Karen's alpacas: A BUSY WEEK

It's an early night for me tonight, I 'm struggling to keep my eyes open, but I need to bring you up to date on what has been a very full week, before I collapse in front of the telly! Here are some pics from the World Alpaca Conference, which was excellent. Firstly what a stunning venue, I felt privileged just to be there, my student room was very large, clean and comfortable - so much better than I had imagined! The whole event was extremely well organised and seemed to run like clockwork, thanks to all the hard work of the organisers. The food was very good, especially given how many people they were catering for, and dining in the Great Hall was a real treat - I almost expected owls to fly over our heads any minute. All the lectures I attended were excellent, I especially enjoyed Dr Andrew Merriwether on Colour Genetics - I could have listened to him for hours, and Val Fullerlove's Historical View was really good, and Julio Sumar lectures on reproductive pathology and embryo transfer were fascinating - he is a wonderful speaker and such a lovely gentleman to talk to, with a lifetime of knowledge and experience and passion for his subject. Another highlight was the Fashion Show - those students have real talent and the garments were amazing. We had sponsored one of them, Rebecca Peatie, she introduced bright colours and graffiti with a South American feel in her design, and I was delighted for her when she won the award.

Keeble College Oxford - view from my room

Rebecca Peatie stood to the left of her winning colourful design

Snowmass wins The Huacaya Golden Fleece

One short evening at home and a quick catch up on the livestock and then it was time to head off for the SWAG Spring Show. Rebecca came with me this time and we took our little show team of 6 Juniors plus Bonami our intermediate fawn boy who came 4th in his class, Eros 3rd in his fawn class, Callista 4th in her white class, Bond 1st in his white class, (way-hay) and The Sorcerer 1st in his grey class and then he went on to win Champion Grey Male and Best of British Huacaya!! Very thrilled with my little team. We arrived home in the dark at around 9pm and thankfully there was a stable ready for them all and so they were duly stuffed into it for the night. This morning they were back out in the field telling all their friends about their adventures.

Rebecca with Bond in 1st place

The Sorcerer (standing still for a moment!) alongside Carol Eyre's lovely boy

Best of British - both parents have to be born in the UK to qualify
Meon ValleyArdingly x Meon Valley Sabrina

So back on the farm today and I delivered six of our little boys to their lovely new home to live with Beverley, Paul and Jacob an hour down the road in Hampshire. We wish them the best of luck and happiness with their new venture into alpaca ownership. I remember how excited we were to get our first alpacas nearly 14 years ago... 2 pet boys !!!!!