A Ribbon and a Name

On Friday September 3rd, we traveled with six people and four alpacas to participate in the Alpaca Adventure at the Oregon State Fair. This was a very relaxed, conformation only, alpaca show designed to show off alpacas while helping attract participants to the fair.

Alpaca shows come in several types. The most common type of show is the halter show in which fiber and body conformation are both judged. Fiber is judged on the animal and a minimum fiber length is required. The other common show is the fleece show in which shorn fleece is judged without the alpaca present. Conformation shows look strictly at the alpaca's body conformation without looking at fiber. A final type of show is the composite show in which the fiber and conformation are judged separately and then a final score is tabulated. Since most farms in the Pacific Northwest shear their alpacas in May or June and since alpaca fiber doesn't grow very fast, the only real options for an early September show are conformation and composite -- and the former was chosen for the Oregon State Fair.

The humans involved in our trip to the Alpaca Adventure were Ron and Marilyn from Alpacas of Shepherd's Pasture, LaVon from Turkey Gulch Alpacas, Rachel from Hi-Mark Alpacas and, of course, Kim and Pam from Upper Alpacas. The alpacas involved were Glory and Isaiah from Shepherd's Pasture, Khachet from Turkey Gulch, and Del. Glory is Georgia's Granddaughter and Isaiah is Chloe's full brother. Rachel was along to help LaVon and to show Khachet.

We took the alpacas to Turkey Gulch on Thursday before the show where Glory got acquainted with Khachet and Del with Isaiah. Friday morning, way too early, we got together for the drive to the State Fair. Once we arrived, we put the alpacas in their pens -- Del and Isaiah together, Glory and Khachet together -- and looked at the program.

We discovered that Glory and Khachet were in the same class and that Del and Isaiah were in the same class. We're friends, so we can deal with this.

Del is registered as a bay black, but he has enough tiny spots in his blanket to qualify as a multi-colored alpaca. Gray and multi-colored alpacas are grouped in the same class in small shows.

The girls showed in the morning. Rachel showed Khachet and Pam showed Glory. Khachet took the blue ribbon and Glory took third.

I spent much of the day watching the judge and listening to the judge's comments. I noticed that she liked compact alpacas and put a lot of emphasis on the shape of the head. The more I listened, the less I liked Del's chances. Del is a tall, rangy, alpaca -- about as far from compact as one can get -- and while he does have excellent depth of jaw, he also has a bit of a roman nose. He's not the ideal animal to be showing when the judge is looking for compactness.

When Del and Isaiah's class was called, we were rather nervous.

The first alpaca into the ring didn't walk well and Del was right behind him. Actually, the first alpaca had a good gait, but he just didn't feel like walking in the ring. He'd take about three steps and stop. While the alpaca in front of him was busy not walking, Del was busy trying to pull Pam around the ring. It was rather interesting watching Pam try to bring Del to a stop to avoid a collision with the alpaca at the front. Pam and Del did pretty well, and eventually, the judge was able to judge all the alpacas.

The first alpaca into the ring was given the blue ribbon. I admit he was a nice looking alpaca even if he didn't feel like walking around the ring. Then the judge looked at Del and Isaiah. The ring steward started to walk toward Del, then walked back to the judge, then went to Isaiah for second place. Del was awarded third place.

Do I think Del deserved third place? Of course not, but I'm biased -- very biased! All of my alpacas are above average and my animals always deserve the blue ribbon!

In her description of the animals, the judge did comment that Del's legs were very good. Neither of us remember the judge's exact words, but I think she was indicating that Del had the best legs and in particular, the best front legs in the class. Since I don't recall the judge's exact words, I can't be sure. Then again, I think I already said I'm biased.

We chose to show Del because his legs are so very straight and his movement is so very, very fluid. This is a huge strength in a conformation class. I have to admit to being disappointed with third place -- something to do with being biased. But I have to look at things realistically. We're showing an animal best described as rangy or lanky in front of a judge who's putting a lot of emphasis on compactness. Third place is not bad at all. The judge commented on Del's legs and it is obvious she saw his movement. I can be disappointed that Del's ribbon isn't blue or I can be pleased with how well he did despite his shortcomings in the compactness department. Third place in this class says a lot about how strong Del's strengths are.

As a group, we took four animals and brought home four ribbons -- none lower than third. I think we did pretty well, especially if you consider that we ended up competing against ourselves.

And that's enough about the show.

We have decided to name our cria Maggee. Her parents are Magnum and Jubilee. We combined the two names to arrive at Maggee. Jubilee and Maggee are doing well. Maggee is starting to run short distances in the pasture.

No new pictures of Maggee today. Hopefully, we'll get better pictures tomorrow.