The past 4 years have been banner years for HaSu Ranch Alpacas in regards to our show winnings. And by the looks of it, 2009 is going to follow suit. At our first show of the year, the 2009 North American Alpaca Show, our herdsires and their progeny made their triumphant way into the winner's circle. We were 100% in our winnings with each animal attending bringing home awards. And the progeny of our working herdsires attending the show rose to the top as well. These stellar results at HaSu's first show of the season serve as a testament to the potency of our herdsires.
Due to a highly successful sales program and repeated male births, our huacaya show string has lagged behind our suri show string as far as numbers go. Over the past few years, we commonly have twice as many suris than huacayas entered in any given show. Finally, this ratio evened out for this first show of 2009, where we had the same number of each breed walking into the ring. So the answer to the oft-asked question at the past year's show, 'Is HaSu concentrating solely on Suris now?' is an evident 'No'. If there was any doubt that HaSu takes their Huacaya breeding program as seriously as their Suri one, it was certainly dispelled as we walked into the ring with our top-notch haucayas. And as icing on the cake, the progeny of our Huacaya herdsires received numerous top awards as well.
We are pleased to outline below the individual awards of our alpacas, as well as the awards of our herdsire's progeny below, at the 2009 North American Alpaca Show.
HaSu Hiamovi, our fawn suri junior herdsire, garnered 2 more blue ribbons and Grand Champion to bring his total wins to 5 Grand Champions and 6 blues in under a year. The first blue received at this show was in the halter class, followed up with winning the Grand Championship. Judge Amanda VandenBosch stated he was the clear winner with his high degree of luster, uniformity, lock style and superb density. Hiamovi then went on to win a blue ribbon in the Bred and Owned category. He got a lot of attention for the crowd and we are seeing his breeding 'dance' card filling up.
HaSu Kaliska, our light fawn juvenile female, was the clear standout in her class. At just barely over 6 months of age, she won first place in her halter class. Judge VandenBosch remarked on her classic suri look, solid frame, high luster and lock style. We aren't surprised, as she her dam has produced nothing but champions so far. And he sire is the champion-maker Peruvian Durango.
Samson Sunday, our medium fawn huacaya junior herdsire, walked into the ring for the first time ever and came out a winner. He was awarded first place in the very tough 2 year old medium fawn male class over 14 other top-drawer alpacas. Judge Jude Anderson was impressed with Samson's fleece style, fineness and super consistency. And she also commented on his bold, solid frame and made particular note of his stylish head. Samson is a new addition to our farm and had not been shown before this event. But he will be attending a few other shows before he retires full-time to a career as a stud. Look for him to bring home additional top honors throughout the remainder of the year!
HaSu I-Khan, our juvenile white male huacya, is clearly special. He has the classic huacaya look we all strive for and is simply an icon of huacaya beauty. And he also has lovely fleece. In the extremely competitive white juvenile male huacaya class, I-Khan was picked to stand up in the front row along with 5 other top U.S. huacaya males. Judge Jude Anderson awarded him 5th place noting that the top 6 alpacas were all of superior quality with very little to distinguish them one from the other. Judge Anderson also commented that I-Khan, standing their donned in his sticky tui fleece, would benefit from being shorn and that she expected to see him rise within the ranks to a higher placement after shearing.
HHF Momentum is dark fawn yearling huacaya male sired by our shared herdsire studmaster male, MSA Peruvian Cannonero. Like his sire, Momentum carries a very fine yet dense crimpy fleece. The exceptional brightness of his fleece is a signature trait of Cannonero's progeny. This coupled with the fineness and character of his fleece carried him into 2nd place in a very tough class of 15 males in the yearling dark fawn male category. He followed this win up with a truly remarkable 1st place win in the Yearling Bred and Owned Category, which again was a full class.
Abenaqui Alpacas' Wawiobwan (Ben) is a white yearling male sired by our herdsire NWA Ltd Mohican (Hemingway Grandson). Like his sire, Ben carries a lovely fleece with the signature Hemingway uniformity and fineness that translates to a heavenly handle. The quality of his fleece carried him into the winner's row in 5th place in the yearling white male class and into 6th in the Bred and Owned yearling light male class. Both classes were packed with award-winning progeny from nationally recognized herdsires. Inclusion with these illustrious competitors is a coup. Judge Jude Anderson noted Ben had gorgeous fleece, and his smaller stature was kept him from higher placement. She granted that on a future day, he'd likely place higher once he came into his full size.
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