Thank you one and all for a great show...British Alpaca Futuruty 2015

A huge TOFT thanks to the organisers of the British Alpaca. Futurity 2015 at the Ricoh Arena Coventry. Great room, well organised, fab judging and a lovely atmosphere throughout. A huge thanks to Chas and Rachel of Classical Mile End for what is a colossal undertaking. Big thanks to Mary Jo of Bozedown alpacas for organising the showing and the other sponsors and organisers in the form of Houghton Hall and the Alpaca Stud for giving us a impressive promotional event of this nature.  Much appreciation to all the stewards and secretaries for tirelessly keeping the wheels moving? The Futurity is a wonderful showcase for our industry and much appreciated by all the exhibitors.

 A big hug for Belinda and her merry band of Yarnies who added a great deal of colour and class through the P-Lush event. 

Thanks to Jean Field for organising the fleece show a hugely important feature which always gets a little overshadowed by the moving exhibits but is so vitally important to the future of our industry. 

And finally of a massive thanks to Wade Gease and Peter Kennedy the two international judges who shared of their wisdom and expertise with great charm throughout. However Mr Gease I am still trying to work out how to 'Schnuzzle'  my alpaca. I think that might be illegal in the UK. Thanks to you both I enjoyed your input immensely. Have a great stay in our country and a safe trip home. 

Thanks again to all the organisers and participants for a thoroughly enjoyable alpaca weekend, congratulations to all the winners commiserations to the rest. Let's have a bit rest today and we'll see you all again soon.

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!

Thanks, I really needed this...

Best laid plans... There I was just getting my schedule sorted for the weekend when the weather God obviously decided I didn't have enough to do and drops three tons of wood onto the bridle way. 

Not only is it in the way of those horsey types who come through on a weekend it's also smashed through 30 yards of stock fence. 

So guess who will be up at the crack of sparrows with the chain saws to get the pathway clear? Hey, ho. .twas ever thus !

On the upside- at least there were no alpacas in its way!

Lord of the tractors

 Young Edward Lord is in a rush to drive methinks ! 'Won't be too long Dandad and I'll give you a hand with the alpacas. Soon as me feet touch the pedals- I'll be there!'

What's this -suns shining and no mating?

The weather turned so mild at the weekend the Toft Alpacas Stud males were beginning to stir again and spent all Saturday hovering over the fence looking for talent. 

Be patient boyos. The job was done a while back. Spring will come soon enough and there's a lot of weather to get through before then methinks.

A hacking,slashing and burning weekend...

Much thanks to Paul Beswick of Du Prem alpacas who gave up his Saturday to give me a hand cutting back the overgrown hedges on a new parcel of land we have taken on at Toft. 

This new addition to the Toft Alpaca Stud will be a real bonus and is self contained which will enhance our general farm biosecurity and once we have cut the grass a dozen times the alpacas will love it!

It's about 14 acres and directly adjoins our farm which is the upside. However the downside is it hasn't been grazed for at least six or more likely possibly eight years. The grass and weeds were four foot high last weekend but six hours with tractor and flail mower made short work of that to enable us to see the fences.

Much hacking and slashing at the weekend means we can now at least see the fence in one of the fields. That's the good news, the bad news is there  are three fields and the other two need a bit more work than the one we started on.

Once we can see the fences then we can repair them. I think this is definitely called work in progress and there are no prizes for guessing what I shall be doing every spare minute over the winter.

The burning however was a disaster, three cans of paraffin, much huffing and puffing and not a sustained fire in sight. As a good Boy Scout I was very miffed I indeed, hey ho the burning will wait for another day.

Thanks again Paul - you'll be as fit as a butchers dog come the spring if you keep at it!

Alpaca Classic

Big alpaca day last Saturday which saw Shirley and I up at the crack of sparrows and skidding down to Bozedown Alpacas for the 2013 Alpaca Classic, where Bozedown Alpacas and the Alpaca Stud were holding an alpaca weekend of talks focused around an auction of elite alpacas from each of their herds.

So an interesting alpaca day out of  talks and gee up leading towards an auction at 5pm. Brett Kayson from Alpaca Penn Sales gave two talks and insight to the Alpaca industry in the USA. AOBA judge Cheryl Gerhly from the USA gave a talk on the significance of crimp and Claire Whitehead from Camelid Vet Services gave a talk on alpaca Embryo transfer introducing this new service she is offering UK breeders.

All culminating in the auction where 26 elite lots were auctioned by both herds. The auction being run by Harrison & Hetherington from Cumbria. Bidding was strong for the most part 17 lots made their reserve and were sold for realistic prices making the average price per lot sold around 6782 Guineas by my reckoning.

Congratulations to Bozedown Alpacas and The Alpaca Stud for organising this elite showcase, creating a real friendly atmosphere and making it such a successful  Alpaca event.

Give us an and mate....

Found this pet boy stuck in the fence between fields yesterday evening. It always amazes me how alpacas when stuck, don't seem to struggle but sit or stand there calmly for ages confident that someone will come along and bale them out. I did just that and this boy soon went off wandering looking for his chomp.  A thankyou? I think not- that would have been truly amazing.