Show Team update

I have decided that today I will post a blog about the Mighty Patou Show Team 2011 and how it is progressing. My opinion? Very nicely indeed thank you.

This year we will have our biggest show team ever, only five alpacas, small to some but big to us. This will be our fifth year in the show ring and our biggest show team to date has been three. We are in unchartered territory here. We will have to be right on top of our organisational skills. We will have to be calm, collected, dare I even say it, professional in our approach. I will have to lower my excitement levels considerably.

For I am excited. It is only just over four weeks until The Futurity. How will the team do? I have no idea. Actually, I have some idea. An idea that is based on the facts in front of me.
I have looked at the show team in great depth over the past few months. Their fleeces have all changed, some for the better, some for the worse. They may change again.
What I can say with some certainty is that this is the best show team we have ever had. We have stepped up a gear. I know, or at least I presume that everyone else, the opposition, will have improved on what they had last year. If not people, watch out, you are in for a kicking. That's how good we are!

Alright enough of the breast beating, they'll be plenty of time for that when we get underway.

So this morning I have been out with the camera with varying degrees of success. It is a dingy morning with a touch of drizzle in the air.

The first picture is of Patou Runa, daughter of Patou Lily, my favourite alpaca in the whole wide world. She will be in the junior black female class and I know for sure that she will not win. We shouldn't be taking her really but I entered the team early. She will not win because she will be beaten by another member of our team, more on that further down the page. Runa doesn't like to pose for the camera, but she is lovely.

Next up is Patou Roger Resilient, our entry in the junior brown male class. I suspect this may be a tough class for little Roger, he will have his work cut out. He is pictured with Patou Rico.

And here is Patou Rico, our entry in the junior black male class. Rico is the most laid back cria we have, impossible to rush him. If he could whistle, he would be whistling constantly. How can you not love that face?

Now the reason that Runa will not win the junior black female class. Patou Ruby May. The powerhouse of the team. Ruby is simply awesome. She is the best black cria we have ever had by a distance. She is the heaviest boned cria we have ever had and she has a super bright crimpy fleece all over her. A certain black alpaca breeder better watch out. Patou Ruby May is focussed and ready to do battle. She's coming for you big boy!

Lastly and by no means least, in fact I think the absolute pick of our team, is Patou Reeya, daughter of our old Chilean import Dee. Reeya, always poses for the camera. To get the above four pictures I had to take about 30 and pick one that was half decent for each alpaca. Not that way with Reeya. One photgraph was all it took. I actually took two, the other is equally as good. She is just a born superstar. She oozes class, not just to photograph but also in her fleece. She has without doubt the best fleece of any animal we have bred.

So there we have it, the Mighty Patou Show Team. It will change as the year goes on as the Mighty Van Diemen Qjori of Patou will be joining in later.

Sorry if any of you take offence at the contents of this blog posting. I have stuck my neck out, I have put my head on the block, I have set myself up for a fall, I have set out my stall, all of that.

If you know me you will know that I am a bit of a berk and that I don't take myself very seriously. If we win any rosettes I will cry with joy, can't help myself. If we don't win any, I will shrug my shoulders and move on.

We take our alpaca breeding seriously here in Patouland. We are doing what we can to breed the best. But, and this is a big but, we do it with a smile, a wink and a chuckle. Anything for a giggle and if the joke is on us occasionally, so be it, we can take it.

One thing I didn't mention was that, in case you were not aware, all of the above show team were sired by the same male. The awesome Lillyfield Jack of Spades of Inca. He is the business.