Another puzzle piece arrives at CCNF

Part of the deal last year that brought Snowmass Elite Legend into the fold both here and at Tripping Gnome Farm (EL is co owned by CCNF/TGF and Quechua Enterprises) also involved a straight-up partnership between ourselves and Snowmass Alpacas on their Champion fawn Herdsire, Snowmass Matrix Majesty. Elite Legend was pretty much the perfect fit in terms of new genetics we could plug into our white/light program but we also needed some new blood for the colored side of the equation and Matrix Majesty fit that bill perfectly as well.

At the time we agreed on the purchase of both boys, the idea was that they would be somewhat staggered in terms of the time periods they would spend on the west and east coasts: Elite Legend arrived last August for a year’s stay bouncing back and forth between his two east coast owners and will be returning to Idaho the same time this summer. As for Matrix Majesty, we had been eagerly awaiting his arrival here in VT in 2011. Good things come to those who wait.

So it was that old friend and professional hauler, Mike Cates, showed up last Sunday with someone special onboard, just an hour after we got home from the NAAS no less. Even if we hadn’t done well at the show I guess that would have perked us up some. It’s not everyday after all that you get a new Futurity Champion dropped off! Needless to say we are thrilled with our latest arrival, even if we did have to wait 9 months for him to set foot here at CCNF. After a couple of days of adjustment to his new surroundings in the Main Barn, yours truly (who handles 90% of the breeding action during the spring/summer/fall) walked him down to meet his peers at the Stud Barn where he will live while he’s here in Vermont. Though there was of course the usual alpaca chest thumping and showboating (“Hey Avenger you can’t hump the new guy…I want to hump the new guy!”), after about 20 minutes of relatively gentle hazing you would have thought that Majesty had always been here. Turnabout is always fair play and it’s worth noting that he of course also did a little nipping and jumping on his new barn-mates himself. Boys will be boys.

Matrix Majesty will now have to wait a couple of months to see his first action up at the Arena, as we don’t start actively breeding our own females until early June. Having said that though, we are already salivating at the possibilities and it is highly probable that females bred to this exquisite Herdsire will appear on our sales list before the calendar year is out. With a potent core of Ring of Fire, Nova, Cameron, Andean Bronze, and Legacy Gold daughters in waiting at the top of the hill, it’s not likely that the new kid will get bored in 2011!