MAZOMANIE -- Caring for 13 alpacas keeps Jean Garvey and Roy Lord on their toes, and that doesn't even include the mini fiber mill they have in the basement of their house about 30 miles west of Madison.

Willow Bridge Alpacas and Fiber Mill is a full-service fiber processor. Garvey and Lord take the fleece from alpacas and turn it into soft, luxurious yarn for knitting and crocheting or rovings of fiber for spinning or felting.

"I'm just passionate about this fabulous gift that these animals give us of this fiber," Garvey said. "They are absolutely enchanting animals."

As raising alpacas grows in popularity, the need for mills to process their fleece also has increased, and this couple is helping fill that niche.

"Alpaca breeders are finding that they have all this fiber that they need to address," said Tom Olson, vice president of the Great Lakes Alpaca Association. "In the past, it has been stored in barns and buildings or wherever while waiting for a market," said Olson, of Cottage Grove, who also co-owns an alpaca farm in Black River Falls.

Cindy Berman, spokeswoman for the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, agrees that raising alpacas for their fleece is gaining popularity. "We are seeing slow and steady growth."

Last year, Wisconsin had 132 alpaca farms registered with the association -- up from 38 in 1999. The growth comes as more people learn the benefits of raising alpacas and using their fiber, industry leaders say.

Easy on the land

Alpacas, a camelid similar to llamas but smaller, take relatively little space -- about 10 can live per acre -- don't eat a lot and are easy on the land, Berman said. "They're really gentle, curious animals."

Unlike llamas, which are used as pack animals as well as for their fiber, alpacas are raised and bred in North America almost exclusively for their coat.

The fiber is self-insulating and weighs one-third that of wool but is just as warm, Berman said. It's also water repellent and has been described as soft as cashmere. "You can make so many different things out of alpaca."

Erin LeMoine, owner of Green Bay Alpacas, said she had a difficult time finding a mill to process her fleece and was happy to find Willow Bridge.

"It's wonderful when you get to know the people who are actually doing it," she said. "It was nice for us to find someone small and actually in Wisconsin. When I got the fleece back (made into) yarn, it was just beautiful."

Finding a fiber mill that processes strictly 100 percent alpaca increases the challenge, LeMoine said, adding she's been delighted with the personal touches Willow Bridge adds to the process, such as putting the name of the alpaca that produced the fiber on each skein of yarn.

"It was neat to have it so personal," she said. "There are some large places (fiber mills) out there, but you're just not getting that personal touch."

Co-op is one option

Alpaca owners can take several routes when deciding where to process their fiber.

One option is through the Alpaca Fiber Co-op of North America where people who raise alpacas submit their sheared fleeces to the cooperative to be pooled, processed and redistributed, Olson said.

Farmers receive skeins of yarn back and are able to purchase additional products.

It's expensive for farmers to market fiber, Olson said.

If farmers don't want to participate in the co-op, they can either process the fleece themselves, or use a mini-mill such as Willow Bridge.

"There is a demand for these fiber mills to give farmers options," he said.

In Lafayette County, about 44 miles from Madison, Kristi Langhus and Carrie Johnson operate the Argyle Fiber Mill where they process separately alpaca, llama and Icelandic sheep fleece and wool.

About 60 percent of their business comes from farmers living within 100 miles of Argyle, the rest is shipped from all over the country.

"The majority of business is custom processing for other people," Langhus said.

Langhus said marketing the fiber can be challenging, and while the company's focus is on processing, the owners are working to expand the marketing of the finished product, often pairing yarn with specific knit or crochet patterns.

The startup costs

Difficulty finding a mill to process their own alpaca fiber to their standards was what eventually led to Garvey and Lord establishing a mini-mill in their basement in May 2007.

Startup cost for the business, including carpentry, plumbing, electrical, mill equipment and its delivery, was about $200,000.

Alpaca fiber is quite different from the industrial fiber processing Garvey and Lord did for 20 years making fabric pads to dampen vehicle noise. But their experience running production lines, maintaining and engineering equipment, statistical and quality control of raw materials and finished products has helped them in this endeavor.

Now on any given day, nine machines, combined with Lord's skilled hands wash, dry, separate and spin bags of alpaca fleece. Some are from their herds, others are purchased or mailed by customers to Willow Bridge from as far away as New Hampshire and New Mexico.

For each fleece, Lord carefully adjusts each piece of equipment, including the tension, speed and number of twists per inch to the spinning machine.

In addition to processing the fiber, Lord and Garvey also sell yarn and finished products made from alpaca -- everything from dog beds to heirloom quality throws.

However, "our sales are very disappointing to us," Garvey said, adding "it's the processing of alpaca fleeces for other alpaca farms (that) gives us the greatest revenue. We have only in the last two months broken even on our costs."

The frustrating part for Garvey and Lord is marketing the fiber and the blankets and throws they make.

"Now that our reputation for quality processing is spreading, and our workload for processing other owners' fleeces is increasing, we can see profitability ahead," she said.

ABOUT WILLOW BRIDGE

Name: Willow Bridge Alpacas and Fiber Mill

Co-owned: Roy Lord and Jean Garvey

Address: 10241 Sandy Circle, Mazomanie

Visitor hours: By appointment, call 608-795-2911

Web site: www.willowbridge.org

Open house: Visitors can stop by during the National Alpaca Farm Open House weekend, Sept. 27 and 28 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Processing: Alpaca fleeces are processed for $20 per pound incoming weight into clouds, rovings or batts used by hand spinners and hand felters. Converting fleece into yarn is $26 per pound incoming weight. Yarn into skeins is an additional $2.

Yarns sell for: Rug-quality yarn, $3.50 per ounce; mill-spun alpaca yarn, $7 to $11 per ounce; hand-spun cria (baby alpaca) fiber yarn, $12 per ounce or more.

Where Willow Bridge fiber is sold:

• LaBelle Vita, 121 Commerce St., Mineral Point

• Sow's Ear, Verona, 125 S. Main St., Verona

• Iron Horse Gallery, 18 E. Hudson St., Mazomanie

• Tis The Season, 7507 Hubbard Ave., Middleton

• Fiber Wild, 304 S. Main St., Galena, Ill.

OTHER MINI-MILLS IN STATE

Argyle Fiber Mill — 200 E. Milwaukee St., Argyle; 608-543-3933

Blue Hills Alpacas and Fiber Mill — W13163 Sieck Road Bruce; 715-868-3074

Spindrift Fibers — 6134 Nagel Road, Valders; 920-758-2256