Rotation

What a week it’s been here! On Monday we blitzed through a full blown version of herd health day (read: with toe nail trimming) in just 5 and a half hours. Even by our standards, that was pretty quick for 250 animals. Though as my better half pointed out, the due girls were all kind enough not to go into labor that day too so that probably had a lot to do with it.  It also didn’t hurt that 40 to 50 of the alpacas in question were pocket-sized!

For the past few days we’ve started to really look closely at our male and female yearling groups in an attempt to decide who will make the cut for the show rosters next month. Though in the spring we can do stupid things like take 40+ animals to the NAAS (yeah, mental I know), the fall tends to have a show string that is trimmed down at least somewhat. In any case, I’ll admit that it’s kind of fun lining up your own animals and comparing them side by side while trying to decide who’ll be making the grade. Though most of our top critters from the spring rosters will be making repeat appearances, there is also a small core of late fall 2012 births that’ll be making their show ring debuts as juveniles at either Green Mountain, Empire or both. The training pen beckons…

It is also worth noting that several of the youngsters referenced above will be making appearances on our sales listings in the very near future. That includes several males and females sired by our 2013 Futurity Herdsire of the Year, Snowmass Matrix Majesty! A big part of the show string selection push at this time of the year in fact involves getting the yearlings off of our outer paddocks — which are starting to look rather worn down — and out onto some of the greener paddocks down at the Main Barn. We move them down not just to get them cleaned up (as in get the dust out of those fleeces), but also to take marketing pictures of all of them on the last of the good grass we still have left here towards the end of grazing season. While in my fantasy life I would have already had those picture taken in late April or early May prior to shearing, reality (mud, spring show season, plus our kids’ school/sports schedule) dictates otherwise more often than not. Say cheese!

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