Spring Alpaca Shows

As the spring show season gets closer, we get more and more excited about it. We love show season, and spring is when the new cria get their first shot before a judge. It's always a wonder how they will do. Zack and I have been working on halter training our 2010 cria so that they are ready for the shows. J and I have been making plans of which shows we want to go to, and which shows we really can go to. We'd love to go to more, but we need to be realistic about time, money and energy. I know farms who only go to one spring show, and the big farms that go to many. As an average size alpaca farm, we try to go to a few spring shows, the average amount :)

I have been editing and revising our show schedule all along. I think we are almost to the point of having a final schedule completed. I have the shows listed on the left side of the blog under "Upcoming Events". Each show has a link to the show's web page where more information on the show can be found. Here is a sneak peak at the "Upcoming Events" section:

Upcoming Events

+ March 12 & 13 2011: Best of the US Alpaca Show in Columbus, Ohio

+ April 9 & 10 2011: Indiana Alpaca Invitational in Fort Wayne, Indiana

+ April 30 & May 1 2011: Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in Madison, Wisconsin

+ May 7 & 8 2011: Michigan Alpaca Breeders Show in Davisburg, Michigan


We have gone to each of these shows before, in some way at least. The Best of the US is a newer show, on it's third year. We have been to this one every year and love it. It's the first time our new cria get out into the public and in front of a judge. We have heard that the arena has new lighting, so we are eager to see how that looks. The Indiana Invitational is another one that we have gone to every year. In it's first year, we were there to help another farm show their animals, we did not have any ready to show (it was 2008, our first full year as alpaca farmers). We have gone to this show every year since. My complaint about this show is that our animals don't seem to do as well. The competition is fierce! But, we also get a good evaluation of our animals so that we are realistic in their quality. The Great Midwest Alpaca Festival is one that we went to for the first time last year. We had heard such great things about this show that we wanted to check it out. It is a really nice show. We absolutely loved the city of Madison (I lived there for a few years in my childhood and remembered it as a nice town, it was good to see my memory was accurate). Now the Michigan Alpaca Breeders Show is one that we have not actually attended ourselves. In past year we sent some of our animals with another farm, Ashton Stone Alpacas. We have taken their animals to some shows, and they have taken ours. This has been a great way for a mid-size farm to get more exposure yet limit expenses. This year we want to actually go to this show. We know it's the highlight for many Michigan breeders and we want to be a part of that.