Monday, March 30, 2009

Switching Animals On the Show String

We decided to make a change in our show string for the show in Indiana this weekend. Instead of taking Maddie, we are going to take Tucker. Maddie has now been shown in both shorn and full fleece. We know her strengths, and her weaknesses. In sum, we need to breed her to a male with great staple length, bigger build, and bundling in his fiber. That is what Maddie needs to be a great show animal. She has a lot of great traits, but those weaknesses are holding her back. Now that she's about ready to breed, we will make sure to get those traits for her offspring. We did not feel taking her to another show would help us learn anything new for her. Tucker, on the other hand, has never been shown. We plan to start his breeding career this year, but want some outside opinion on his strengths/weaknesses.

It won't change our stall assignments. Maddie required the same space as Tucker will. The only difference will be that we won't put everyone together as we did last time. Tucker being a male ready to breed should not be with the littler ones. We plan to put Tucker and Bugs in one stall, since they already are housed together they should be fine together. That will leave Shelby, Tehya and Jolly Roger in the other stall. I do think Tehya will miss Maddie, she's become a surrogate mom to her.

If only I had my sweater out of Tucker's fiber complete! Wouldn't it be cool to wear that while showing him ;)

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