The Pairs

Our show results came in pairs. There were our two girls who each came in 1st in their class. Then our two boys who came in 2nd in their classes. Then there was our 4th place pair, Ginger and Chaska, who each came in fourth in their classes.

I don't have the show book in front of me, but I believe there were 11 fawn juvenile females in Ginger's class. We were worried how she would do, given such a big class. At the last show one of the judges told us that the fawns at that show had better fiber than the whites. Whites have been well known to be superior, this is a signficant shift in the industry (though at this point I don't know if it was just true of that specific show, but I believe it's a trend as farms work to improve the fiber of the various colors). Ginger had the disadvantage of being the youngest in her class. She also had all her cria tui tips, she has never been shorn. It's harder for the fiber to organize itself when those tui tips are still on there (which is why we typically shear our cria, but she was born so late in the season we left her's on for warmth).

We were very proud for her to take a 4th in that class! I know it's not a 1st or 2nd, but we know not every animal is the quality to take that high of a placing. The big thing is to figure out their weaknesses, and make sure you address that with every breeding decision so that next generation doesn't have the same issue.

Here is Ginger at the show:



Here is Ginger's ribbon:




Chaska was in a smaller class, I believe a class of 6, where he recieved 4th place. Chaska has been a very hard one for us to evaluated. He has a different sort of fiber, with a very bold crimp. I like it, but I don't know how to compare it to others. At that last show we were told he is not as fine as the ones who placed higher. At this show we were told he wasn't as fine or as dense. We have been evaluting our program because we fear the hay we used this past year was higher in protein and may have caused our animals to be less fine. In years past we never had comments that our animals lacked fineness, now this year we have heard that. We will continue to evaluate this to make sure we aren't causing a problem.

Here is Chaska at the show:



Chaska's ribbons (from this show and his last show):