What is a Suri and what is a Huacaya : Suri : Suri Fleece : Suri faults : Huacaya : Huacaya Fleece : Less desirable features : Crossing Suri with Huacaya : Alpaca fibre : Alpaca fleece characteristics

What is a Suri and what is a Huacaya?

There are two types of Alpacas, both anatomically identical; the difference is in the fleece genetics. Suri SS is the dominant gene, the Huacaya SS the recessive gene.

Suri

Huacaya

Both Suri and Huacaya were introduced to Australia from South America in 1989. The Huacaya exceeded the Suri in number imported to Australia. The Suri population throughout the world is scarce and declining in South America due to environmental factors.

The fashion industry is keen to blend specially fibres such as cashmere, Alpaca and silks with merino. Blending natural fibre, natural colours and ecology are in fashion. Suri is becoming the "green fur", it is the only natural fibre used for fur that doesn't require animal slaughter.

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Suri fleece

The Suri carries a silky, soft handling fleece, that moves freely, yet hugs the body giving the animal a flat sided appearance. The fleece hangs from a centre part, neck to tail, with well defined locks forming close to the skin and twisting uniformly to the ends. The overall appearance is likened to the drape of a curtain of silk tassels.

The primary characteristics which distinguish a Suri are its lock structure, high lustre, silky handle and long staple length. The ideal Suri exhibits little to no medullation resulting in uniformity throughout the fleece.

1. Lustre and lock structure ~ These two qualities define Suri fibre. Lustre is the sheen or pearliness in the fleece and measured by how well the fleece reflects sunlight. It has little to do with lanolin as Alpaca has 1 - 3% of lanolin only, compared to 17% in Merino.

The lustre in Alpaca is permanent and is an integral part of the fibre and unlike lanolin in the merino is not removed in the scouring process.

Lustre is best seen close to the skin where fleece is at its cleanest.

The lock structure may be twisted, curled or penciled.
They should be well defined(referred to as architecture), narrow, independent, uniform and form close to the skin.

2. Fineness and handle ~ A fine microned fleece has a soft handle. The handle of the Suri should also have a silky, slippery feel across the entire body. Suri fleeces have little to no medullated fibres compared to Huacaya. For this reason crosses between Suri and Huacayas have the benefit of decreasing medullated fibre in offspring as well as increase lustre and staple length and greater uniformity of microns across the entire fleece.

Therefore with the exception of lower legs and apron the entire Suri fleece is collected at shearing. There is much less skirting of Suri fleece compared to Huacaya, therefore adding more value to the fleece and less time in fleece preparation for sale.

3. Density ~ The hallmark of ideal Suri fleece is its compactness, This is synonymous with high fleece weights. A more rounded appearance of the animal can indicate volume (fluffiness) rather than density. Density is evident by gauging the solidity of lock (or thickness in terms of density, not broadness of lock), the number of locks over a relative area as well as the weight of the fleece.

4. Lack of medullation ~ Ideally there should be little or no evidence of medullated fibres in the fleece.

5. Lock length ~ The lock of the Suri is relatively long and its fibre should grow one or two centimetres per year longer than a Huacaya of similar age and micron.

6. Colour ~ Suri fleece comes in varying shades of colour from white to black. In between there are shades of fawn, brown and grey including rose grey. Ideally the Alpacas are solid in colour, but may be any combination of the above. Coloured Suri fleece does not require dyeing. Suri maintains its sheen for decades where cashmere loses its lustre after a couple of years.

• Flat, open fleece with no lock definition (architecture)
• medullation chalkiness or lack of lustre
• Short staple length for age of fleece
• Coarse handle
• Lack of density
• Rounded appearance indicating fluffiness rather than density

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Huacayas The Huacaya Alpaca out number the Suri and represent more than 90% of the Australian herd and 95% of the world herd. Huacaya Fleece The fleece of the Huacaya is similar to sheep, grows at right angles to the body, giving a fluffy appearance. The fleece should demonstrate crimp, and have strong staple definition.

Huacaya

The most important characteristics of Huacaya fleece are -

1) Density ~ this determines the commercial aspects of the fleece, in dollar value for fibre weight.

