2013 Empire Alpaca Extravaganza: the show seasons ends with a bang!
Well that was interesting to say the least. We honestly didn’t head to the Empire show in Syracuse, NY last Friday thinking that we could possibly improve upon the previous week’s results from the Green Mountain show, yet improve we did. How well did we do? I think that both Jennifer and I would say that the results we garnered at Empire would be akin to what we would have wished for if one had put us under hypnosis and asked us to name our dream weekend at a single show. In other words: crazy, fantasy type stuff…
In the halter show alone, our animals recorded 20 1st place finishes in the regular halter classes (not counting any group production classes) with 6 of those animals going on to claim the Championships in their respective color groups (Brown Male & Female, Fawn Male & Female, White Male & Female) and 4 others taking their color group’s Reserve Championships (Brown Male, Fawn Male & Female, Light Female). As if that wasn’t enough, we also managed to win 2 Championships and 2 Reserve Championships in the Extravaganza’s fleece show too. But the icing on the cake of the entire weekend for us, was what led to that photo at left: CCNF animals also swept the male and female Judges’ Choice awards! Ever heard that old worn sports cliche about “don’t get too low when you’re losing and don’t get too high when your winning?” Well, we’re quite frankly having to apply the second part of that in a big way right about now. Simmer down. While we obviously take great pride in what our breeding program has produced and stands for, we also completely get it that the chances of ever having 2 shows in a row like the ones we just did are pretty darn slim. I guess the trick is to enjoy the ride while still trying to keep everything in perspective.
Throughout this past weekend it definitely felt like there was a coming out party of sorts for several members of our show string. Though most of the critters in question all came from well known lines within our breeding program, they had perhaps yet to fully announce their presence quite the same way they did in Syracuse. Not least of these of course were the two Judges’ Choice animals. The female, Prima Majesty who was also the Fawn Champion for the 2nd week in a row, is just the latest member of her powerful maternal line — originally founded here by PPPeruvian Pachelbel — to make a splash. It’s the same line that produced our AOBA Champions Bellarina (Prima’s dam) and Bellagio, as well as playing a significant part in the genetics of our Futurity Champion, TKO’s King of the Ladies. We’re already looking forward to figuring out Prima’s first breeding in the summer of 2014!
The maternal line of the Judges’ Choice male, Legionnaire, will also be familiar to those who have followed our program and arguably the history of the greater North American herd itself. Legionnaire, who is medium fawn in color, is just the latest Champion cria out of another of our super-dams, in this case Magdalena, herself the daughter of the legendary imported female, PPeruvian Jesusa, and our dearly departed Snowmass Legacy Gold. Legionnaire’s older maternal siblings Johanna, Lilah, and Magnus were all show Champions in their own right, so this just means that he will now also be welcomed into the family’s clubhouse.
Of course it must be pointed out that both Prima and Legionnaire are also paternal siblings, having been sired by our reigning Futurity Herdsire of the Year, Snowmass Matrix Majesty. The Majesty kids did amazingly well for the 2nd week in a row, by the way. Eighteen of the 28 animals with us this past weekend were his offspring and none finished worse than 3rd, all while accounting for 7 of the Championships that we won. Needless to say, that we are very happy to have Majesty with us full time nowadays here at CCNF. Having him be the Herdsire that is doing mop-up/end-of-the season breeding for the females that some of our co owned boys couldn’t get bred before leaving us several weeks back for our partner farms, is unquestionably a real luxury!
Last but certainly not least, I would be remiss were I not to talk a little bit about our two white Champions from Empire, each of of whom comes with a tale that goes a ways to explaining some of our strategic moves over the past few years. Our little juvenile girl, Daliance, is the daughter of our Futurity/AOBA Champion Precocious daughter, Flirtatious, who was bred at the relatively young age of 16 months to none other than Snowmass Sub-Zero. Of course that was a breeding we bought, Sub still being owned by Snowmass and Tripping Gnome Farm at that time in 2011. Suffice it to say that the birth of this little white fleece monster in the fall of last year and the revelation that Precocious/Sub-Zero genetics seemed to work well together, played no small part in our decision to pursue half interest in Sub when TGF decided they were moving on to other things. As for our white Champion male, Centurion, he has really filled out over the past six months and is now very much looking the part of a future Herdsire. Though it might be a a little surprising to some to learn that he is in fact a Majesty son because of his color (Matrix Majesty is dark fawn or light brown depending on your color chart), his fleece qualities do not betray his ancestry, and are very much derived from both sides of his pedigree. His dam, Ascension, is one of our best Archangel daughters ever, and when bred to Elite Legend (both EL and Matrix Majesty come out of the Snowmass Quechua line) a couple of years back, she produced an exciting young beige male named…Elixir. Perhaps you’ve heard of him before? The point being that young Centurion is probably not what one would call a genetic fluke!
While it feels a little odd to know that we are done with the show circuit until late next winter — AOBA Nationals will be in Harrisburg, PA in March 2014 — there is also a sense of palpable relief. The fact that our fall show/event season’s end coincided almost exactly with the end of our boys’ respective soccer seasons also means that life looks considerably less frenetic for the first time since the third week of August. Heck, we might have time now to really cook the odd evening meal again or even read a book, you know…for fun. Miracles never cease. 😉
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