Patche'& son Montoya

Montoya, is one of Patche'' s first sons.
He was exported to New Zealand a few years ago.
He has always done well in the shows. Patche'has passed on al the genetic traits desired to produce premium fleeces, as evident in the next few blogs.

View of Harbour at hong Kong

On our way home from Canada, we had a brief stopover, that was extended htrough mis match of flights, we were able to spend a day at Hong Kong, and because of the mix up, the Hyatt in Hong Kong, gave us the use of a de Luxe motel room for the day, it gave us a chance to freshen up, relax, for me to catch up on some of the emails that came through, and just take time out.
I think it was one of the most beautiful views, i wish we could have stayed and seen this by night. This is the view from the 11th floor of the motel room
We must go back to Hong Kong and next time take time to enjoy it.
A beautiful and most amazing city

Would you like to know more about GIFT,

The latest technology for fibre testing, to advance alpaca and sheep breeders to assist them in making more accurate breeding decisions, in order to produce premium fleeces.

the DVD goes for 11 mins, If you would like to see the end of this DVD, email me and i can send you a copy of this DVD, please let us know and we can send one out to you.

How enviroment can influence the fleece -GIFT example 2

We are looking at how much the first fleece can change over the period of time, which can reflect in the micron range of the fleece stats. Remember, when we are looking at histograms, we are looking at any point of time.We are looking at Alpaca "K"" for this purpose, who was born 30/12/06. If we look at Graph 1 we can see the point of birth, and all the influences that can change over the period of time that has been tested.

This is her first fleece, and pre and post natal influences does affect the fleece.

The fleece that you are seeing at that point of time, is influenced by 6 weeks prior, so in other words, under the skin, what enviromental influences you are seeing at that point, is from 6 weeks ago, which is how long it takes that fibre from the point of conception to the time it erupts through the skin is 6 weeks.

Again as we look through Graph 1, we can see the point of weaning, the stress Kasarni experienced through being weaned, which is very normal, and then the slight increase, being the spring flush, and then how she settles down after being weaned, and she is getting quite happy being now apart from mum, and also the beginning of summer as we see the nutritional intake is going down again as the grass dries out, and less nutrition in the grass.

Sheep farmers use these graphs to see how their farm is going, as if all the graphs of each sheep is the same, then any changes over the years, reflects the environmental influence on the fleece because maybe a bad or good year.

But if one graph is different to the rest, then it reflects, something is going on in that one sheep, maybe stressed, or suffering something that has not yet been picked up.

This is a vital tool for the breeder and farmer.

So if we go to graph 2, which is the first fleece test, and again, we can see how this is only part of the picture, as we can see in graph 3.

If we measure the points that the ODFA 2000 has picked up along the length of the fleece to come to the final fleece stats, we can see that the average of all the points is 19.2.

But if we just test the fleece 2 months later, on 27/10/07, on graph 3, we can see that there were other influences along the fleece, that affects the outcome of the micron.

as you can see graph 1 is the line graph from graph 3, and we have picked up 14 points along the graph, which brings the micron down to 18.9.

Interestingly, on year 2, we see a different picture, although i do not have a graph to show this, but i do have the statics which are.

Mic 16.9 SD 2.9 CV 17.1 Comf Fact 100 sp fineness 15.9 for a full years growth on her 2nd fleece.

So we now do not have the mothers influence on the fleece, here, Kasarni had settled down to being away from her dam, and her fleece reflects a different picture.

i would also like to note in this example, that the spin fineness in 2007 was 16.7, which is reflected again in the 2008 fleece.

I would also like to point out in Graph 2 and graph 3, different information was picked up.

so for instance graph 3 has picked up a little more information that graph 2.

Also in the 2008 fleece, her along fibre SD, was .9, which means along the length of the fleece, the micron range was only .9 difference, which reflects that this alpaca is a high quality female, as the environment is not affecting her nutritional intake, which also means that each fibre in the bundle is taking up a more even amount of nutrition, that the average alpaca, and that is also reflected in her SD 2.9.

I hope I have explained this so you can understand.

After being more heavily involved in GIFT, although i had a good understanding of reading histograms, i can pick up so much more now, which helps me to breed better fleeces, and helps people that i am associated with to understand breeding a lot more, which ultimately will assist them in making more precise breeding decisions, because of their fleece results and understanding these statics better.

GIFT has given me a great breeding tool.

Vancouver Seattle here we come

As the usuaal style of Rob and I, we do not go to the tourist thing, but want to see as much as we can in such a short time.
Only half an hour from the border of USA, lets just hop over the border. Wedll it is not as easy as hopping over the boder of NSW, or Sa, but wow we were welcomed into USA.

There are huge freeways, lots cars and people, huge shopping centres, and we did feel like country people comin into the big city.
It is also hard to drive on the other side of the road.
And we just had to stop into a "Diner", just like in the movies, with lots of American flags in the front lawns.

Rob loves going away

Well, a couple of days to ourselves as we transit our way through to Vancouver, Canada.
A huge work load had to be finished prior to us leaving, with me still typing at my computer as i am liuterally running out the door.
Elyse packed our bags, Rob, doing final maintenance on vehicles, as we load to deliver another group of alpaca to the airport.
Like everything, it is when you stop, it catches up with you, and boy did it catch up. midnight flight, suppose to get some sleep in the plane, but it was so cramped, and both Rob and i had a huge amount on our minds, that there was no way were we going to get some sleep.
We were so tie when we got to Hong Kong.
2 days there, and i have never been to Hong Kong, one of my dream destinations, so much to do, so much to see, but we were just so tied.

Canadian Futerity Alpaca Auction 2009 Red Deer, Alberta

I have been to Alpaca Auctions in Australia, New Zealand, UK, but this Auctioneer, is the best. Just listen to his style. I was also so impressed, that when the auction went quiet, he was there, and he got that bids up. He entered with style, a huge 10 gallon white hat, a tailored Gold jacket, cowboy boots and all. We thought WOW, but just listen to him, i loved it. Congratulations to all who sold at the auction, especially Kelly who not only walked home with the Supreme champions but also the top selling alpaca at the aauction.