CCNF at the Eastern Alpaca Jamboree

Welcome to the CCNF spring show season redux. Though we technically just competed in three different shows over April Fool’s weekend (a joke that writes itself on multiple levels), it honestly felt like a lot less work. It was certainly less stressful than what we are usually accustomed to this time of year. Look, a part of us loves the Futurity Show, what it has meant to our breeding program, and how the outside world perceives us because of our results there over the years. That aspect of it is all good. However, the Futurity Show is also such a big deal that, in some ways, it generates its own weather systems within the US alpaca industry, and I find myself feeling pretty zen about taking a break from it for a couple of years. Here is a quick little context primer for those of you that may not follow what I’m talking about:

We had known since last year that because of a temporary calendar shift by the American Royal Center in Kansas City, MO imposed upon the good folks at Celebrity Sales (AKA Tim and Teresa Vincent, who run The Futurity Show & Sale), that a scheduling conflict was created with our (CCNF’s) long-standing shearing dates. Because of that conflict, we decided not to attend the Futurity Show in Kansas City in either 2023 or 2024. Leaving aside the wisdom (and, in actuality, the very real increased risk) of transporting high-value alpaca breeding stock in full fleece 10 to 14 days later in the calendar year than in other recent years, we also didn’t feel from a purely quality-of-life point of view — to say nothing of the logistical headaches — like arriving home from 8 days on the road in late April, only to then almost immediately commence four consecutive days of shearing. I want to tell you that it was a hard choice that we deliberated over for hours or even days before painfully coming to a decision not to travel out to KC this spring. In point of fact, particularly after the truck drama of 2022, I may have even been a touch gleeful at the prospect of NOT driving two rigs and 40+ alpacas on a 46-hour round-trip haul. Sad not to be seeing some of our dearest west coast alpaca friends and getting a chance to defend our most recent Large Breeder of the Year title in KC this year? Unquestionably. Especially the friends part. But you know who was already missing that 14-hour, mid-haul Erie, PA to Columbia, MO run? Not this guy.

So what to do instead of Futurity? Knowing we only wanted to do one event this spring, after looking at the show calendar and seeing what was out there, the most straightforward answer presented itself in the form of the newly-minted Eastern Alpaca Jamboree, a multi-show event run by our old friends Scott and Ann Young and Kevin O’Leary in Harrisburg, PA. Good dates? Check. Solid judging lineup? Check. Good venue? Check. Fun restaurant scene in town? Check? And all within a 7 to 8-hour drive of home. Bonus points for taking us back to a facility where 22 years ago Jennifer nursed a 3-week-old Max Lutz, while yours truly showed our small team of alpacas (it was only our second-ever Mapaca Jubilee in ’01), and my sister-in-law entertained his older brother, Sam, at nearby Hersheypark. My lasting memory of that weekend is of our toddler on that first evening after the show had started, bounding into our hotel room and jumping up onto the bed, laughing hysterically as only those little ones can, all while sporting an actual ring of chocolate around his mouth from a day well-spent with his beloved Aunt Gwen.

Because the Futurity and the spring shows here in the northeast usually have either conflicted or fallen very close together, we have, over the past 10+ years, chosen to do one or the other (go west or stay put) in April. Consequently, it had been six years — the 2016 Mapaca Jubilee — since we had last made an appearance in Harrisburg at a show with animals, and though we’ve shown several other times there since those early 2000s events, nowadays, things are more sedate with both of our boys off living young adult lives of their own, and the somewhat rowdy after-parties that were partaken of in our early and mid-thirties (those with our kids back at home in Vermont in the care of grandparents, it should be said) a thing of the past. We of course still crack a bottle or two of red wine at our show booth at the end of the day to share amongst our team and any friends that wander over, but it’s a pretty chilled-out scene compared to the benevolent debauchery of the mid to late oughts.

This year as was often the case when heading to PA, it was another early Thursday drive (animals loaded onto the trailer at 4 AM) and setup day, with the Jamboree kicking off the following morning. The Jamboree was made up of three different individual halter shows for us: the Empire Alpaca Association Spring Show, the PAOBA Breeder’s Showcase, and the North American Alpaca Show, with the vast majority of each held on one of either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, followed by pack-up and then a late afternoon/evening drive home back to Vermont, pushed on by the promise of home and our own bed. As it was, we were fully unloaded and walking into the house by 11:30 that night: not too shabby.

