Thanks to one and all...at the. Heart Of England Alpaca Fiesta

After 12 years judging alpacas all over the UK and Europe it was a real treat to judge a show in my own backyard. It meant TOFT couldn't show and I have not been able to take a detailed interest in my friends alpacas since last summer but it was worth it for the fun we had this weekend. I loved every second of it from start to finish. Not only the challenge of the judging but also the pleasure of being amongst friends who all speak English and get your jokes. It's fun in Europe too but it's great when you all. Get the funnies straight away. It was a blast!

I thank Lulu Oliver of Lusi Alpacas for inviting me and  for organising a real professional event with a great atmosphere that will only get better as it settles I to its new home. I thank Liz Barlow for her work as  chief steward, my wife Shirley for show secretary and Jo Bridge of Windy Ridge and Viv Cook of Oakton Alpacas who combined a day each as my apprentice with the alternate day as Ring steward. This worked real well and I was very impressed with both my apprentices and wish them well as they go onto gather more experience before certification. I feel if they go to approach their learning  with the confidence they showed this weekend they will go on to make a real contribution in years to come.

A huge thanks to all those white coated stewards who hustled and bustled to keep the wheels running and didn't get in the limelight. We know who you are and what you do and we thank  you all.

The Alpacas were superb throughout and the competition fierce in coloureds as well as whites. The supreme champion Huacaya went to an intermediate white  Huacaya from Ashwood Alpacas who has a handle like melted white chocolate on an extremely bright, dense well organised fleece exhibiting a good uniformity throughout the blanket and between primary and secondary fibres.

 However there were signs that a change might now be blowing through the alpaca shed with a couple of signature fleeces emerging on two  of the juniors that may be signalling the next stage of development.  

The judges choice went to a young Junior White from Houghton Hall alpacas which was as bright as a lighthouse, extremely well organised in a floppy style with density to die for in its staples whose amplitude was seriously impressive. It was very close but the young lady took it on the day however this boy will be one to watch if he grows to his full potential. Likewise there was a small light junior alpaca from Furze Park Alpacas in the ring which exhibited similar qualities but unfortunately it needed to eat more pies to get in contention. 

It's going to get very exciting in years to come if we see this amount of luxury emerging and unbelievable if we can manage to get it to stay that way for ten years. Scnuzzle? You'll want to Scnuzzle , Wuzzle and stroke your alpacas all day long if we get that good. that's of course if Scnuzzling is still legal by then!

Thanks for inviting me to judge, thanks for entering, thanks for your patience and humour and I hope you all have a wonderful birthing season that lives up to your expectations...you wish!  Have a great summer! The judge.

Thanks for a fabulous weekend at the Heart of England Alpaca Fiesta

Last weekend I had the privilege of judging almost 300 alpacas in the Heart Of England Alpaca Fiesta. Two full on days from 8am to 6pm with the ring full of superb Huacayas and Suris. There were some classes of clear winners but the majority were very close and the championships set a real challenge. The standard of Suris was exceptionally high despite the smallish entry. The Suri classes were interspersed with the Huacayas and for me it works great and I hope that other show organisers decide to interlay their Suri entries in the same way. It's good for the breed, good for the breeders and creates interest and promotional points for the general public and Suri breeders throughout the show. Way to go! As for the judges concentration not a problem more of a change is as god as a rest!

The champion Suri went to a superb Intermediate Light Female from Houghton Hall alpacas whose lustre shone deep and bright from a dense, fine, uniform fleece which hung in independent wafered layers like laminate. Lovely.

Mind you there is no room for  complacency in the white and lights. The traditional winners had better keep the ball moving because  the judge's choice went to a stunning Black Junior Suri from the Backyard Alpaca Company who had lustre like wet paint and a density to die for. If that alpaca grows up to fulfil its potential then we might see a bit more colour on the cup in the coming years!

TOFT Alpaca Show team stand down...

The boys and girls of the TOFT Alpaca Showteam are now officially stood down. On their return from their successes at the Ricoh last weekend they were homed in the TOFT quarantine paddocks. Where they will reside for the next month unitil they rejoin their pals in the main herd. They won't be up strutting their stuff in the show ring again until  October when a select TOFT team will be entered into Alpaca Showtime at Houghton Hall Alpacas. 

