The 2015 show season kicked off last weekend for us, with the Northlands A.L.P.A.C.A. Spring show. We took 7 animals down to Edmonton for the weekend to enjoy the show, and we are pleased to say that the show itself was an awesome success (even if none of our guys did anything, it would have still been an awesome weekend).
As I'd said, we took 7 animals down, with it being a pretty even split between both boys and girls. Bocelli, Hunter, Prometheus and Diego were our male representatives, while Angelica, Themis and Astraea tried their luck for the female herd as well. Overall, things with them went well-- Bocelli, Hunter and Diego were all exceptionally well behaved (its so weird, its almost like they've done this before!), and all three managed to take home ribbons in their classes. Bocelli won 1st in 2yr. Old Male Light, and went on to compete in the supreme championship round-- Hunter won 2nd in 2yr. Old Male Brown, and would go on to compete for reserve in the colour championship round, and Diego won 1st in his class, for Yearling Male Multi (sadly, there weren't enough animals for them to include the multis in anything extra D: ).
The last four animals all competed as well, although they were much more nervous during the show. It was understandable though-- for the three babies it was their first time off of the farm, and in a much more stimulating, loud environment than they were trained in, and for Angelica, it was only her second show, and she was certainly missing her herd (as was chronicled with her repeated attempts to velcro herself to her nearest competitors in the ring.). However, it turned into an awesome learning and training experience, and overall they did exceptionally well as well. Themis won 4th in Jr. Female Light-- Astraea made a good effort, but ended up losing to Themis in this same class. Prometheus also won 4th, this time in Jr. Male Fawn. Angelica made us very proud, taking home a 1st in Yearling Female Fawn, and putting up a good effort in the supreme championship round.
The rest of the show was awesome as well. We met many wonderful people as they filtered past our pens, and we enjoyed helping educate the students who came through looking for information on their related school projects.
We are looking forward to a productive show/shearing/birthing/breeding season this year. We have plans to come down to the Futurity this year (we actually have animals who qualify this year, which is awesome!), and are excited to get last years cria on the shearing table so that we can see just what they look like under their baby coats. Thus far we have been extremely pleased with our babies from last year-- all five are looking wonderful, and have some of the most impressive fleeces yet that we've seen on cria we have raised ourselves!
We're also expecting a good crop of cria this year, with some of our best boys covering the best of our girls last year. Hopefully, we will have some more pictures to share soon!
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