2) Fineness and handle ~ the value is set by the fineness of a fleece per unit weight. The finer the fleece the more $ per kilo. The softer the handle the finer the micron and greater the appeal in "ooh, ah" touch. Alpaca fleece has a comfort factor, four microns less than the same micron for merino wool. This is because Alpaca has lesser prickle factor than merino, due to the structure of the fibre being flatter in the cuticles or scales on the outer fibre -

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3) Character ~ is closely related to density, strong crimp definition and staple formation. This is necessary to achieve heavier fleece weights.

4) Lack of medullation ~ fleece should not contain broad microned straight medullated fibres, especially in the saddle. These protrude in processing and devalue the fleece price dramatically. The aim in breeding is to eliminate medullated fibres and this can be achieved in genetic selection.

5) Lustre ~ This is the amount of light reflected from the fibre and is desirable in processing as it enhance the appearance of the garment.

• Open fleece with no density
• Chalkiness
• Harsh handle
• Short staple length
• Medullated fibre
• Lack of overall coverage
• Tenderness

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The simple answer is yes, you can cross. Due to the decline in Suri population in South America, major breeders in Peru are now crossing Suri with Huacaya for two reasons. One to increase the Suri population and secondly to breed back colour into Suri genetics. They are achieving this by using the very best white Suri males over white and coloured Huacayas.

Australia is fortunate enough to have the Purrumbete herd initiated by Roger Haldane the original importer of Chilean Alpacas to Australia in 1989. This herd is a Huacaya base crossed with homozygous Suri males to produce first/ second/ third crosses; known as Fl, BC1 and BC2 and so on until 4th generation of crossings have been achieved. The 4th generation is called a "Pure blood Suri".

Purrumbete Herd now lives at Tambo Downs.

The Purrumbete program is now into the 6th generation, totalling 50 Suris.

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• Alpaca fleece is valuable because it combines so many positive, commercial attributes into one fiber. The are no negative characteristics to be found in the Alpaca fleece.
• There are 18 distinct colours of the Alpaca fleece, which can be blended to produce an infinite array of natural colours.
• As a result of the range of natural colours available, dyeing is rarely necessary thus reducing production costs.
• White and light fawn fleeces are easily dyed and take colour exceptionally well and retains its natural lustre.
• The fibre from Alpaca is unusually strong and resilient. The strength of the fibre does not diminish as it becomes finer, thus making it ideal for industrial processing.
  
• Alpaca fibre has developed a high thermal capacity, brought about by the genetic evolution of living high in the Andes, at -40 degrees overnight.
• Alpaca fleece is soft and smooth to touch, with an almost slippery feel. The cellular structure of the fibre produces a soft handle unmatched by most other specialty fibres.
• Alpaca produce a fine fibre with an absence of guard hair.
• Alpaca has a natural, rich lustre, which gives garments a high visual appeal.
• Alpaca is compatible with both woolen and worsted manufacturing systems.
• Garments produced can range from bulky tweeds to fine gaberdine and yarns produce exquisite knit wear.
• Alpaca knit wear is long lasting. It does not tear, pill, stain or create static. It is easily cleaned.
• Alpaca fleece produces a high yield of clean fibre after processing: 87 to 95 percent for Alpaca versus 43 to 76 percent for sheep's wool. The fleece weight of Alpaca is maintained in the fibre processing unlike sheep's wool, where a major component of fleece weight is in the lanolin and the impurities adhering to it.
• Alpaca is easier and less expensive to process than sheep's wool due to its minimal lanolin content of 1%.
• Alpaca is able to cleaned or scoured without using costly chemicals.

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The fibre structure of Alpaca is similar to that of wool. The outer scales, called cuticles, are hard, flat cells which do not fit together evenly. The tips, or edges, of these cells point away from the fibre shaft, giving the fibre a serrated edge. It is these serrations that allow the fibres to grip together during processing and form a strong yarn.

The softness of Alpaca over wool of the same micron is due to a scale height of 0.4 micron for Alpaca versus 0.8 micron for wool. The lower scale height creates a smoother, slippery feel with a less scratchy surface. Alpaca has a much less prickle factor than merino because of the flatter scales on the fibre shaft.

* Laboratory images supplied courtesy of: Associate Professor, Dr Xungai Wang, Chair of Research Committee, School of Engineering & Technology, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic., Australia.

Electron Microscope Pictures of Suri and Huacaya fleece and Merino fleece:

Fine Huacaya	Fine Suri	Strong Huacaya	Strong Suri	Fine Merino	Strong Merino

Alpaca Wool Colour Codes

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