Pretty crap start to the day today.
We are on high alert here as we move into the birthing window for 10 girls.
6am and Sue ran up the stairs announcing that Sabrina was giving birth.
I was straight out and sure enough a head and two front legs were out. Airway was clear and all appeared normal.
However, it soon became obvious that Sabrina was exhausted and was having trouble giving birth.
I delivered the cria but after 30 minutes of trying everything we just couldn't get her breathing and had to call it a day.
Sabrina, meanwhile, was flat out exhausted and had lost a fair amount of blood. Two hours later and she is much improved having had oxytocin (placenta now out, and normal), antibiotics and pain relief.
The cria was a big beautiful dark brown female and I have just laid her to rest in a lovely spot in the field. Tears are falling on the keyboard as I type, I know it is all part of breeding animals but it's hard to come to terms with.
Sabrina knew she was in need of help, she was lying right next to the gate that we always enter the field by.
I know that there was nothing else we could have done, we will be up earlier tomorrow.
Shearing tomorrow, I have a busy day ahead of me getting everything set up.
You don't have to be big to be mighty.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Monday, 2 June 2014
Knackered, as the real work begins!
It was 7pm last Saturday when I finally pulled up outside Patou HQ, weary, knackered, hungry and gasping for a drink. After four and a half days at the Royal Bath and West show I was home, ready to unload the show team and all their kit. The last show of the summer (well maybe just one more in August) was over and so was I, almost.
We had a good show, but it's always difficult for breeders coming from the dark side at the Bath and West as it is run as an age championship, rather than the more familiar and MUCH BETTER colour championship. It basically means that the black, brown and grey juniors are compared to all the other light coloured juniors and so on. That invariably means that the Supreme championship line up is made up of white, light and fawn alpacas, from my point of view that looks a bit dull to anyone watching. OK, so it may be argued that they are the best alpacas in the show and so deserve to be there, but for spectators and breeders of the darker alpacas it is all a bit..........boring. Oops.... did I just say that?
At this point I must point out that there was one exception in the line up this year.
Shining out like a beautiful ball of anthracite amongst a ring of dirty cotton wool, smoulderingly good looking and seemingly tearing a hole through the atmosphere from another darker world was a super Inca female. Black as the ace (or should that be Jack) of Spades, she stood alone amongst all the general assembled beigeness. All was not lost, we, the champions of the dark side were represented by the best of us all.
Actually I was also in the line up with a little white boy owned by Classical Mile End alpacas. He went on to win Best of British, very deservedly.
In that Supreme line up we stood next to the eventual Supreme Champion, a junior fawn female owned by Houghton Hall Alpacas, who was absolutely beautiful. Her fleece was simply gorgeous, like molten gold. A very worthy winner.
Right enough of that drivel. The highlight for team Patou was that we were represented in the ring by two young Patou warriors, Gus had been accompanied by his best mate, George Fry and both of them were up for a scrap. Having camped on site we were up early and breakfasted ready to do battle on Thursday, junior day. Unusually the Bath and West show not only runs as an age championship but also runs in reverse order. I have no idea why, but it does. That meant the whites were in first and we weren't in the ring until after lunch.
Just before lunch, however, was a small matter of the junior handler class. Gus and George were entered in a line up of five eager handlers, including, past master and hot favourite, Isla May, a very shrewd operator with a steely glint in her eye.
The boys couldn't match Isla and she took the trophy, Gus coming second and George a very creditable third. Top marks to Barbara for her judging in, undoubtedly, the toughest class of the show!
Lunch was taken as the boys prepared for the proper show classes and it wasn't long before they were doing battle in the junior grey class. First for Vickery with Gus and second for Wasimba and George, the Mighty Patou were up and running.
As usual it was a all over in a blur with Gus going in six consecutive classes, brown, black and grey, not just for us, he was in demand.
He took Wesley in the junior black male class and came second behind some old bloke from Somerset, who was a little too smug showing off his first placed rosette!
The nuts and bolts of it were that we ended up with colourful display of rosettes as the big boys Tsar and Talisker took first and second in the intermediate brown class on Friday.
I am now at home with plenty to do, we are shearing next Wednesday and we need some sunshine to dry the shearing field up or we won't be able to get any vehicles in, I mean, come on, it's June! Where's the bloody sunshine!
We also have females to watch, ten girls have now passed the eleven month stage and are lying around like a load of beached whales. No galavanting about from now on, we are firmly and properly on 'cria watch'.
I also have a a group of animals to get ready for export, but more on that when they have safely landed the other side of the channel.
