2010: Grinding out results and retooling for the road ahead

My apologies for not posting anything these past few days: I wanted to make sure I got this behemoth right. So I really hadn’t planned on things lining up this way but as it turns out this year-in-review/show results tittle-tattle has the trivial distinction of being the new CCNF Chronicles’ 100th post since its inception in blog form last August. That either means that I’ve had a bit to say or that I need to go and get a life. I’ll let you be the judge of that though. In years past this piece would have appeared in the winter issue of the old hard copy newsletter, which usually hit people’s mail boxes around mid-January so I guess I’m really only about a month late? In any case…

2010 was a challenging year for us at CCNF on several fronts. Not least of those obviously was the continued state of the economy and the obvious effects that it has had on the alpaca business in general. To say that the market, even for high-end alpacas, has gotten tighter and tougher during the recession would be to state the obvious.  Though having said that I also want to say that for ourselves we really can have no complaints. As I have said before elsewhere, we were in this business when things were booming in the early 2000s, we are here now, and we will be here in the future. While we have sustained our fair share of storm damage throughout the down economy, we are still standing and are going nowhere. Plus to be quite frank, having spent a goodly chunk of quality time feeling sorry for ourselves over the past couple of years, it all got rather tiresome after a while.  Pity party over!  Having pursued this passion of our ours for 14 years now we find that we are still energized by the experience, some times perhaps in spite of ourselves. I also count myself as quite lucky to have as my partner someone who seems adept at zigging when I am zagging and there have no doubt been moments when each has lifted the other up. Did I mention that she also buys OB lube by the gallon and delivers breech births by herself for fun? I mean what’s not to love!? I so married up.

Would some price stability in the marketplace be nice? Well of course it would but as my mother used to explain to me when I was little and waiting for the antenna to rotate and grab one of the 3 other TV stations (dating myself here) we got at my childhood home in VT, sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. It is possible though, probable even, that the worst is already behind us now. Based upon the past 6 to 8 months or so there are some indications that we might be starting to come out of the shadow and we certainly know of many other breeders who have spoken of a slow but steady increase in farm traffic and renewed interest during that time. That’s not happening because they are sitting back and being wallflowers though: those folks are working their butts off and making themselves visible! There is obviously a long way to go though and much work to be done yet. One of the realities of the alpaca business in this day and age is that we all must try to squeeze more out of less. Whether that means being more choosey about which shows one attends, trying to watch the expenses on the farm itself (those big lights at the Arena make our electric company very happy), or being smarter and more agile in how we deploy our marketing money, we must adapt to the new reality. Leaner and more agile is the name of the game around here. The most obvious expression of this at CCNF is the blog you are currently reading. A hardcopy newsletter while great fun to produce and read (sometimes anyway) was also a very expensive proposition that just wasn’t in the cards anymore. Let’s face it: for 30 to 45K a year we can buy a lot of hay and feed. The fact that I now get to annoy/harass/inform you, our readership, every few days instead of every three months is really just a bonus. Sorry.

Through all of the challenges we faced in 2010 though one thing never wavered. It was (and is) still our goal to produce and market the best quality alpacas that we could make, all while offering continued support to the many good folks who have already put their faith in CCNF and done business with us over the years. That was true in in 1997 when this ride began and it will be true in 2012 when we will officially mark Cas-Cad-Nac Farm’s 15th anniversary. We are continuously learning how to blend the genetics we have at hand within our herd (for the record CCNF started 2010 at a herd size around 180 and finished it at around 230) and it is that continued pursuit of the elusive perfect alpaca that drives us forward.

