximately 1 out of 10 male alpacas exhibits the traits to become breeding males (herdsires). Males not exhibiting proper breeding characteristics may be gelded and used as fiber males and⁄or companion animals, for example, for male weanlings that have left their mother’s pasture.
Halter: Webbing system used on the head of the alpaca that has attachments for leads. Halter is also a class for showing animals. Halter fit is vital for the health and safety of the alpaca, as an alpaca’s nose bone is very short compared to animals like horses. Therefore if the halter does not fit properly it can slide down the nose, crushing the cartilage and hampering the breathing of the alpaca. Alpacas are nose-breathing animals. At minimum, the animal will show signs of distress or bad behavior when wearing an ill–fitting halter, because they will feel panicked if the halter is pressing in on their cartilage or hampering their breathing in any way. Alpacas have also suffocated from ill–fitting halters. If your alpaca is reacting strongly to wearing a halter, get a 2–way adjustable halter in the correct size. See also Zephyr Halter.
Handle: Feel of the fleece in your hand. One of the attributes alpaca fleeces are judged on in shows.
Hembra: A male alpaca’s breeding partner. See also Macho.
Herd: Group of alpacas. Alpacas are herd animals and must be kept with other alpacas. Animals that are kept alone may become sick and die, or may become highly aggressive. Historically a herd consisted of one dominant breeding male and a group of his females. Weanling males and females would be cast out of the herd to prevent inbreeding. Females would be adopted by other herds; males would form roving bachelor herds until old and strong enough to overtake another herdsire’s herd.
Herdsire: A breeding male alpaca. A Junior Herdsire is a potential herdsire who is being started in a breeding program but who has not yet settled or proven his ability to sire offspring.
Histogram: A fiber micron test undertaken to measure the fineness of an alpaca's fleece and includes measurements such as Average Fiber Diameter (AFD), Standard Deviation (SD), Coefficient of Variation (CV), and percent of fibers over 30 microns.
Huacaya: One of two types of alpaca. The fleece of a Huacaya grows perpendicular to the body, giving the animal a fluffy/fuzzy look and feel. See also Suri.
Humming: One of several ways alpacas vocalize and communicate. Alpacas hum when they are curious, content, fearful, bored, worried or cautious. Mothers and cria hum to each other almost constantly. Other alpaca vocalizations include snorting (a "back off" warning), clucking (mother to cria), screaming (fear) and orgling (mating). See also Spitting.
Luster: Sheen, gloss or shine of the fiber. Suri fiber is known for having more luster, in general, than Huacaya.
Macho: A female alpaca’s breeding partner. See also Hembra.
Maiden: A female alpaca that has never been bred.
Micron: One of several measurements of the quality of the fiber, some would argue the most important, along with density. In general, the lower the micron, the finer the fleece, except for animals that are under-conditioned/undernourished or have been ill. These animals may have very fine fibers also but their fibers will likely be brittle and break easily during processing and spinning. To be cashmere quality fiber must be equal or less than 18.5 microns. The average human hair is 70 microns.
Open: A female alpaca sexually ready to breed.
Orgling: The sound produced by a male alpaca during mating.
Paddock⁄Pasture: Areas enclosed by fences that allow you to segregate your herd - females with cria, open females, males, weanlings, etc. Paddocks are generally smaller areas closer to the barn, which lead to pasture areas for grazing. It is best if pastures are rotated (animals grazed on for a period of time, then kept off until grasses recover) both for grass health and biosecurity (rotation may reduce parasite loads).
Pen: Smaller fenced areas in the barn used for feeding and herd maintenance duties. See also Catch Pen.
Pronk⁄Prong: A bounding, springing movement exhibited by alpacas, especially young ones.
Proven: A female or male alpaca with cria "on the ground" (born and alive), aka Settled.
Roving: The cleaned and carded fiber, drawn out and slightly twisted, ready for spinning into yarn.
Service Sire: The male alpaca being used to breed to a dam. See also Sire.
Shearing: The process of removing the fiber/fleece from the alpaca, usually done once a year before the hottest months of the summer set in. This can be done with electric or hand shears. Shears that have been used on sheep may carry a high biosecurity risk of infection with caseous lymphadenitis abscesses, or CLA. Lanolin from sheep's wool coats shearing blades and prevents effective sterilization of blades. Degrease the blades before sterilizing if sheep blades must be used. It is best to keep separate shears for your alpacas. Shearing and use of non-alpaca colostrum are the two highest biosecurity risks to an alpaca herd.
Sire: The male parent of an alpaca. See also Service Sire.
Skirt: Process of hand cleaning a fleece (shorn off the alpaca) of the debris and second cuts, done prior to washing or showing the fleece.
Spitting: A sign of extreme displeasure, fear or dominance. Spit can consist of air, grass or regurgitated contents from the stomach, in order of severity. Normally alpacas reserve their spitting for each other, but it is possible to get caught in the crossfire. See also Do they spit on our FAQ page.
Suri: One of two types of alpaca. The fleece of a Suri hangs in pencil-type locks downward from the body. See also Huacaya.
Typey⁄Typy: An animal embodying the ideal characteristics of its breed.
Weanling: A young alpaca that is weaned but not sexually mature.
Yearling: An alpaca that is in its second year.
Zyphyr Halter: A halter made especially for correct fit of alpacas and lamas. Sold here: Camelid Dynamics. See also Halter.
AspenDance Alpacas
Kelly & Victoria Strauser
Mayer, MN
307-222-9665
(30-PACA-WOOL)
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