So what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer I hear you all roar!
Enough said, now where are my wellies?
We had a good show, but it's always difficult for breeders coming from the dark side at the Bath and West as it is run as an age championship, rather than the more familiar and MUCH BETTER colour championship. It basically means that the black, brown and grey juniors are compared to all the other light coloured juniors and so on. That invariably means that the Supreme championship line up is made up of white, light and fawn alpacas, from my point of view that looks a bit dull to anyone watching. OK, so it may be argued that they are the best alpacas in the show and so deserve to be there, but for spectators and breeders of the darker alpacas it is all a bit..........boring. Oops.... did I just say that?
At this point I must point out that there was one exception in the line up this year.
Shining out like a beautiful ball of anthracite amongst a ring of dirty cotton wool, smoulderingly good looking and seemingly tearing a hole through the atmosphere from another darker world was a super Inca female. Black as the ace (or should that be Jack) of Spades, she stood alone amongst all the general assembled beigeness. All was not lost, we, the champions of the dark side were represented by the best of us all.
Actually I was also in the line up with a little white boy owned by Classical Mile End alpacas. He went on to win Best of British, very deservedly.
In that Supreme line up we stood next to the eventual Supreme Champion, a junior fawn female owned by Houghton Hall Alpacas, who was absolutely beautiful. Her fleece was simply gorgeous, like molten gold. A very worthy winner.
Right enough of that drivel. The highlight for team Patou was that we were represented in the ring by two young Patou warriors, Gus had been accompanied by his best mate, George Fry and both of them were up for a scrap. Having camped on site we were up early and breakfasted ready to do battle on Thursday, junior day. Unusually the Bath and West show not only runs as an age championship but also runs in reverse order. I have no idea why, but it does. That meant the whites were in first and we weren't in the ring until after lunch.
Just before lunch, however, was a small matter of the junior handler class. Gus and George were entered in a line up of five eager handlers, including, past master and hot favourite, Isla May, a very shrewd operator with a steely glint in her eye.
The boys couldn't match Isla and she took the trophy, Gus coming second and George a very creditable third. Top marks to Barbara for her judging in, undoubtedly, the toughest class of the show!
Lunch was taken as the boys prepared for the proper show classes and it wasn't long before they were doing battle in the junior grey class. First for Vickery with Gus and second for Wasimba and George, the Mighty Patou were up and running.
As usual it was a all over in a blur with Gus going in six consecutive classes, brown, black and grey, not just for us, he was in demand.
He took Wesley in the junior black male class and came second behind some old bloke from Somerset, who was a little too smug showing off his first placed rosette!
The nuts and bolts of it were that we ended up with colourful display of rosettes as the big boys Tsar and Talisker took first and second in the intermediate brown class on Friday.
I am now at home with plenty to do, we are shearing next Wednesday and we need some sunshine to dry the shearing field up or we won't be able to get any vehicles in, I mean, come on, it's June! Where's the bloody sunshine!
We also have females to watch, ten girls have now passed the eleven month stage and are lying around like a load of beached whales. No galavanting about from now on, we are firmly and properly on 'cria watch'.
I also have a a group of animals to get ready for export, but more on that when they have safely landed the other side of the channel.
So what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer I hear you all roar!
Enough said, now where are my wellies?
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Devon County Show time!
The Devon County Showground has been my home for most of this week as I travelled west on Wednesday afternoon with the Mighty Patou Show team. I was once again 'flying solo' as Sue and Gus stayed at home.
Devon is a cracking show, the alpaca marquees are on top of a hill looking down on the rest of the show (how appropriate) and there is a lovely grassy area at the back where the happy campers stay on our illegal campsite. Having looked at the weather forecast I had chosen the 'tent within a tent' method of staying dry and with both tents being of the pop up variety I was very quickly set up and welcoming visitors for beer and sausages!
Thursday was our day, all the coloured alpacas were to be shown, leaving the other sort, you know, the see through ones, for Friday. This meant that there would be a flurry of activity as we had consecutive classes. I teamed up with Simon from Moonsbrook who was also flying solo and as I introduced him to coloured Huacayas on Thursday he let me into the see-through Suri world on Friday.
First up for us was little Patou Viking, on his show debut in the junior black male class. Sue and I had realised when loading up that we had forgotten to halter train Viking so it was going to be interesting! We had a few drag sessions and I thought the little fellow was going to fight me all the way but come show time, he pushed out his chest, held his head high and walked into the ring as if he did it every day. The National champion and his stable companion (4th place at the National) were in the ring so I was aiming high! I was absolutely delighted when Viking came third, a very decent effort!