By then the makeup of the TOFT team will have changed considerably as we hope the Champion maidens will be pregnant and resident in the maternity paddocks and that some of the prizewinning males will have been sold over the summer to discerning breeders and possibly into Europe.

After this weekends  TOFT Alpaca Easter Open Day the focus will change to the maternity paddocks as the TOFT girls will start to produce cria in early May. We shall be studying breeding charts and pedigrees for the rest of the season as we begin mating the maidens for 2016. Hey ho a mating we shall go...!

Toft triumph at the Heart Of England Spring Alpaca Fiesta

Another busy weekend and another great show for Toft Alpacas at the Heart of England Alpaca Fiesta.

 We took eleven Toft alpacas to the show and every one of our entries achieved a rosette including three firsts and a Reserve Champion. 

TOFT MATILDA- 1st, Huacaya Junior Female Brown and Reserve female Champion Brown

TOFT ADELE- 2nd, Huacaya Intermediate Female Brown

TOFT TIMOGEN- 1st, Huacaya Junior Male Brown

TOFT TAIPAN- 2nd, Huacaya Junior Male Brown

TOFT LEANDER- 6th, Huacaya Junior Male Brown

TOFT IKRIT - 1st, Haucaya Adult Male Brown

TOFT RASTABAN -3rd, Huacaya Adult Male Brown

TOFT TITUS- 5th, Huacaya Junior Male Fawn

TOFT STALA- 4th, Huacaya Junior Female White

TOFT MARY QUANT- 3rd, Suri Junior Female Light

In addition we took 2 clients animals and they both got rosettes with one of them achieving a Championship Ribbon.

Terry and Liz Davis of Snapdragon Alpacas got 4th in the Huacaya Junior Female Light with Toft Bootes

Ben Harford of Ashcroft Alpacas achieved First in the Huacaya Junior Female Fawn and Champion Female Fawn with a Lavender Park Tulley girl- Ashcroft Tulley's Zephyrine.

And to top the lot we entered Timogen and Matilda in the Sires Progeny alongside Zephyrine on behalf of Lavender Park Tulley of Ashcroft alpacas and won the cup. Epic!

A great day for Team Toft and a big thanks to our herdswoman Linda Newport and our new trainee herdswoman Freya Shuttleworth for preparing and handling our alpacas throughout the show. It was Freya's first alpaca show and she took to it like a seasoned Alpaquero. Well done Freya!

British Alpaca Society Alpaca Judge Cathy Lloyd of EP Cambridge judged the show with great skill, clarity and professionalism at a pace that was very impressive. We may have had early starts but on both days we were done and dusted by 3pm. Thanks Cathy a great job well done!

The Supreme Champion Huacaya Alpaca was won by Houghton Bentley a beautiful fawn male owned by Liz and Mick George of Houghton Hall Alpacas.

A big Toft thanks to Lulu Oliver of Lusi Alpacas and Paul Stead of Saphire Alpacas for organising and running the show on behalf of the Heart of England Alpaca Group. Your efforts were much appreciated -thankyou. We are already looking forward to next year when we shall all meet up and do it all again. 

Well that's us done showing for 2014. We shall start shearing the herd on May12th and saying goodbye to the 'Teddy Bears' and welcoming the 'Pink Panthers' as we start preparing for the birthing season where we are expecting almost 60 cria before the end of July. It never stops at Toft Alpacas- Perfick!

Alpaca bling to die for at Alpaca Showtime

Will you look at these Championship Trophies? Whoever designed and had these made has achieved the best looking alpaca trophy I have ever seen. And believe me I've seen a few. You see them and you want one. They're a must have. They make you want to enter the show just to see if you could get one to brighten up your trophy cabinet.  You'd want to use it as a bonnet mascot for your car on  the drive home they are that impressive.They are so good that those people who won championships at the weekend should rent them out to those of us who missed them by a whisker.  

Well done to whoever designed and made them and well done to Houghton Hall, Bozedown and Alpaca Stud for coughing up the readies to make them so attractive. They now set a marker for a more impressive alternative because you certainly couldn't copy them and get away with it!

When your birthing starts mid April and you get to see this years improvement we shall all be hoping for a Champion to compete for the Alpaca Showtime bling!!

