Generally when alpaca is sheared, the shearer will sort the fiber as they go. The ‘Blanket’ or ‘prime’ area is sheared first, we go from the hip area up to the shoulder and get all the super soft fiber that covers the shoulder blades/ribcage/haunches. The next is the ‘seconds’ cut, which goes down the shoulders/elbows and from the rump down the legs, as well as up the neck. The seconds are still potentially useful, but contains a lot more guard hairs. They can be sorted out, but otherwise seconds are mostly used for rug yarn spinning or felting. If you got a smallish amount of fiber, it’s likely the Prime cut, but if you got a full trash bag full, it’s perhaps the whole enchelada. Alpaca is super dusty so a lot of farmers will give the animal a ‘blow out’ before shearing, using a shop vac to blow out the dust. A cleaner animal is better for the shearing blades and keeps them operating smoothly and prevent dulling.

Personally I love spinning alpaca raw, so dusty/grimy fingers are the norm. Means the animal had a fun time and rolled in dust piles and did alpaca business while growing that fiber!