We then went into the next class with our two little grey superstars, Patou Vickery and Patou Wasimba.
I was very pleased when we took 1st and 2nd place! What a start to the day!
However, next was the moment I had been waiting for, it was brown boy time. We had Warrior in the juniors and then Talisker and Tsar in the intermediate class. They looked great in the Devon sunshine, proper colour, proper alpacas. I was starting to feel very proud of our team and with Tsar time coming up I was in danger of getting emotional. For those of you who don't know me very well, I may look like an ageing nightclub bouncer but I am a big softie at heart.
The brown junior male class was the biggest class of the day and Warrior came home in creditable fourth place. Warrior is a smelly little sausage, over-fleeced and stinky, he needs shearing!
Warrior, Talisker and Tsar, waiting to do battle.
So, intermediate male time. Tsar time. Emotion time. Tsar was looking great, the sun shone and his fleece was absolutely gleaming. He came first, I just managed to hold back the tears but couldn't speak. When the judge, Liz Barlow, gave me the rosette I think I sort of squeaked at her. Thank you for the photograph Joy!
Talisker picked up the third place rosette and we were done for the day. Everyone had won something and I was very happy. The colour championships would be held on Saturday morning and Tsar, Vickery and Wasimba would be battling it out on behalf of team Patou.
The team relax after a hard days work and I pose for the camera with the days winnings. (Thanks again Joy)
Friday, I was honoured to be in and out of the ring with see-through Suris as Moonsbrook had a string of great results. Opposite end of the alpaca spectrum for me but they are intriguing beasts those Suris. Strong, feisty and a little bit mad, but beautiful when they are in full flow, but no, we won't be wavering from the fluffy path of darkness.
Late on Friday we were told that the main show was cancelled on Saturday, torrential rain overnight, every night, meant the car parks were mud baths and people simply couldn't get on to the show ground. It is the first time in 119 years that they have had to cancel a days showing. Splendidly the alpaca showing and the colour championships would carry on regardless. Less silly questions to answer at the pens and a concentration of breeders without distractions.
Vickery was in first and was awarded Reserve Champion Grey Male behind Di Davies' big boy. What a start to the day, again.
It was then brown time and Tsar was also awarded Reserve Champion brown male behind a Classical Mile End junior with a stunningly dense fleece. No complaints there and emotions under control.
Tsar, exhausted by his exploits spent the rest of the day fast asleep.
Overall a hugely successful and enjoyable show for us. I now have two days at home before setting off with the Mighty Patou Show team to the Royal Bath and West Show. This time I will be accompanied by Gus and his best mate George so I will once again be relegated to my role of Patou photographer and cooker of sausage. Happy days.
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
The road to nowhere.
Last weekend I thought it would be nice to load up the show team, drive to the wonderful M25, breakdown, become scared for the lives of the show team, limp to Cobham services and have a picnic, then ask someone else to tow us all home. I had seven hours to kill, the sun was shining, so why not?
Of course that was never the plan, but that is what happened. We had selected a mighty show team of seven to take to the South of England Show in West Sussex. It was a show that we had never been to and flying solo once more, I had the tent, the barbecue and the coolbox on board as well as the rest of the show paraphenalia. Luckily I had also strapped 8 hurdles to the side of the trailer, a premonition perhaps?
So to the details, a relaxed load up and departure and a gentle drive in the sunshine heading east. As I coasted along in heavy traffic between junction ten and nine I was suddenly aware that I was slowing down, a dab on the accelerator proved fruitless as I continued to slow down. I looked at the temperature gauge which showed the needle at the top of the red. I immediately pulled over onto the hard shoulder. Popping the bonnet I was engulfed in steam accompanied by a very loud hissing noise.
I immediately became aware that the one place I didn't want to be was on the hard shoulder of the busy M25 with a trailer of very precious, in all senses of the word, alpacas. Images of some moron ploughing into the back of the trailer caused me to move and think with seemingly superhuman speed. I chucked 2 litres of mineral water into the system and luckily the engine started, it was a mile to Cobham services and we made it by the skin of our teeth before the engine management system shut the system down again. A large sigh of relief all round. Jeepers creepers that was a scary place to be.
When I passed my driving test 31 years ago my parents bought me a years membership of the AA and I have been covered ever since, it was a day like this that made it all worthwhile. Not only that but it had been recommended to me a year or so ago that I take out a policy with Equestrian Rescue Services to cover the trailer and more importantly the alpacas. The AA will not recover trailers under their policies, a lot of people don't know that.