Alpaca Showtime

We had the Toft Team out again this weekend at Houghton Hall alpacas where Mick and Liz George of Houghton Hall Alpacas hosted the Alpaca Showtime halter show in their enormous Equestrian centre. Australian and AOBA Judge Peter Kennedy was ringmaster and judged over 275 alpacas through the two days. 

Organised joint by Houghton Hall alpacas, the Alpaca Stud and Bozedown alpacas the event ran like a Swiss watch and much fun was had by all. Much thanks from Toft to Mick & Liz George  of Houghton, Mary Jo Smith of Bozedown and. Nice Harrington Smith of The Alpaca Stud and their respective teams of helpers for the immense amount of work they put in to get this new alpaca event up and running. It's a great Equestrian facility which I'm sure will stage many stunning alpaca events in years to come.

As for Toft well we took six alpacas along and everyone came home with a rosette. We achieved 1 first, three seconds, a fourth and sixth in the individual classes and Toft Timogen was awarded Reserve Champion Brown Male which compliments the Champion Brown Male he won at the BAS National Show two weeks ago.

All in all another great weekend of Alpaca Showing for Toft and much thanks to our herds woman Linda Newport for making us look as good as possible in the showring.

BAS National Fleece Show

Last Tuesday I had the great pleasure of judging the British Alpaca Society Naional Fleece Show 2014. 

Organised by Julia Corrigan Stuart of C S Alpacas and hosted on her farm near Aylesbury this was a master class of efficiency and organisation.

 I was judging the darks and whites with Mary Jo Smith judging the Suris, lights and Fawn.

 With about 140 fleeces to get through in total we started at the crack of sparrows and finished around 6pm with time to spare. A credit to Julia's organisation and her team of helpers who kept the process moving with their enthusiasm and sense of humour.

The standard of fleeces at the top end was very high considering that shearing does not commence for another two months and most of last years clip is now adorning someone's knitting needles!

The Supreme Champion Huacaya fleece was simply superb in its positive traits and it's consistency and with 2.8 kg of uniform fibre in dense and beautifully structured locks on the table it was a clear winner with 92 points. The alpaca was Houghton Hall Damian owned by Mick & Liz George of Houghton Hall Alpacas. 

The Supreme Champion Suri was a beautifully fine and lustrous fleece from Alpaca Stud Commander owned by Mr Nick Harrington Smith.

Congratulations to both winners and much thanks to Julia and her merry team of helpers. And thanks to Jamie Corrigan Stuart, Julia's husband for his support and generous hospitality.

I attach a picture of Houghton Hall Damian's samples- a more uniform batch I haven't seen since I judged the World Alpaca Alpaca Conference Fleece Show 2012.

The bad news is he has been sold to Norway! Tilt!

Alpaca judging shoes...

My new alpaca judging shoes had their first outing at the weekend at the South East Alpaca Group Halter Show at the South of England Spring Show. They performed beautifully.
I went all the way to Doncaster last week to try these on in a specialist shop called Shoe Healers. Unfortunately I have seriously wide feet and a trip to any shoe shop is never a short one. Last year judging in the wet I lost my favourite pair of R M Williams which literally gave up the ghost at the end of the season.
These bad boys are Alfred Sergeant brogues and are telling me that I better do a lot of alpaca judging in the coming years or I will be buried in them.
The South East Alpaca Show this weekend was a real joy with a very high standard of entries and a big crowd watching throughout. Shirley was asked to commentate on the proceedings and did a great job of keeping the general public informed. There was a great atmosphere at the show, a lot of happy exhibitors, an enthralled audience and a very relieved show organiser.
Liz Butler has run this show for the past ten years with a military precision that ensures a pleasant day for all and her experience was well rewarded this weekend by the reaction of the Show dignatories and celebrities who dropped in throughout the two days.
The Show Champion huacaya was taken by Houghton Hall alpacas with a superlative white junior female and the Reserve Champion by Herts Alpacas with a stonking Adult Brown Male. The Suri Show Champion was won by Houghton Hall white. Best of British Haucaya went to grey Male from Spring Farm Alpacas and Best of British Suri went to Pinkney Alpacas.
Thanks to the show organisers for inviting me and to the exhibitors for your patience and good humour and for allowing me the privilege of scratting through your alpacas.
I wish you all a great season with our alpacas.