CCNF Legionnaire at the 2014 Breeders Edge Auction

Cas-Cad-Nac Farm is thrilled to announce that we will be offering our superlative young Champion and Judges’ Choice Herdsire, CCNF Legionnaire, as lot #7 at the 2014 Breeders Edge Auction, hosted as always by the good folks at Double “O” Good Alpacas this coming August!

Though Legionnaire is first and foremost sired by our 2013 Futurity Herdsire of the Year, Snowmass Matrix Majesty, he is arguably even more importantly also a member of what must be considered CCNF’s royal family on his maternal side! In fact, this will mark one of the few times in the 17 years of our breeding program’s history that we have ever offered a member of his illustrious maternal line for outright sale. As for the most recent member of that line that we did part with, CCNF Eva Rose (Eva is Legionnaire’s niece, but more on that later)…She was last seen winning a color Championship for her new owner last fall! We digress though.

Legionnaire’s dam is CCNF Magdalena, our fawn Futurity Champion who is at once both the best female ever sired by our legendary Herdsire, Snowmass Legacy Gold (now deceased), as well as the daughter of the all time great super-dam, PPeruvian Jesusa. While LG really needs little introduction (his other kids include CCNF Archangel and Snowmass Invincible, you might have heard of them, no?), Jesusa is easily just as important a name in the history of the domestic North American herd and can be found in the pedigrees of many of this country’s most important alpacas, not least of which is Snowmass Quechua (incidentally, she can also be found twice on Legionnaire’s pedigree). We were fortunate to have Jesusa here in our foundation herd in the latter half of her life, and she gave us not only Magdalena but also Maggie’s full sibling, Golden Sovereign, who has likewise gone on to sire his very own line of Champions.

While Legionnaire was Magdalena’s 2012 cria, he is in fact really not all that exceptional when compared to his maternal siblings, if only because they have all been so amazing. Magdalena’s kids’ names read like a who’s who of our breeding program’s most award winning offspring: CCNF Johanna (Futurity/NAAS/Mapaca Champion and Judges Choice winner), CCNF Magnus (a Champion Herdsire we co own with our friends at Hilltop Alpacas), and CCNF Lilah (Champion and Judges’ Choice winner). Both of Legionnaire’s older sisters, Johanna and Lilah, are now old enough that they are productive members of our foundation herd, each in their own right (the aforementioned Eva Rose was in fact Johanna’s second cria).  Though Magdalena graced us with yet another little girl in 2013 – CCNF Maria, sired by Ring of Fire – we plan on likewise bringing that latest young female into the fold as well when she is of age in 2015.

All of which just goes to show how much we hate to part with members of that family and why the sale of Legionnaire is not the sort of thing we regularly offer! In this particular case, we happen to fully own both the world-class sire and dam and after years of collecting (hoarding?) his maternal line, in 2014 we will have the extreme luxury of having 5 female members of that family in production here: Magdalena, Johanna, and Lilah as well as Johanna’s daughters Alexandra and Eternal Rose (also, not by chance, sired by Matrix Majesty). Trust us when we say that Legionnaire and his genetics are as precious as they are rare. Though we are of course proud to have the opportunity to offer such a special young alpaca male in the spotlight of a major sale like the Breeders Edge, he will not come cheaply. Quite frankly, in the unlikely event that others do not recognize what is at stake here and step up to buy Legionnaire, he will be more than welcome to come back home to CCNF where he will slot in alongside his famous sire in the CCNF Stud Barn. We know his genetic lines inside and out and more importantly we know how to breed them going forward. So whether someone buys him or not, we feel like we will win either way.

So what of the actual qualities of our young Champion though? Well genetics aside, just as a specimen, Legionnaire is the absolute complete package. He is not only conformationally correct but is also phenotypically very pleasing to the eye. We could all, always, use more of that in our respective herds! Then there are also the aspects of Legionnaire’s excellence that can not only be seen but also felt (his 2013 fiber stats, BTW: 16.9, 3.9, 22.9. 0.9). The combination of brightness, fineness, density, and the uniformity of his fleece that carries well down into his extremities, makes Legionnaire a prototype of what North American alpaca breeders should be pursuing. That he inherits those traits in equal measure from both sides of his pedigree, with those qualities present already several generations back, just means that the odds of his being prepotent as a working Herdsire are just that much greater. By any measure, Legionnaire is the absolute real deal. So mark your calendars for August and the Breeders Edge: CCNF Legionnaire is coming!

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