Rose showed in a class of 2 juvi rose grey female huacaya alpacas. We would have hoped for more competition, but knew that the fall often has smaller juvi classes. Most farmers breed for animals to be born between May and October, so those animals are now all over a year old and in the yearling class, or less than 6 months and too young to show. Rose came to our farm this spring, after being born in April. We do not typically breed for an April birth, so we typically would not have a juvi to show at this point either.
The judge placed Rose in 1st place! She had nothing but great things to say about Rose, including the fact that her light and dark fibers, making up her grey color, is very uniform. She has great uniformity, and consistency throughout her blanket, and has very dense fleece. The only negative is that Rose has some tender breaks, due to recent weaning from her mother. This was also a factor with the other juvi in the class so did not effect her placing. However, it was a consideration in the color championship.
When we get our professional picture of Rose and her ribbon I will be sure to get it up here on the blog and on our farm's facebook page. Rose will join our Hall of Fame of 1st place ribbon winners, along with Sancha, Kateri, Shelby, Tehya, Pocahontas and now Rose. Girls rule :)
Pocahontas showed in the Indefinitely Dark class of yearling huacaya female alpacas. Originally she was the only one in her class, but when we got there to line up to show her, there was another animal in her class. We welcome the competition, and were happy to see another animal to go against. Unfortunately Pocahontas got 2nd place. We were very disappointed about this. The reason the judge gave is that Pocahontas is at an awkward growth place and wasn't as rock solid in her conformation as she'd like to see. She also said that Pocahontas' fiber lacked luster. This was the most disappointing because I stopped giving her fiber nutrients. I just know that is what made this difference. Needless to say, we are giving fiber nutrients again, already started with today's feeding. Some things are not worth skimping on. We have decided that this will be Pocahontas' last show. We are retiring her from the show ring. Over the next few months were are going to give her plenty of fiber nutrients, and get her healthy and vibrant so that we can breed her in the spring. We likely will breed her just after shearing in May. We cannot wait to see the animals she can produce. Pocahontas has been our best award winning alpaca, she has done us proud.
Here is a really bad picture of both girls in the pen at the show:
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