Brianna ....... half-accoyo Champion granddaughter of Yupanqui and Felix! 
Brianna is a rare light silver grey half-accoyo daughter of Aussie Rockford, the grey herdsire who placed first at the 2001 AOBA Nationals in both adult male halter and the fleece show - quite an accomplishment! Rockford's fiber is dense, crimpy and fine, with a micron count of 21.1/5.0/23.7/4.4 in his third year. Brianna's dam is a solid black half-accoyo sired by Ppperuvian Yupanqui, and her grandsire on her father's side is the renowned Pperuvian Felix. Brianna is very straight, with a magnificently pretty and typey head. She has extremely dense fleece, which is fine, with a very defined, tight crimp. Brianna is an exceptional female with breathtaking fiber, bred with our full Peruvian black Champion Knightrider in Fall 2008. 

Awards:  Brianna's yearling fleece won a blue ribbon in her class and Champion of all the multi/grey huacaya fleeces at MaPaca 2004, described as "the largest alpaca event on the planet, ever"! Her fleece also placed second in the juvenile class. Brianna's 2005 fleece was awarded a red ribbon by Kristin Buhrmann at MaPaca 2005, with over 200 fleeces in the show.

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 Misty ....... Champion grey Michelangelo daughter!
A granddaughter of the top west coast grey herdsire Fantasy's Gremlin and the renowned Pperuvian Guellermo, Misty is a stunning silver grey girl, stocky and solid, with excellent conformation and proud presence. Her fiber is fine (23.0 AFD at age 11 months) and bright, with fabulous staple length and a tight little crimp. She is heavily fibered down to her toes and has a wooly, typey head. Her dam, Fabia, is a beautiful and correct silver Chilean and her half-Peruvian black sire, Michelangelo, is a blue ribbon winner whose dam is a fine-fibered silver. At the 2000 Alpacapalooza the international judge said of Michelangelo, "From the minute he entered the ring, there was no other presence such as his", and he is producing show-stopping offspring, including the 2002 AOBA Champion, "Onyx De Mico". Misty was bred with the full Peruvian black Champion Knightrider in Fall 2008. 

Awards: At 2 years of age, in her only showring appearance, the majestic Misty placed first in her age group, and went on to become Reserve Champion of all the mixed multicolor and grey female huacayas at the 2004 VA Classic Show. Nard Mullen awarded Misty a third place for her fleece in 2002 at the highly competitive EVAA show, only 2 points behind the first place winner.

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 Thistledown Heather Nikos.......Champion grey daughter of two Champions!
Independently valued at $15,000 by both Dianna Timmerman and Wade Gease in August 2010, Heather is a rare find in quality grey females. A Reserve Champion and multiple ribbon-winner after only her first show season, Heather exhibits well-balanced, straight, square conformation, plus fine, crimpy, rose / silver grey fiber, with a remarkable absence of medulated fiber throughout. Her 11 month fiber diameter was 19.7 microns, with a 4.7 SD, a mean curvature of 44.3 and a comfort factor of 97.3%. Daughter of PV Nikos, our 3X Champion, half-accoyo dark silver grey herdsire, Heather inherits Felix, Yupanqui and Hannaruh bloodlines from her sire. She is the daughter of two Champions, with her Champion dark brown dam, Holly, bringing the Black Hawk and CPeruvian Jaxon bloodlines into the mix. Heather offers rare black and grey genetics for tremendous breeding potential, plus excellent conformation, fiber uniformity and a wonderful personality.

Awards:  Amanda VandenBosch awarded Heather the blue ribbon in her first halter class, at the Level IV CABO show in February 2010, against alpacas from some of the best grey breeding programs in the US. Heather placed second of all the greys in the March 2010 Virginia Classic Walking Fleece Fiber Futurity, and her juvenile fleece placed second in the 2010 MAPACA fleece show and second in the 2010 PAOBA fleece show, where she scored only 1/2 a point less than the Reserve Champion! At the 2010 Blue Ridge Classic, Heather placed second in her yearling halter class and won the Reserve Championship. At the 2011 Level IV VAOBA show, Heather placed first again, in full fleece halter.

