Time to get the band back together.
Yes, it may feel a little strange to to be thinking about our spring 2018 show season starting up again when we just got dumped on by the latest nor’easter to make its way inland from the coast – but such is the reality of March in northern New England. We have for the better part of a decade now followed a relatively truncated yearly show schedule: the North American Alpaca Show (now a double show with the Northeast Alpaca Expo) followed or preceded by either AOBA/AOA Nationals OR The Futurity OR the Mapaca Jubilee (if you ever see me attending all 4 in a single season, please do the right thing and put me out of my misery, or at least offer up a stiff drink), depending on the year and the school calendar of our kids, followed in the fall by whichever iteration the NEAOBA show was/is taking place, and then the Empire Extravaganza both of which have likewise now merged into a 2-show event, the Showtacular. In between, we have usually sent fleeces to the AOBA/AOA National Fleece Show and the Mapaca Fleece Show (such as it was), regardless of whether we were at either event in person or not.
That all has been crazy enough frankly, especially with a show team that has tended to wax and wane between 25 and 45 alpacas, depending both upon the show in question as well as our mental state. Consequently, we have for several years now been deeply dependent on the enthusiasm and loyalty of a group of dear friends (in no order: Sue Monat, Dave Serino, and of course those lovely Padgett people from Maryland) who have come to lend a hand, quite literally helping us to pull off what would otherwise be an impossible, herculean task. This year we are leaning on that group even more so, as our older son is off doing his pilot thing at college in Florida, which means we are down one very experienced (and strong) handler. Though we of course miss him every day, Sammy has bigger fish to fry and that understandably precludes him from walking alpacas in circles for 2 weekends in a row come April with his parents and little brother. It is the natural course of things. Ce’st la vie, we will just have to adapt.
The next month will be a crazy one — as is the March tradition — as Jen and our Herd Manager, Kim Duprey, do all of the initial training sessions in the round pen followed by the halter and lead work for the 2017 crias that have been chosen to join the show team. That was in fact a selection process we went through last week (better late than never) and though it can at times be tough (or not) deciding who it is that gets to hit the road to represent our breeding program vs. who gets left behind, those selection headaches are a lovely dilemma to have. For the first 20 years of this program’s existence it has been our mantra that all we can do is breed and produce the best animals we can and keep showing up. It may sound trite but its true. The bottom line being that quality usually speaks for itself. As we begin our third decade in alpacadom, that hasn’t changed. Forward we go, see you out there…
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