Part of furthering that goal over the years has involved selectively introducing new genetics into our foundation herd. There are a few different ways to go about that and in 2010 we pursued them all to varying degrees. We have sometimes elected to send some of our special females off the farm — to be honest, not something we do without trepidation — for an outside breeding. Though there was only one of those last year, three products of prior year’s outside escapades can be seen in the show results below in the forms of Solano, Panamera, and Lilah. We have also not been shy in recent years about adding the occasional female to the mix and did so again last year (hello Margarita, Cadenza, and Boheme). There is really only one way though to add new blood to a breeding program in one broad stroke. For the past couple of years we have made an effort to bring in a special new Herdsire (or three as the case was last year) into the mix whenever they were available and we felt they would be a good fit genetically. Though we have always shied away from talking about specific dollar amounts spent on this or that male (admittedly at auction it’s public knowledge), it is obviously not an inexpensive proposition to acquire Herdsires of the caliber that we are talking about. You can think of our pursuit of new Herdsires though as tangible proof that we’re in this for the long haul: otherwise there would simply be no justification for the expenditure. The last time we had added any major new genetics here at CCNF in the form of new males was our original partnership with Snowmass Alpacas on what became the North American Alpaca Stud, something which took place almost 9 years ago now. That’s an awfully long time in the animal breeding business at this scale. We are well aware that every alpaca and its genetics, no matter how spectacular, has its limitations and new blood must occasionally be drafted into the program to add a further layer of depth. So it was that in 2009 we started actively looking for an impact Herdsire and were lucky enough to convince the good folks at Magical Farms to part with half of their Futurity Champion Jeremiah son, MFI Peruvian Precocious, a deal which has now for the first time in 2010 born literal fruit. We are pretty stoked about the first Preco kids that we have on the ground right now, though more to come on them in the future!

In 2010 our pursuit of some other very special Herdsires took us down two completely different — though not unfamiliar — roads. It is an open secret that we, along with our good friends Ryen and Ursula Munro at Tripping Gnome Farm, were the underbidders on Snowmass Matrix when the Skinners put him up for auction last year. Matrix was an animal we had all admired and scouted from afar for at least 3 years prior.  Again, everyone has their own valuations and their comfort zones where such things are concerned and we went up to ours but not further. That was simply not meant to be. Of course often opportunity is born out of a situation such as that and so it was that we found ourselves again entering into co ownership with the Skinner family on two of their most special Herdisires: Snowmass Elite Legend (whom we also share with TGF), last year’s Light Futurity Herdsire of the Year and Snowmass Matrix Majesty, the 2010 Fawn Futurity Champion* who should slot very nicely (he’s scheduled to arrive here in early April actually) into the role we had originally envisioned for his sire. As for Elite Legend he, much like Precocious the year before, arrived in New England in August 2010 and quite apart from his indisputable quality and his ability to throw the same, a great part of our attraction to him was based upon the fact that he was unrelated to over 90% of our white/light herd. Simply put: he was another spectacular puzzle piece to plug into our breeding program. We weren’t quite done yet though.

There had been a nagging feeling in the back of our minds which had started early last year upon learning that our beloved Herdsire, SuperNova, was dying from intestinal cancer. We felt that we should speak with our buddies at Hilltop Alpacas (with whom we already co owned two young Herdsires, Magnus and Smoking Gun) about their rapidly maturing young rockstar, TKO’s King of the Ladies before an opportunity passed us by. Though one could tell just by looking at Kinger that he was a member of one of CCNFs most famous genetic lines (Archangel is his sire), he was also — most importantly to us — a SuperNova grandson on his dam’s side. With that in mind, we kept gently nagging the Young family until they relented and parted with half of their special boy. On the worst of days acquiring half of Kinger would be a hedge against the loss of his grandsire (SuperNova would pass some three months later in late July 2010) as well as enable us to breed regularly with Archangel’s best son born to date. We really think we got so much more though. Although we are unable to use him as widely as the other new males in the foundation herd (some of our best white/beige females are his sisters after all), we think already knowing his genetics and how they play in our herd (there’s also a healthy drop of our dearly departed PPP Pachelbel too for good measure) we may have more of a head start than we otherwise would when introducing someone completely unknown. As the wise man once said, we shall see.

As noted above, 2010 also marked the year that we said goodbye to SuperNova, a Herdsire who was born here in 2001 after acquiring his dam, CAR Sunbeam Alpine, the year before with him in utero as a very new pregnancy. SuperNova (you can read his obituary here) was in many ways the alpaca that gave Cas-Cad-Nac our first early identity. Though we all miss Novy and his eccentricities (his insistence on stopping to eat grass every 10 feet while walking up the hill on a halter to do a breeding), his story at CCNF is far from written, particularly now with the arrival of his grandson.  January 2010 also marked the passing of one of most important alpaca females to ever set foot in North America. Though we get no credit for the presence of PPeruvian Jesusa (ARI # 123094 if you want to fully grasp what I’m talking about) in the domestic herd, a plaudit that lies solely with Snowmass Alpacas, we were lucky enough to have her as a member of our foundation herd for the last seven or so years of her life. Just like SuperNova though, her legacy thrives and lives on.