Yes, yes, but how did it go? Needing a show team capable of fitting entirely into one trailer, we had come with only 17 animals in tow. That still sounds like a lot, except when compared to the 45+ (truly a form of unnecessary self-flagellation) we’ve had at other spring events in years prior. Helping us to survive the crazy were our old friends and partners in crime Sue Monat, Vin Veratti, Dave Serino (back from injured reserve!), and Dell Rodman, who also brought with him our co-owned juvie male and Herdsire prospect, Colonial Dimitri – more on him in the winnings below. All in all, it was three days well spent: we won some, we lost some, but overall we could have no complaints.

It was the final halter shows ever for a bunch of our yearling females whom we have all adored from the day they were born: Val-Alpine, Rosanna, Kimiko, and Khalida. Variety is of course the spice of life though and the different judges often saw things…at least somewhat differently, which is honestly fine. We’ve been at this long enough to understand that if showing and judging alpacas was a purely objective exercise, it would be even duller than it is now, which is saying something. And with all due respect: the Stanley Cup or UEFA Champions League final it is not. In any case, regardless of their show results, all four of those lovely yearling females will now be shorn in a couple of weeks, get bred, and join our production herd.

As for the male and female juveniles of the team, they too held their own. Though it was fascinating to see some of our longer-stapled fleeces in real-time go through different stages of appearance depending upon the weather outside and the resulting humidity in the show barn. A couple of the young females in particular that were opening up cross-fibered and looking rather dull on Friday, were remarkably improved by Saturday, and by Sunday were looking like world-beaters. C’est la vie. The judges can only judge what’s before them in the ring: they don’t have crystal balls, nor should they. “Keep breeding great alpacas and keep showing up.” Plus, complaining about placements at an alpaca show is a whiny-ass uptown problem, if ever there was one. Not that yours truly has not partaken of that particular tediousness before; I’m just trying to be self-aware.

Now having buried the lede (here we are in the 8th paragraph): the easy takeaway for us from our weekend at the Jamboree is that the babies of CCNF Campana (an Elixir/SuperNova/Pachelbel amalgam) and Irish Meadows Elite Max (whom we co-own with his birth farm) are apparently really quite good. Probably not a fluke, 2023 edition? Their first offspring together, CCNF Carillon, was part of the lost generation of females here who missed most of her would-be halter show opportunities because of the Covid pandemic before joining our breeding herd last year. Carillon was nonetheless the back-to-back White Female Color Champion at the 2021 and 2022 AOA National Fleece Shows though, as well as winning the Judges’ Choice Female Huacaya in ’21.

This time around in Harrisburg, it was Carillon’s full kid brother, CCNF Camden — all of 8 months of age — winning both his color Championships (white, like his big sister) and the Judge’s Choice awards in all three halter shows at the Jamboree! We will be the first to admit that perhaps as one of several white males in a 2022 birth class loaded with them, Camden had flown a bit under our radar. Though when I saw his fleece opened by one of the judges on Friday morning in his first juvie class, I knew there was at least some potential for something fun to happen. If you’ve done this alpaca thing long enough and fancy you know what you’re doing — and I think we have at least an above-average case for that claim — now and then, your breeding program produces an alpaca that is a legitimate ringer. That three judges (Jude Anderson, Stephanie Glyptis, and Arturo Pena) ultimately reached the same conclusion independently of each other speaks volumes of why we have young Camden pegged for bigger things than just winning nylon whenever he comes of age in 2024. Of course, he is still very young, but the markers are all there. And all of his newly acquired cool, colored show banners notwithstanding, his development and qualities will ultimately determine his value to us and the breeding program of which he is both a product and, potentially, a vital future cog. Fingers crossed on the little man, but that was a heck of a way to announce himself.

Alright, enough blathering. As ever, thanks for reading. Our top results from the 2023 Eastern Alpaca Jamboree can be seen by show and in chronological order (Empire, PAOBA, NAAS) below.