So, the AA were finally mobilised and on their way. I have to say the AA patrol people are fantastic but the call centre is a very frustrating place to communicate with, there may have been some shouting as they changed the arrangements for my recovery three times. Ooops.
To cut a long story short, the Discovery (I hadn't realised how filthy it was!) was taken home by the AA whilst I waited for ERS (who were absolutely brilliant by the way, in every respect) to arrive. Whilst waiting for the AA I had deployed the hurdles and the team had a munch on some lovely grass on the roadside. That slowed the traffic down I can tell you!
I have to tell you about one of the recovery wagon drivers ( I had three altogether due to 'call centre confusion'). The AA called out a local garage to try and fix me and get me back on the road. A gentleman, I think called Chris, turned up with a big tow truck and having seen the huge 4 inch gash in the top hose stated that I would need recovering. I hadn't mobilised ERS at this point as I really wanted to get patched up and continue onwards to the show. I pointed out that I would need to get ERS out for the trailer but Chris would have non of it, if he could, he would take us all home. He was an interesting character and about as far from 'jobsworth' as possible. Ex Royal Navy, ex dolphin and killer whale trainer and heavy duty biker he did everything in his power to make it so. Sadly, he didn't have the right kit to hitch up the trailer and had to admit defeat. There should be more people out there like him, the world would be a better place!
The situation now is that the trailer and the car are outside, I can move neither, the alpacas are grazing happily and I am looking at a bill anywhere between small and huge. I should have been sitting covered in rosettes and ribbons by the way! The car is being collected tomorrow and will be pressure tested to see if the head gasket has blown. Luckily the next show is Devon County so I have a little time to get sorted out.
All in a days 'work!'
Of course that was never the plan, but that is what happened. We had selected a mighty show team of seven to take to the South of England Show in West Sussex. It was a show that we had never been to and flying solo once more, I had the tent, the barbecue and the coolbox on board as well as the rest of the show paraphenalia. Luckily I had also strapped 8 hurdles to the side of the trailer, a premonition perhaps?
So to the details, a relaxed load up and departure and a gentle drive in the sunshine heading east. As I coasted along in heavy traffic between junction ten and nine I was suddenly aware that I was slowing down, a dab on the accelerator proved fruitless as I continued to slow down. I looked at the temperature gauge which showed the needle at the top of the red. I immediately pulled over onto the hard shoulder. Popping the bonnet I was engulfed in steam accompanied by a very loud hissing noise.
I immediately became aware that the one place I didn't want to be was on the hard shoulder of the busy M25 with a trailer of very precious, in all senses of the word, alpacas. Images of some moron ploughing into the back of the trailer caused me to move and think with seemingly superhuman speed. I chucked 2 litres of mineral water into the system and luckily the engine started, it was a mile to Cobham services and we made it by the skin of our teeth before the engine management system shut the system down again. A large sigh of relief all round. Jeepers creepers that was a scary place to be.
When I passed my driving test 31 years ago my parents bought me a years membership of the AA and I have been covered ever since, it was a day like this that made it all worthwhile. Not only that but it had been recommended to me a year or so ago that I take out a policy with Equestrian Rescue Services to cover the trailer and more importantly the alpacas. The AA will not recover trailers under their policies, a lot of people don't know that.
So, the AA were finally mobilised and on their way. I have to say the AA patrol people are fantastic but the call centre is a very frustrating place to communicate with, there may have been some shouting as they changed the arrangements for my recovery three times. Ooops.
To cut a long story short, the Discovery (I hadn't realised how filthy it was!) was taken home by the AA whilst I waited for ERS (who were absolutely brilliant by the way, in every respect) to arrive. Whilst waiting for the AA I had deployed the hurdles and the team had a munch on some lovely grass on the roadside. That slowed the traffic down I can tell you!
I have to tell you about one of the recovery wagon drivers ( I had three altogether due to 'call centre confusion'). The AA called out a local garage to try and fix me and get me back on the road. A gentleman, I think called Chris, turned up with a big tow truck and having seen the huge 4 inch gash in the top hose stated that I would need recovering. I hadn't mobilised ERS at this point as I really wanted to get patched up and continue onwards to the show. I pointed out that I would need to get ERS out for the trailer but Chris would have non of it, if he could, he would take us all home. He was an interesting character and about as far from 'jobsworth' as possible. Ex Royal Navy, ex dolphin and killer whale trainer and heavy duty biker he did everything in his power to make it so. Sadly, he didn't have the right kit to hitch up the trailer and had to admit defeat. There should be more people out there like him, the world would be a better place!
