Great Western Alpaca Show Updates

Well, we did it. We took our 5 juvenile males, 2 - 3 year old and 1 - 2 year old male to a double show - Great Western Alpaca Show (GWAS) and the Rocky Mountain Alpaca Showcase (RMAS) in Denver, CO. Leaving here on April 26th and arriving in Denver the afternoon of the 27th for Vet check, Color check and get set up. Don and Julie Roy flew from their home in CA to help us at this event. Glenn's brother, Paul, drove from Helena, MT to alpaca sit while we were gone. Also coming to help Paul at different times were Doug Green and Addizon Diaz. With out all the help, we would not have been able to attend this show. Friday the 28th of April, we started with walking fleece. In this event, the animals are judged just on their fleece by the judge. Each alpaca is given a numeric score based on a combined total of Uniformity of Length, Fineness. Uniformity of micron range, Character of the fiber (Crimp and density), Brightness, Color Consistency and Lack of impurities or damage to the fiber. Total Score (if perfect) if 80 points. Friday was also the start of GWAS halter show. Halter Shows as based on age, sex, color being in their own group/class. They are judged on their fiber, confirmation, etc. Our 5 boys were the youngest in most every class except 1. GWAS halter show ended on Saturday about noon. Cotton and Tabasco were in a class called Produce of Dam (2 alpacas with the same dam, different sires, at least 1 year apart in age). The Rocky Mountain Alpaca Showcase started immediately after GWAS show ended. All of our show alpacas were done by Saturday evening. And they were able to be shorn by Top Knot Shearing crew before coming home. We were unexpectedly visited by one of our alpaca sponsorship members - KOKO Group has adopted Snow Diamond Felicity who is the dam to Sawdust's Zebrano. One of their group memebers came to the show and got some pictures of Zebrano and some of his buddies to share on their You Tube channel. Sunday was pack up and drive day. We arrived home Monday, May 1, mid afternoon. The boys were so happy to be out of the trailer finally and back in their home pens. We certainly enjoyed seeing old friends, meeting new people, and most of all learning how well our alpaca farm is doing compared to those from all across the US. We came home with 1 first place ribbon, 6 - 2nd place, 6 - 3rd, 1 ea of 4th, 5th, and 6 th place ribbons. In Produce of Dam, we got 4th place. We are still waiting on three moms to give birth. We are thankful that they have waited for us to get home and settled.