Last but certainly not least there are our show results (you’ll find a list of 1sts, Championships, and special awards below) from last year. Why does one show alpacas? Well, for a professional farm or ranch it is simply put the easiest way to market and promote your breeding program. Where the toughest level V shows are concerned it’s also a great measuring stick for us to compare our alpacas against those of other programs. While it’s definitely not an inexpensive proposition, even in this economy it is an unquestionable necessity if one plans on being in the alpaca breeding business. In 2010 we found ourselves having to amend our usual spring show schedule and taking a pass on the Mapaca Jubilee with animals (we were still able to send fleeces), not because we wanted to but because the three shows we have traditionally attended in April/May (NAAS, Mapaca, Futurity) all got so condensed that we had to cut one out so that our children would not resent us completely.  The start of the 2010 spring show schedule, however, didn’t deviate from the prior 8 years at all though with the North American on tap first, a show which we have also helped to organize over that time. After the NAAS there has always been the Futurity, which in 2010 took us out to Oklahoma City. With Jen and our friend Ryen Munro having hauled the the combined CCNF/TGF show string out in prior years, I volunteered to do the driving this around time with Ryen (his daughter, Isabella was along for the ride too), two rigs, and over 30 alpacas between us (if only 2011 could be so easy!). The drive was kind of long and boring though the company was excellent. With Jen and our boys flying out to meet us in OKC (Sam’s B-day has the misfortune of always falling around the Futurity) and our friends Pat and Melanie coming out to lend a hand as well it almost felt like most of the old gang was there. Good times!

We finished up the spring show schedule in May with a relatively stress-free jaunt (this time Jen and I together, sans children) out to Fort Wayne, IN and the AOBA National Show. We mostly took just fleeces (having shorn the herd a couple of weeks prior), though we did amuse ourselves with a couple pens of shorn composite females just to keep from getting bored. As in recent years, last fall saw us stick very close to home on the show circuit with just our “local” show, the Green Mountain Alpaca Fall Spectacular up in Essex, VT and the always superbly competitive Empire Extravaganza in Syracuse, NY. All in all we were pleased with our show results in 2010, particularly given that the younger halter animals were chosen from a considerably smaller 2009 birth class than in previous years. Again, I guess you can judge for yourselves. Obviously for every result displayed below there were some less grandiose ones as well, though the surprising thing in getting this all together (say what you will about the AOBA show division but AlpacaShows.com is pretty handy) was how often our kids managed to be in the top 3, a result that when repeated  consistently surely points to something good, even if it doesn’t quite bring with it the the same cache as a top finish. We did (and will again in the future) of course get the gate on occasion and make the infamous walk of shame, though that too is just part of the game and we gladly take the bad with the good. There is no magic talisman of invincibility in the alpaca show world. You walk in circles, you win nylon (or not), you talk about the nylon. Got it?

CCNF 2010 1st Place and Championship Winners

Empire Fleece Event, Albany, NY

JUDGE’S CHOICE HUACAYA

CCNF Solano

CHAMPION

CCNF Damask – Huacaya Black Champion

CCNF Royal Magnus – Huacaya Brown Champion (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

CCNF Solano – Huacaya White Champion

1st PLACE

CCNF Silken Damask – Black Juvenile Huacaya

CCNF Opal – Black 2YO Huacaya

CCNF Royal Magnus – Brown Juvenile Huacaya

CCNF Masala – Brown 3 to 5 YO Huacaya

CCNF Solano – White Juvenile Huacaya

CCNF Celestial Nova – White Yearling Huacaya

North American Alpaca Show, Springfield, MA

JUDGES’ CHOICE HUACAYA MALE

TKO’s King of the Ladies (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

CHAMPION

TKO’s King of the Ladies – White Huacaya Male

CCNF Cacao – Mixed Combined Huacaya Male

RESERVE CHAMPION

CCNF Annabeth – Grey Huacaya Female

1st PLACE

CCNF Damask – Huacaya Yearling True Black Male

CCNF Wayfarer – Huacaya Light Brown Juvenile Male

CCNF Magellan – Huacaya Yearling Dark Brown Huacaya

CCNF Royal Tobler – Huacaya Yearling Dark Fawn Male

CCNF Shockwave – Huacaya Juvenile White Male

TKO’s King of the Ladies – Huacaya Yearling White Male

CCNF Cacao – Huacaya 2Y+ Combined Mixed Male

CCNF Charming – Huacaya Juvenile Medium Brown Female

CCNF Panamera – Huacaya Juvenile Beige Female

CCNF Pixie – Huacaya Juvenile White Female

CCNF Love Story – Huacaya Juvenile White Female

CCNF Pristine – Huacaya 2Y+ White Female

CCNF Annabeth – Huacaya Juvenile Medium Rose Grey Female

The Futurity, Oklahoma City, OK

CHAMPION

TKO’s King of the Ladies – White Huacaya Male

(co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

1st PLACE

CCNF Royal Magnus – Huacaya Yearling Light Brown Male (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