The situation now is that the trailer and the car are outside, I can move neither, the alpacas are grazing happily and I am looking at a bill anywhere between small and huge. I should have been sitting covered in rosettes and ribbons by the way! The car is being collected tomorrow and will be pressure tested to see if the head gasket has blown. Luckily the next show is Devon County so I have a little time to get sorted out.
All in a days 'work!'
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Right to the Heart of England.
Ok, so it's time to put chubby fingers to keyboard and type up a new blog entry.
It has been a busy couple of weeks and in particular a busy weekend at the Heart of England Alpaca Fiesta.
I had never been to this show before due to work commitments but now as my world has changed it has become a work commitment in itself! How very convenient!
I had selected a new show team with three unshown weanlings in it, the two grey boys, Wasimba and Vickery and brown youngster, Umberto. I have only got a small trailer and wanted to see how some others got on. The only remaining member of the team was Tsar and he was joined by Talisker in the intermediate brown category.
As usual I set off with high hopes, my highly competitive nature leading to a three hour trip dreaming of victory in the ring.
In fact, at one point, driving through the Cotswolds, near Stow, I found myself laughing almost hysterically as I mentally pictured myself surrounded by people all trying to get a look at a Patou fleece as I stood draped in all the big prizes. "Oh please, no, it was nothing, seriously I don't know how it happened. Right, form an orderly queue and I'll let you have a peek"
I know it's ridiculous to always have such high expectations but I just can't help it, I try not to but I can't! I suppose it's better than travelling up thinking I am going to come last in every class? Maybe I am too optimistic for my own good? Ah, well, tough, think big, travel fast and take risks!!
So, how did we get on? Well, I managed to secure the handling services of the Silver Fox himself, Trevor Selby, collector of many grey alpaca related rosettes, as a handler for the junior grey male class. Vickery and Wasimba were in a highly competitive line up so I gave Vickery to Trevor, (thinking that Wasimba was a bit denser, I sensed glory for myself) and I was very pleased with a 3rd and 4th place.
The Silver Fox, rather too smugly for my liking, took the third place rosette with Vickers. Mmm, what do I know anyway?
The judge, Cathy Lloyd, said some very nice things about them both and they will stay in the show team for the rest of the season.
Umberto and I then did 'the walk of shame', together, heads held high. And.......... move on.
It was then Tsar and Talisker time and having fired Trevor, for being too much of a glory hunter, I took on Karen, from Amiryck, as a handler. I figured Karen would be much more professional and stick to the script. I had asked her to lead Talisker and I took in Tsar (again, I reckoned on Tsar being better than Talisker, therefore more glory for me). Thankfully this time my new recruit didn't get ideas above her station like her father (Trevor) and she took the fifth place rosette, a respectable one spot behind Tsar. No photos of this one, I suspect Trevor was too busy publicising his slippery performance in the grey class.
And, as is the case when you are only showing darkies, it was all over. I was then able to bask in other peoples glory and talk to fellow exhibitors. I had decided to look at as many alpacas as possible to try and gauge how far we were behind the best and how we could improve. It was all very interesting and thought provoking. In fact it was too much for little Wasimba, who, exhausted after his exploits, nose dived into a sleeping Talisker and went to sleep himself.
The following day was lights and whites day, or something like that, they all looked the same anyway.
So I continued looking at and feeling (in a good way) other peoples alpacas. It was very nice to see some good people doing well with their alpacas, no names, this is my blog!
When I got home I chatted to Sue about what I had seen and felt and where I figured we were in the grand scheme of things. And do you know what? I think we are doing alright.
Stand by folks I feel that I am getting my serious typing fingers out!
We spoke about our breeding plans and the fact that we had stuck to our guns with using dark colours in order to build predictable pedigrees, producing animals that we are confident will produce dark progeny. For instance we have never produced an alpaca lighter in colour than a medium fawn. Having looked at alpacas in all colours at the show I could see that the style of our fleece is more akin to the fleece on the black alpaca. The black alpaca that comes, as we do, from the 'dark side'.
There were some amazingly dense, fancy, twirly, crinkly almost tendril-like fleeces that looked and felt fantastic, and certainly the alpacas that finished above the Patou boys had better fleeces, prettier fleeces, finer fleeces than our boys, I know because I looked at some of them.
