We're taking the animals to a show this weekend. They will parade in front of judges and get 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. for the softness of their fleece, their shape, the look in their eye, their thoughts on 3rd world animal cruelty. Well maybe not the last one, but sometimes I wonder what else the alpaca tells the judge that makes the judge pick one over another when they seem identical!
We will have two 12 x 12 pens. One for the girls and one for the boys (because of course we can't keep them together!) We provide information about our animals and we network with other alpaca owners and breeders. Alpaca shows are held across the country! The one we are attending is in Topeka, Ks. I think this show will have 500 animals. Some shows have more than 1000 animals!
We are a small ranch. And relatively new at this. Sometimes we learn lessons the hard way. We tried to enter 3 of our animals in a best of sire competition. For this catagory you have 3 animals from one sire, except I missed the part that said they must have 3 different mothers. Two of our three had the same mother and we were disqualified. Boy did I feel stupid!
The first show we went to we took our two year old male and our 6mo. old Sophia. They had been in the same paddock at home without any problems. We get them in a pen and they decided it's time to mate! WHAT! Along with Sophia's 6mo. old cousin Zak they were having a menage a troix! We got a phone call at our hotel from the show superintendent. She asks "Shouldn't we have ordered 2 pens since we had males and females?" Duh.
So we'll see how it goes. We have two pens. Just the regular halter entries. All the equipment. What can go wrong? ...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha
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