Sod’s Law always seems to apply to alpaca shows. So yesterday was absolutely glorious and the show team looked great. Today it is foul, it is the day before the show and if the animals were outside they would look like dishcloths. We banged them up in the barn overnight so they are dry but with this much damp in the air their fleeces will still go all floppy. We were going to take them up to the showground on Saturday morning but because of the weather they are going up tonight so will have to endure two days in a small pen. If we travel on Saturday morning in the wet they will get even damper and sweat up in the trailer so a night in a dry shed is certainly preferable.
We are mostly showing juniors this year but it is virtually impossible to hit it right in terms of their fleece. Today’s alpacas grow far more fleece than the originals ten years ago – great for the fibre industry but crap for showing as they are invariably overfleeced by the time we get to the main show season in May.
The main thing is that we are breeding much, much better animals which is thrilling. That is the focus rather than how many ribbons you end up draping round the office.