Monday 4 July 2011

Well that's a surprise!

Today we welcomed our ninth cria of the year into the world. A warm sunny day was just what the doctor ordered and it was another birth that we missed. I was at work and Sue had nipped out to do some shopping.
When she got back and cast an eye over the mighty herd a small light coloured object caught her eye.

After a quick investigation Sue rang me at work and left a breathless message on my answerphone asking me to ring in. Now Sue only leaves breathless messages when she has been galloping and Sue only gallops when there is a new cria on the ground.
Impatiently I rang back to find out who had dropped one. It was Millie!
Regular readers may remember that this was the big one for me, the one I was most looking forward to. Millie was twice reserve champion last year and is our best brown female. Not only that but she is the daughter of our Lily, my most favourite alpaca in the whole wide world. So Millie is special, she is on the 'Never to be sold list' and is a superstar.
She is a Centurion daughter so has black parents and she was pregnant to the awesome Jack of Spades. This could be good I thought, this is next years brown Champion, I pondered dreaming of sashes and rosettes galore, here we go I thought excitedly.
'It's not exactly what was ordered' said Sue as I froze instantly, almost too frightened to ask as images  of Pantomime horses flashed through my mind.
'It's a fawn boy and he's absolutely gorgeous, you shouldn't be disapppointed, he's strong and healthy and lovely!'


In one respect, from a business point of view, I am disappointed. I had ordered a brown girl, a championship winning brown girl. But he is a little cracker!


He's a bit of a tiddler, although he had been baked for 344 days he weighed in at 7.68 kilos but is strong and feeding well and well, he is pretty darn gorgeous!


Disappointed? Me? For an instant maybe but not anymore. He is going to be a real favourite here, we just know it.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

look here, some folks appreciate fawn and get every colour but...and whats with all this just finding them...how easy is that;)

Seriously congratulations he looks lovely.

Amiryck said...

He looks lurvely

Debbie, Barnacre Alpacas said...

He looks a little stunner.

If it makes you feel better our brown female champion mated to brown Golden Guinea has also produced a fawn.

Suzanne@ Panteg Alpacas said...

Congratulations he looks lovely

Rosemary said...

He is a lovely colour - congratulations!

Apple Vale Alpacas said...

Millie is special, Lily is favourite, so he's got a good psychological start - yesterday, I read a review of the National Show in Alpaca magazine, and apparently according to judge Tim Hey, "...you don't have to be big to be mighty...". You don't have to be black, or brown to be mighty either - looks like the beginning of a new line for you Mark - glad he's healthy.

Zanzibah Alpacas said...

Congratulations....you can't be disappointed with that gorgeous boy.....he is quality no matter what colour..........just lighter shade of brown.......Jayne

Cotswold Vale Alpacas said...

He looks a gorgeous boy, and a super colour.

It never fails to amaze me what colour some girls produce! Last year we had a dark fawn give birth to a white cria, then we had a white girl give birth to a dark fawn!! On the same day, both were Suri girls, and if I wasn't there at the births would have been convinced they had swapped babies!!

But whatever the colour, the most important thing is a lovely healthy baby.

Well done on your latest arrival


Ginnie

Judi said...

Sometimes they deliver our orders to the wrong address...just like some well known carriers!! So...who will get the little brown girl you ordered and.. will you ever find out??!

Knapper Alpakka said...

He looks great. Almost golden in his fleece :-) Fawn is a brown colour too ;-)

Congrats!

Lucy said...

He's gorgeous! Disappointed?! Pah!