Adagio Alpaca Mill owners Andrew and Nadine Hulme and production manager Steven Vandenbergh have spent the last couple of weeks learning to use specialised equipment imported from Italy for producing the fibre.

Mrs Hulme said 20 people had pre-booked orders ranging from five kilograms to 50 kilograms. She has also fielded inquiries from across the Central West and other areas of NSW.

Once processing was under way and business improved Mrs Hulme said the mill would hire more staff. 

“We’ve been using our own fleece to practise and we are using some fleece [donated] from other people in the region,” Mrs Hulme said.

“Even with the practice fleece, that’s not any particular quality, we’ve been producing the most gorgeous yarn.” 

Mr Vandenbergh said six pieces of machinery were involved in the production process from washing through to spinning, with different products available such as yarn and sliders used in felting.

Debbie O’Neill of Condobolin will be the first customer and trials using her fleece have yielded good results.

Ms O’Neill said she had 47 kilograms of fleece to be processed later this week or early next week, as well as an additional 150 kilograms of high-quality fleece coming along and about 100 kilograms of skirting that can be made into bats.

“I’ve seen what they can do and it looks absolutely fantastic, it’s a real benefit to the region and for our industry as a whole,” Ms O’Neill said.

Ms O’Neill said she previously had to send her fleece overseas to be processed in Peru and got little return, but her farm being only two-and-a-half hours from the Orange mill will increase its viability while supporting the region.

tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au