CCNF Charming – Huacaya Juvenile Dark & Medium Brown Female

TKO’s King of the Ladies – Huacaya Yearling White Male

Mapaca Jubilee Fleece Show, Harrisburg, PA

RESERVE CHAMPION

CCNF Johanna – Brown Huacaya

CCNF Sugar Drop – White Huacaya

FIRST PLACE

CCNF Royal Magnus – Huacaya Light Brown Juvenile (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

CCNF Acomani – Huacaya DB/MB Yearling

CCNF Johanna – Huacaya Light Brown Yearling

CCNF Sugar Drop – Huacaya White Yearling

CCNF Marguerite – Huacaya Rose Grey Yearling

CCNF Eliza – Huacaya 2Y+ Multicolor

AOBA National Show Halter Show, Fort Wayne, IN

1st PLACE

CCNF Expialidocious – Composite Huacaya Light Juvenile Female

CCNF Pixie – Composite Huacaya White Juvenile Female

AOBA National Fleece Show

CHAMPION

CCNF Panamera – Huacaya Light Female

Xanadu P Cadenza – Huacaya White Female

RESERVE CHAMPION

CCNF Magellan – Huacaya Brown Male

TKO’s King of the Ladies – Huacaya White Male (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

1st PLACE

CCNF Magellan – Huacaya Dark Brown Yearling Male

CCNF Royal Magnus – Huacaya L&MB Yearling Male (co owned with Hilltop Alpacas)

CCNF Amoror – Huacaya Beige Yearling Male

CCNF Avenger – Huacaya 2Y White Male

MFI Peruvian Precocious – Huacaya White Adult Male (co owned with Magical Farms)

CCNF Cacao – Huacaya Indefinite 2Y Male

CCNF Orange Blossom Special – Huacaya D/M Fawn Adult Female

CCNF Panamera – Huacaya Beige/LF Juvenile Female

Xanadu P Cadenza – Huacaya White 2Y Female

Clayfarm Contessa – Huacaya Adult White Female

Green Mountain Alpaca Fall Spectacular, Essex, VT

CHAMPION

CCNF Charming – Huacaya Brown Female

Chatham Lancaster’s La Boheme – Huacaya Fawn Female

CCNF Panamera – Huacaya Light Female

RESERVE CHAMPION

CCNF Awesome Blossom – Huacaya White Female

GET OF SIRE

CCNF Royal Ring of Fire – 1st Place (co owned with Alpaca Grove)

BREEDERS BEST THREE (1st Place)

1st PLACE

CCNF Charming – Huacaya Medium Brown Female

Chatham Lancaster’s La Boheme – Huacaya Medium Fawn Yearling Female

CCNF Panamera – Huacaya Yearling Beige Female

CCNF Pixie – Huacaya White Yearling Female

CCNF Awesome Blossom – Bred & Owned Yearling Female

CCNF Golden Sambac – Huacaya Dark Brown Yearling Male

CCNF Vertigo – Huacaya Beige Yearling Male

CCNF Shockwave – Huacaya White Yearling Male

Empire Alpaca Extravaganza, Syracuse, NY

CHAMPION

CCNF Annabeth – Grey Huacaya Female

RESERVE CHAMPION

CCNF Golden Sambac – Brown Huacaya Male

CCNF Lilah – Fawn Huacaya Female

1st PLACE

CCNF Golden Sambac – Huacaya Dark Brown Yearling Male

CCNF Vertigo – Huacaya Beige Yearling Male

CCNF Shockwave – Huacaya White Yearling Male

CCNF Lilah – Huacaya Dark Fawn Yearling Female

CCNF Annabeth – Huacaya CR Grey Yearling Female

*Correction: in the original version of this post it stated incorrectly that Snowmass Matrix Majesty was the 2010 Brown Futurity Champion, when he was in fact the Fawn Futurity Champion.