Q. What impact would it have if the Show Rules were changed to eliminate the juvi classes altogether? or maybe modify to be nine months-12 months as the age range?

A. Making this kind of change would impact the number of alpacas shown and it would really impact the length of time (or number) that you can show a female alpaca. Personally, I am not in favor of raising the minimum age above 7 months and I would rather not do that. I think there are cases where alpacas that are 6 + months are ready and able to show. The problem is that many breeders do not realize how much stress is involved in a young alpaca going to a show. If the alpaca has any issue or is underweight at all, it should not be at a show. I often will talk to breeders about these issues privately but usually will not address it on the microphone.

Q. Hello Tim,
If an alpaca has blue eyes does that disqualify it from being a show animal? Also want to say thanks for your website alpacajudge.net. It's great to have somewhere to go for some answers.
 

A. Thank you for your question. There is no mention of eye color in the AOBA rulebook. It is not listed as a negative or positive trait. Blue eyes should not affect the placement of an alpaca and judges.
 

Q. Hi Tim! I'm about to enter my first fleece show and am making my choices as to which show(s) to enter. I usually enter the spin-offs, but have a young male with awesome fleece . . .
My questions:
Do the judges take into consideration the difference between a 7 month old and a 12 month old with regard to the staple length and weight?
Is it sensible to enter more than one show with the same fleece?
Thanks so much for any input you care to give! It will be greatly appreciated!

A. Hello. Thank you for your questions. Yes, judges do consider age when judging. Also, the scoring for fleece weight is done by a table that AOBA gives us. All fleece weights are annualized. This way all of the fleeces are evenly judged. A fleece will almost always do best the first time it I judged. While judges try to be careful they need to look over the entire fleece and once judged they never quite present themselves the same.
 

Q. My alpaca had debridement surgery on her upper leg/hind quarter. She had a major abscess, a bit of osteomelytis and a hairline fx. She will be in the showring soon and the area is shorn. She will have the appropriate surgeon's statement with her of course. Major amount of meds were dumped into the surgical area and now the fiber is white (not dark like the rest of her) at the surgical site. Could this new white spot be due to the trauma/surgery/meds or is it just a coincidence that she developed a white spot in the exact area of the wound? How will the judge know the difference and should I tell him? She's a juvenile huacaya and the spot is 2-3" across.

A. I do not think that such a spot would affect my placings, especially if the spot is not in the blanket area. This does bring up a question that everyone needs to consider when deciding if an alpaca is “show ready”. When we are judging alpacas we want to be able to judge alpacas in their best condition. If an alpaca has been injured or is not in prime health then it probably should not be shown. If it is shown then the breeder has to understand there is a chance that the alpaca may place down.

Q. Is it better to judge halter in natural lighting vs. mercury or sodium lights in large buildings?
 

I think that most indoor lighting is good enough for judging alpaca shows. If it is not sufficient that judge should let show management know. Much of the judging of a class is done from a distance of 5-10 feet. The hands on –close up inspection can be done easily under “normal” indoor lighting. I have judged alpacas outside before. I do prefer judging inside. There are so many other enviromental factors that we cannot control when we move outside. One problem is that the sun can be too strong and too bright. The best situation would be a facility that has a lot of natural light from windows.
 

Q. … in this type of lower lighting environment, does the judge need to rely on feel of the fiber to judge fineness/handle, and can dirt down in the fiber give a false coarse feel?
 

Two questions to answer here. In normal lighting a judge will use his hands for feel or “Handle” and his eyes for fineness. These are two different characteristics to consider. When a judge feels the fleece they are gauging softness of handle. When they pull a fiber sample or examine the fleece closely on the body they are considering fineness (micron). A fleece can be not fine but have a good handle, and the opposite can be true.

Part 2- Environment can play a huge factor into the handle or feel of a fleece. I have seen a couple of alpacas from the South East USA that are orange in color. They happen to live on soil that has a lot of clay on it. The clay affects the handle (and color) of the fleece.

The best situation would be if the alpaca got rained on one day, was kept on lush grass until it left for the show the next day. The rain will rinse dirt and sand out of a fleece and then being on the grass the alpaca will not have the chance to roll in a dirt bath. When judging we have to judge what we see that day in that ring. We cannot assume that this alpaca would have a better handle if it lived in a different place.
 

Q. We saw a farm that sprayed down into the fiber of seemly clean looking alpacas with what appeared to be water in a spray bottle on the morning of the showing. Does this make the fiber more moist -- giving it that dewy look at the skin that (at least this judge) judges like? Does this enhance the crimp present in the fiber or make it frizzy -- we've heard both. And, most importantly, is this allowed?

Exhibitors are allowed to spray an alpaca with water (no soaps or detergents). On suris people usually do it to get any “fly away” hairs to sit down. I do not believe it will make any large difference in how alpacas are place if one is sprayed and one is not. On huacayas it is sometimes done to add moisture to the fleece. If an alpaca is coming from a very dry area it can be helpful to make the fleece seem healthier. It may let the fleece show more crimp than if it is not sprayed, but I am not sure. Alpaca fleece is very similar to human hair- some weather conditions can make it behave differently. Depending on how fine and how dense a fleece is it may show different sign when it gets dry or very moist. It is not uncommon to find sweaty alpacas in late spring shows or shows where there is a lot of humidity. Usually the fleeces will fall and not seem as dense when there is too much moisture.


Q. Our alpacas, coming from normally very dry Colorado winter, were distinctly dusty/dirty and somewhat dry at the skin, topped off with a lovely case of 'hay head.' And, all these west coast farms with coats and spray bottles made us wonder if we are taking the 'pasture' appearance too literally. We discounted the wands and the 'patting' techniques for cleaning dirt out of the fiber, and using coats to keep the alpacas clean, but think we may try it before our next show.

Personally I show more the way you do and we usually do very well. I am not sure that coats are a good idea though. If I have a juvenile Huacaya that I am showing I will just keep an eye on it and make sure it does not get too much hay or straw on it. If it gets manure I will use the wand to knock it off. Other than that, I take them from the field to the show ring. I do use fans on my stalls to help avoid moisture from settling on the fleeces.
 

Q. I have a few females and males who like to rub their heads in the hay and make a mess of their topknots. I don't touch them, but I wondered what this will look like to a judge. This is technically "paddock condition" yet it looks messy. Any thoughts?

A. Hello and thank you for your question. I am glad you like the site. I am hoping to help educate breeders and exhibitors to make the showing experience more valuable to everyone.

I have two parts to answer your question-

First- The condition of the topknot does not usually affect the final placings. With that said, first impressions on a judge do help. As the alpacas walk into the ring I am analyzing many characteristics and putting them in the back of my head. If an alpaca walks into the ring and my brain goes “wow” that is a good thing. It does not mean that in the end it is going to place higher than anyone else depending on the hands on evaluation, but it may be enough of an advantage over another alpaca in a close pairing.

Second- The 2006 AOBA rules actually state that you are allowed to trim topknots on suris and huacayas. So, if you feel comfortable you can trim a small amount off. I suggest taking about a ½ an inch off uniformly across the whole top and seeing how that works. Sometimes once you take off that much, the vegetation and foreign matter comes out. Be sure to do any topknot trimming at least 2-3 weeks ahead of any show you are going to. This lets it get back to a more natural look, just like a haircut.

Good luck at the shows.

 

Copywritten 2006-8 by Tim Lavan. All rights Reserved and Reprint by Permission Only.