Skirting & noodling fleeces – what, why & how?

A skirted fleece has more value, even as a raw product presented at its best. Your route to achieve this & the best end product is SKIRTING.

WHAT is skirting? A manual task that creates a uniform batch of clean fibre that is completed in 2-stages. Firstly removing the shorter & coarser fibre & then removing vegetation. A skill & prized marketing tool that takes time & practice to improve & master.

Once skirted, the fleece should be uniform in staple length, micron & depending on the processing requirements, colour too. Clean means free from vegetation & debris rather than washed clean.

WHY skirt? How well a fleece is skirted or prepared will ultimately affect the quality & outcome of the final product. The quality of your product (from the fleeces provided) will be higher & more consistent if the fleeces are well-skirted, free of VM & debris & have similar staple lengths. The better the quality of the yarn or products from that yarn the better the price point.

During yarn processing, the machinery has pinch points within which we have to set up equipment. When there is a significant variation in staple length issues can occur & slubs form. A large variation in microns will create a halo effect, similar to those seen on alpacas where the longer straighter primaries stand above the finer & crimpier shorter fibres. This is because the coarser micron fibres do not bend & being heavier, encapsulate the finer fibres within the yarn, which causes the prickle factor.

Your alpacas have taken about 12 months to grow their fleeces which require your input immediately after shearing – just like decorating, it is all in the preparation! An adult fleece should take only 3 or 4 minutes to skirt, while a cria fleece will rather longer (unless cria shorn). If skirting is not undertaken at the time of shearing then fleeces should be noodles (see below) before being placed into a named bag. At shearing time you can place your noodling fabric onto the hard board before the fleece is shorn & then the carry board, membrane & fleece to the skirting table.

Each fleece must be skirted for processing – ideally, by you as EAAM charges an additional cost to skirt your fleece. We cannot process unskirted fleece nor risk putting such fleece through our machines. This includes fibre which is for making felt too. All fibre must be free of vegetation & other debris.

HOW to skirt

1) Shear onto membrane (if using) &/or onto a smooth rigid board which will help transport the fleece intact to the skirting table. Ensure you have a sweepable surface to clean down between every animal; any obvious vegetation should be removed before or in the run-up to shearing.

2) Lay the blanket out (it will be cut side up) on a large (skirting) table – preferably mesh – having removed the board by carefully sliding the fleece off; if you are using membrane then nothing will be able to drop out of your fleeces & through the mesh of the skirting table. Keep your barns, paddocks & animals clean between each annual shearing. If carefully moved you will know the ‘geography’ of the fleece (where the neck, tail etc. would be) – not always so easy to recognise after a fleece has been bundled into & then out of a bag. Work your way around the edges of the fleece removing the coarser & shorter micron fibre. Remember to look at the thighs & into the armpits. Also, remove any second cuts & debris as you find them. Aim to follow the dark blue line in the image below for both huacaya & suri.  

      

You don’t have to spend hours doing this – just the time between each animal being shorn once up to speed but make sure that the fleece is reasonably tidy & you’ve taken out any larger twigs, leaves, seeds, burrs, bits of hay, toenails, faeces, your keys, needles etc

3) Turn the fleece over (cut side down) if your fleece is heavily contaminated with vegetable matter to remove any vegetation, debris or beans of poo etc; any fleece wet from urine should also be removed; pay particular attention to the ‘crows nest’ in the centre of the blanket between the shoulders & the bottom of the neck (more prominent in cria fleeces), which often has a lot of contamination & is best completely removed, or better still get your shearer to shear around it completely on cria or ultra-fine fleeces. If any part of the fleece is very cotted (matted) with vegetable matter or mud, take these parts out completely – it is better to sacrifice a small amount of fleece to avoid contaminating the rest of the batch.

4) Now gently raise & shake the edges of the fleece so any second cuts fall away & can be removed from the membrane or fall through the mesh. Second cuts are not ‘seconds’ but rather where the shearer has passed the shears twice over the same area – these second cuts can cause issues when spinning & will show as slubs in your finished yarn.

5) Check too for any areas with guard hair & remove these. Also, look for tell-tale white scabs of skin – we call these skin tags (see photo below). These are usually the result of mite damage or a bacterial skin infection. As the skin is sloughed away with the fibre growth, the scabs are held in parallel by the fibre & the affected area needs to be removed. It is more difficult to see in white fleeces but more obvious in coloured fibre.

6) Once skirting is complete & your fleece is completely dry. noodle (see below) & place into a named/identifiable bag. If you do not wish to noodle your fleece then carefully place the fleece into a bag.

NB First (cria) fleeces & some fine second fleeces may have little or no guard hair, so just remove the shorter or less fine fleece; also remove the crow’s nest at the base of the neck.

Top tip – Use your hands as well as your eyes to guide you. Try putting your non-dominant hand into the middle of the best blanket fibre – use your dominant hand to feel around the fleece for areas which are less soft, shorter & not as good a handle as the good fibre & that need removing. If it feels soft, leave it in; if it doesn’t, pull it out: it is that simple! If in doubt, test a handful under your chin – if it feels soft then leave it in; if it is prickly or itchy then remove it.

***** Always remember there is a use for nearly all of the fleece *****

How to noodle: Lay your fleece onto the membrane; fold one side well over the midline & repeat from the other side ensuring you have a good membrane overlap. Fold in half lengthways & roll up tightly from tail to neck. Secure with tape, name & bag. Noodled!

Please keep (noodled) fleeces in separate bags, so we can batch them correctly & process them according to your preference.