But, showing alpacas, after all, is not what it is all about. It is great fun, it is a great way to see where you are and it is a very important place to be to see what everyone else is doing and without it, breeding alpacas would be a lot less interesting and a lot less fun! However, breeding alpacas consistently with the fleece attributes and colours required by the fibre processors is what it is all about, and I think that we are on our way to doing that.
Crikey, after all that pontificating my head hurts!
Everything is still growing like the clappers and as I sit here in the kitchen with a wet bottom (this time courtesy of getting caught in a thunderous downpour) I can notice the visible difference from when I left on Friday.
Yesterday I took this picture of the pregnant females framed by a stunning carpet of bluebells. By the way, anyone seeing two white females and suggesting that we bred them would be wrong, they were given to us and have only produced coloured cria since they arrived!
Right, enough of that, I have things to do, next weekend I am travelling with a slightly different and larger show team to Ardingly for the South of England Show. On the way there I will seriously try not to imagine world domination!
It has been a busy couple of weeks and in particular a busy weekend at the Heart of England Alpaca Fiesta.
I had never been to this show before due to work commitments but now as my world has changed it has become a work commitment in itself! How very convenient!
I had selected a new show team with three unshown weanlings in it, the two grey boys, Wasimba and Vickery and brown youngster, Umberto. I have only got a small trailer and wanted to see how some others got on. The only remaining member of the team was Tsar and he was joined by Talisker in the intermediate brown category.
As usual I set off with high hopes, my highly competitive nature leading to a three hour trip dreaming of victory in the ring.
In fact, at one point, driving through the Cotswolds, near Stow, I found myself laughing almost hysterically as I mentally pictured myself surrounded by people all trying to get a look at a Patou fleece as I stood draped in all the big prizes. "Oh please, no, it was nothing, seriously I don't know how it happened. Right, form an orderly queue and I'll let you have a peek"
I know it's ridiculous to always have such high expectations but I just can't help it, I try not to but I can't! I suppose it's better than travelling up thinking I am going to come last in every class? Maybe I am too optimistic for my own good? Ah, well, tough, think big, travel fast and take risks!!
Patou Vickery Patou Wasimba
On arrival there was some luxury accommodation to organise. As I was 'flying solo' there was no need for a hotel. A tent, a barbecue and a cool-box was all that was required. I had agreed to team up with His Lordship Timothy Twinkletoes of Inca as far as accommodation was concerned but when we surveyed the soaking wet campsite at Stoneleigh, in the pouring rain, a campsite suddenly wasn't that appealing. A joint decision was made to strike camp in the shed next to the show hall. A wise choice indeed as it was a rather wet weekend. It was also good being at the heart of things, albeit in what in effect was a large garage. In case you were wondering, there was a shower block nearby.
So, how did we get on? Well, I managed to secure the handling services of the Silver Fox himself, Trevor Selby, collector of many grey alpaca related rosettes, as a handler for the junior grey male class. Vickery and Wasimba were in a highly competitive line up so I gave Vickery to Trevor, (thinking that Wasimba was a bit denser, I sensed glory for myself) and I was very pleased with a 3rd and 4th place.
The Silver Fox, rather too smugly for my liking, took the third place rosette with Vickers. Mmm, what do I know anyway?
The judge, Cathy Lloyd, said some very nice things about them both and they will stay in the show team for the rest of the season.
Umberto and I then did 'the walk of shame', together, heads held high. And.......... move on.
It was then Tsar and Talisker time and having fired Trevor, for being too much of a glory hunter, I took on Karen, from Amiryck, as a handler. I figured Karen would be much more professional and stick to the script. I had asked her to lead Talisker and I took in Tsar (again, I reckoned on Tsar being better than Talisker, therefore more glory for me). Thankfully this time my new recruit didn't get ideas above her station like her father (Trevor) and she took the fifth place rosette, a respectable one spot behind Tsar. No photos of this one, I suspect Trevor was too busy publicising his slippery performance in the grey class.
And, as is the case when you are only showing darkies, it was all over. I was then able to bask in other peoples glory and talk to fellow exhibitors. I had decided to look at as many alpacas as possible to try and gauge how far we were behind the best and how we could improve. It was all very interesting and thought provoking. In fact it was too much for little Wasimba, who, exhausted after his exploits, nose dived into a sleeping Talisker and went to sleep himself.
The following day was lights and whites day, or something like that, they all looked the same anyway.
So I continued looking at and feeling (in a good way) other peoples alpacas. It was very nice to see some good people doing well with their alpacas, no names, this is my blog!
