Joining A Fiber Cooperative . . . which one is the correct one?

This question was just posed to us and we don't really have a perfect answer.  You need to look at the characteristics of each one and work with the one that mostly closely fits your business model.  It is truly not a one size fits all question. We belong to two . . . NAAFP and AFCNA

We work with NAAFP (North American Alpaca Fiber Producers) because you have a certified sorter at the farm (or sorted at a later date from the bag) who sorts your fiber by color, length and micron so that by the end of shearing day you know what alternatives you have with each group of fiber. If you have a specific animal you want to save for your own purpose to send off to a private mill or process yourself, you can make that decision when it hits the sorter's table. The rest of the fiber you can choose to send to the cooperative to be used in its product line being returned to you as finished product or to remain in the cooperative to be sold at either the retail or wholesale level. Without a sorter, we don't feel there is sufficient information to make those decisions. Plus the sorting process gives you some really important information on the animal's fiber with which to make future breeding decisions. Here is the link for other farms who are members of NAAFP--just click on the link for your area of the country to see if any farms near you are members.

We are also members of AFCNA (Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America). When you send fiber to the coop you are given the opportunity to purchase from them and other vendors at a wholesale price. They have some nice products but we have not had the patience waiting for a return on our investment of fiber so we have not sent them any fiber since we started sorting. You can talk to AFCNA members in your area for more information.  Looks like there is a new link for members that is being slowly populated as members edit their profile information. Here is the link for their membership.

There are others coops around the country but before you join, you need to be sure what your farm's end goal is regarding the end use of your fiber.