Follow me on Twitter at @CCNFAlpacas and on Instagram at ccnfalpacas. You can also find and follow Cas-Cad-Nac Farm Alpacas on Facebook here.

CCNF Championships & 1st Place Finishes at the 2023 Eastern Alpaca Jamboree, Harrisburg, PA

Empire Alpaca Association Spring Show, 3/31/23

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Judge’s Choice Huacaya Male

CCNF Val-Alpine (CCNF Valyria x Red Granite Val D Lsere) – Champion Brown Huacaya Female

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Champion White Huacaya Male

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – Reserve Champion Fawn Huacaya Female

CCNF Nicolas (CCNF Nikita x CCNF Reign Maker) – 1st Place, Dark Brown Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Jocelyn (CCNF Juneaux x CCNF Privateer) – 1st Place, Light Brown Juvenile Huacaya Female

CCNF Lilah’s Storm Front (CCNF Lilah x CCNF Dark Storm) – 1st Place, Brown Yearling Male Huacayas

CCNF Val-Alpine (CCNF Valyria x Red Granite Val D Lsere) – 1st Place, Brown Yearling Female Huacaya

CCNF Lunar Quinton (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – 1st Place, Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Okoye (CCNF Capuchin x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Fawn Yearling Huacaya Females

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Males

PAOBA Breeder’s Showcase, 4/1/23

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Judge’s Choice Huacaya Male

CCNF Kimiko (CCNF Khiara x CCNF Bataclan) – Judge’s Choice Huacaya Female

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Champion White Huacaya Male

CCNF Kimiko (CCNF Khiara x CCNF Bataclan) – Champion White Huacaya Female

CCNF Jocelyn (CCNF Juneaux x CCNF Privateer) – Reserve Champion Brown Huacaya Female

CCNF Lunar Quinton (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – Reserve Champion Fawn Huacaya Male

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – Reserve Champion Fawn Huacaya Female

CCNF Rosanna (CCNF Rosalva x CCNF Sucrose) – Reserve Champion Light Huacaya Female

CCNF Nicolas (CCNF Nikita x CCNF Reign Maker) – 1st Place, Dark Brown Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Jocelyn (CCNF Juneaux x CCNF Privateer) – 1st Place, Light Brown Juvenile Huacaya Female

CCNF Lunar Quinton (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Sovereign-Lily (CCNF Lilah x CCNF Sovereign-Legacy) – 1st Place, Medium Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Premislas (CCNF Prestige x CCNF Bataclan) – 1st Place, Beige Yearling Huacaya Males

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Lux Aeterna (CCNF Prescience x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Kimiko (CCNF Khiara x CCNF Bataclan) – 1st Place, White Yearling Huacaya Females

North American Alpaca Show, 4/2/23

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Judge’s Choice Huacaya Male

CCNF Val-Alpine (CCNF Valyria x Red Granite Val D Lsere) – Champion Brown Huacaya Female

Colonial Dimitri (CCNF Dorianna x CCNF Moonraker) – Champion Fawn Huacaya Male*

CCNF Rosanna (CCNF Rosalva x CCNF Sucrose) – Champion Light Huacaya Female

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – Champion White Huacaya Male

CCNF Lux Aeterna (CCNF Prescience x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – Champion White Huacaya Female

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – Reserve Champion Fawn Huacaya Female

CCNF Lilah’s Storm Front (CCNF Lilah x CCNF Dark Storm) – 1st Place, Brown Yearling Male Huacayas

CCNF Val-Alpine (CCNF Valyria x Red Granite Val D Lsere) – 1st Place, Brown Yearling Female Huacaya

Colonial Dimitri (CCNF Dorianna x CCNF Moonraker) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Male Huacayas*

CCNF Rhaeynera (CCNF Lyanna x CCNF Bataclan) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Sovereign-Lily (CCNF Lilah x CCNF Sovereign-Legacy) – 1st Place, Medium Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Rosanna (CCNF Rosalva x CCNF Sucrose) – 1st Place, Light Yearling Huacaya Females

CCNF Camden (CCNF Campana x Irish Meadow’s Elite Max) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Lux Aeterna (CCNF Prescience x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Females

*Colonial Dimitri was shown by and is co-owned with Colonial Alpacas of Williamstown, MA