When I got home I chatted to Sue about what I had seen and felt and where I figured we were in the grand scheme of things. And do you know what? I think we are doing alright.
Stand by folks I feel that I am getting my serious typing fingers out!
We spoke about our breeding plans and the fact that we had stuck to our guns with using dark colours in order to build predictable pedigrees, producing animals that we are confident will produce dark progeny. For instance we have never produced an alpaca lighter in colour than a medium fawn. Having looked at alpacas in all colours at the show I could see that the style of our fleece is more akin to the fleece on the black alpaca. The black alpaca that comes, as we do, from the 'dark side'.
There were some amazingly dense, fancy, twirly, crinkly almost tendril-like fleeces that looked and felt fantastic, and certainly the alpacas that finished above the Patou boys had better fleeces, prettier fleeces, finer fleeces than our boys, I know because I looked at some of them.
But, showing alpacas, after all, is not what it is all about. It is great fun, it is a great way to see where you are and it is a very important place to be to see what everyone else is doing and without it, breeding alpacas would be a lot less interesting and a lot less fun! However, breeding alpacas consistently with the fleece attributes and colours required by the fibre processors is what it is all about, and I think that we are on our way to doing that.
Crikey, after all that pontificating my head hurts!
Everything is still growing like the clappers and as I sit here in the kitchen with a wet bottom (this time courtesy of getting caught in a thunderous downpour) I can notice the visible difference from when I left on Friday.
Yesterday I took this picture of the pregnant females framed by a stunning carpet of bluebells. By the way, anyone seeing two white females and suggesting that we bred them would be wrong, they were given to us and have only produced coloured cria since they arrived!
Right, enough of that, I have things to do, next weekend I am travelling with a slightly different and larger show team to Ardingly for the South of England Show. On the way there I will seriously try not to imagine world domination!
Monday, 21 April 2014
Patou success in Holland.
Happy Easter everyone, the sun is shining today after a wet cold one yesterday so everything is right with the world!
Now, listen in, I had exciting news from Holland yesterday concerning Patou Sultan. Sultan, you may remember, is a lovely Jack of Spades boy. His mother is our hair trigger spit monster ninja, Patou Penelope. She is light brown but was in turn sired by Chanchones Witness of Inca.
If you don't remember him THEN YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! HAVE YOU?
Anyway, may I remind the more forgetful amongst you? In November 2012 Sultan was bought by a Dutch breeder, Harrie Borgelink of Alpaca Brammelo. Harry was looking for a quality dark coloured herdsire to add some colour to his herd and contacted me about the prospect of buying Sultan who at the time was approaching 18 months old. Sultan is a lovely dark chocolate brown colour. We were sad to see him go as I knew he had huge potential, but the decision was made and off he toddled to Holland.
Now Harrie must have got him going before he was two years old because he has just produced his first cria!
Pictured below is a beautiful female cria described by Harry as 'bay black'. He is very pleased with the result and so am I! He has three more females pregnant to Sultan and I am eagerly awaiting news of how they get on. What a splendid result!
It is an interesting feeling, Sultan was our first ever export and there is a great feeling of pride seeing what one of own home bred boys has done. If there are any Dutch breeders reading and you are looking for a quality dark male to use, please give Harry a ring - www.alpacabrammelo.nl
In other news, I was quite pleased to see it chuck it down for most of yesterday, the show team was getting very dusty and untidy so a day in the rain should sort them out for this weekend as we head north again, this time to Stoneleigh for the Heart of England show. Here are all the youngsters during their afternoon 'shower'.
Right that's enough of this, as I have said, the sun is shining so my place is not here it is outside!
Now, listen in, I had exciting news from Holland yesterday concerning Patou Sultan. Sultan, you may remember, is a lovely Jack of Spades boy. His mother is our hair trigger spit monster ninja, Patou Penelope. She is light brown but was in turn sired by Chanchones Witness of Inca.
If you don't remember him THEN YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! HAVE YOU?
Anyway, may I remind the more forgetful amongst you? In November 2012 Sultan was bought by a Dutch breeder, Harrie Borgelink of Alpaca Brammelo. Harry was looking for a quality dark coloured herdsire to add some colour to his herd and contacted me about the prospect of buying Sultan who at the time was approaching 18 months old. Sultan is a lovely dark chocolate brown colour. We were sad to see him go as I knew he had huge potential, but the decision was made and off he toddled to Holland.
Now Harrie must have got him going before he was two years old because he has just produced his first cria!
