The Spring Alpaca Fiesta, a major event in the alpaca show calendar, takes place on April 7-9 at Bury Farm Equestrian Centre, Slapton, in Buckinghamshire. The event is organised by the Heart of England Alpaca Group. Here, they consider what makes a show-winning alpaca
Alpaca shows are a popular part of many an alpaca owner’s calendar. For those thinking of buying alpacas or even breeding them, they can be an invaluable source of information. As many as several hundred animals from a wide variety of breeders will be on show and, apart from seeing them parading in the ring, visitors can walk around the breeders’ pens and talk to the owners, who will be very happy to show off their animals and talk about what makes them special.
If asked, owners will be happy to part the fleece of an animal so that the quality can be seen. Alpacas are bred for their superb fleece, and it is therefore not surprising that the fleece of any animal is the most important factor on which the animal is judged. The basis on which the judge assesses the fleece reflects what will affect the value of the fleece to anyone wanting to process it.
One important factor the judge will assess is the fineness of the fleece, and they will consider this for each of the animals compared to the others. At a show, you will see the judge take a tiny sample from each alpaca and lay it on a piece of felt on their sleeve – either black or white depending on the fleece colour, so that each individual fibre shows up against the surface.
This story is from the Spring 2017 edition of Country Smallholding.
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This story is from the Spring 2017 edition of Country Smallholding.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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