Innovative Fleece Assessment Competition

Innovative Fleece Assessment (IFA) is a fleece competition endorsed and offered exclusively by the Alpaca Owners Association (AOA) in the US.

The Innovative Fleece Assessment focuses on the genetic potential and processing end-use for each entry. Feedback combining genetics and end-use can advance breeding programs and achieve forward momentum within individual herds, as well as the entire alpaca industry.

IFA was developed to support and enhance breeder education. The most important part of this approach is that fleeces are sorted by grade and feedback includes a summary of the uses for which that fleece is best suited.

Fineness is scored based on the average measurements of four samples carefully selected from each fleece, tested on-site using the Fiberlux machine, then averaged to determine the grade of the fleece. The tested samples are taped to the scorecard so that the owner of the fleece sees exactly what the judge saw. Length samples are also taken from the sampling areas and taped to the scorecard along with a report of their measurements, and average growth per day. The entire scorecard is designed to educate breeders by including definitions of what each possible point value represents for every trait.

For more information on the IFA competition visit www.innovativefleeceassessment.com