Pictured below is a beautiful female cria described by Harry as 'bay black'. He is very pleased with the result and so am I! He has three more females pregnant to Sultan and I am eagerly awaiting news of how they get on. What a splendid result!
It is an interesting feeling, Sultan was our first ever export and there is a great feeling of pride seeing what one of own home bred boys has done. If there are any Dutch breeders reading and you are looking for a quality dark male to use, please give Harry a ring - www.alpacabrammelo.nl
In other news, I was quite pleased to see it chuck it down for most of yesterday, the show team was getting very dusty and untidy so a day in the rain should sort them out for this weekend as we head north again, this time to Stoneleigh for the Heart of England show. Here are all the youngsters during their afternoon 'shower'.
Right that's enough of this, as I have said, the sun is shining so my place is not here it is outside!
Saturday, 12 April 2014
News update.
We finally got round to moving all the weanlings to new pasture in the next village, well away from their mums. The grass is growing like the clappers and despite a bit of humming to begin with from some, all seems well. Now halter training can crack on with youngsters who are a little less confident and balshy now that their mums aren't around. Well that's the plan anyway. We have found that since weaning most of the cria have rocketed in size, the Spring grass couldn't have come at a better time!
Here is a prime example, Patou Ulani, huge, strong and despite outward appearances she is very black. She is being stalked in this picture by Wesley who arrived moments later with his 'bumble-bee in a jar' orgle. He left pretty quickly having been kicked and spat at in an instant. Poor boy didn't know what hit him. Ulani is daughter of Bobby, the original 'hair-trigger spit monster'. Some of those little boys need to give her a wide berth. I have to halter train her next week, I am a little bit frightened.
Ulani is not the only big black bruiser though, here is Umbria, daughter of Patou Penny. Penny, if human, would have been a world champion at cage fighting, failing that a vicious thug with a merciless mean streak. I have had Umbria on the halter once. It was a case of 'light fuse and hang on!'
Una Paloma Blanca is thriving. She is, as you may remember, the only cria to have been in our bed on our electric blanket, just over a year ago. She is now a bundle of fluff, that fleece needs to come off!
Soon I will be unleashing our grey boys on the world. One of them, Wasimba, refused to stop grazing at speed for a picture to be taken but Vickery is always willing to pose. He was a very friendly clucking, humming, nuzzler, but since all the girls have arrived he is now an orgle monster and is not interested in us at all. Looking at this picture has reminded me that I need to cut 'balaclava holes' in his head.
A final individual update for no better reason other than he stood still in the late evening sunshine last night, Whisky Mac. Yes, I know, he is fawn, even though he does look like some 'browns' that we have met in the ring! Mac had the 'balaclava' treatment months ago due to his fleece growth, he is the scruffiest thing now and I can't wait to get his fleece off and see what happens next.
Here is a prime example, Patou Ulani, huge, strong and despite outward appearances she is very black. She is being stalked in this picture by Wesley who arrived moments later with his 'bumble-bee in a jar' orgle. He left pretty quickly having been kicked and spat at in an instant. Poor boy didn't know what hit him. Ulani is daughter of Bobby, the original 'hair-trigger spit monster'. Some of those little boys need to give her a wide berth. I have to halter train her next week, I am a little bit frightened.
Ulani is not the only big black bruiser though, here is Umbria, daughter of Patou Penny. Penny, if human, would have been a world champion at cage fighting, failing that a vicious thug with a merciless mean streak. I have had Umbria on the halter once. It was a case of 'light fuse and hang on!'
Una Paloma Blanca is thriving. She is, as you may remember, the only cria to have been in our bed on our electric blanket, just over a year ago. She is now a bundle of fluff, that fleece needs to come off!
Soon I will be unleashing our grey boys on the world. One of them, Wasimba, refused to stop grazing at speed for a picture to be taken but Vickery is always willing to pose. He was a very friendly clucking, humming, nuzzler, but since all the girls have arrived he is now an orgle monster and is not interested in us at all. Looking at this picture has reminded me that I need to cut 'balaclava holes' in his head.
A final individual update for no better reason other than he stood still in the late evening sunshine last night, Whisky Mac. Yes, I know, he is fawn, even though he does look like some 'browns' that we have met in the ring! Mac had the 'balaclava' treatment months ago due to his fleece growth, he is the scruffiest thing now and I can't wait to get his fleece off and see what happens next.
And so endeth the news from Patouland. It is very busy here at the moment, but hey ho, it's my job and I am loving it!
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