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 Thistledown Pippa Nikos....... award-winning dark silver grey daughter of 3X Champion!
Meliora's first cria, "Pip-Squeak" arrived early on Halloween morning in 2010 and was on her feet and dry before 8.00 a.m. Out of the award-winning black daughter of our Champion grey herdsire, Ben MacDhui, and sired by our 3X Champion dark silver grey herdsire, PV Nikos, this young lady has a remarkable heritage and tremendous potential. Her dam has a very dense, crimpy, uniform black fleece, while her sire, Nikos, has an extremely fine, uniform, crimpy, dark grey fleece, which has retained fineness over time. The first grandchild of MacDhui born on our farm in the 10 years we have owned him (all his other daughters sold long before we had the opportunity to breed them!), her maternal grand dam, Holly, is also a halter Champion, out of two Champions. So far, Pippa exhibits crimp, soft handle, density and uniformity in her dark grey fleece and has the most beautiful head and excellent fiber coverage. We look forward to watching her mature. 

Awards: Pip-Squeak's yearling fleece won a first place ribbon at MAPACA 2012 and a second place at PAOBA 2012. Judges comments included, "soft hand and excellent uniformity". Her beautiful, fine fiber also won first place in the 2012 VAOBA Spin-Off. 
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 Thistledown "GiGi"....... outstanding medium silver grey daughter of 2 Champions!
Nicknamed "GiGi", short for gorgeous girl, this personable young lady is possibly my favorite of all the crias born this year. Born November 18, 2012, her dam, Nola, is our MAPACA brown fleece Champion, and her sire is our Champion medium silver grey, Ben MacDhui, a reliable producer of black and grey. GiGi is solid medium silver grey, under those brownish cria tips, with possibly one black, and one brown spot in her blanket. Her fleece is extremely dense, a characteristic she inherits from both parents, and at a couple of months of age, her fiber is developing nice architecture. Very pleased with this young lady, who we plan to keep for our foundation herd, because believe it or not, even though her sire is 13 years old, and we have owned him since he was a yearling, we have never managed to keep any of his daughters! They have all sold off the farm, usually before breeding age. So this year, we plan to keep a couple of his daughters, to breed back to our fine, soft-handled 3X Champion dark silver grey herdsire, PV Nikos. Her maternal bloodlines include Peruvian Matador and 4Peruvian Black Magic, and her sire's 4 generation pedigree reads like a "who's who" of the top grey alpacas in the nation! We expect GiGi to be in our Fall 2013 show string.
 Thistledown "BronDhui".......DSG Daughter of full Peruvian beige dam and Champion MSG sire
We have bred Bronwen, our full Peruvian, genetically patterned, beige female to Ben MacDhui on four occasions, and they have always produced the most beautiful offspring, with such wonderful conformation, coverage, fiber and temperaments that they literally sell themselves. Born November 21, 2012, their latest daughter is dark silver grey, and we will probably keep her as a long-term replacement for her dam, who will be 10 years old this year. This little lady looks black, but she is actually a uniform dark silver grey, throughout her neck and blanket and all the way down her legs. Her fiber is very fine and soft-handled and her dam's fleece has retained fineness with age. She is a beautiful, feminine young lady, and we trust she will be an excellent mother, just like Bronwen. We're not sure if she has the "pizzaz" and crimp structure the judges seem to favor in the showring, so are uncertain about showing her in 2013, but are confident her genetics, conformation, fineness and hand will make her an excellent foundation female in our grey breeding program.
 Thistledown "NewMoo"....... tuxedo black/DSG daughter of award-winning silver grey dam and color Champion-producing white male
  "NewMoo" was born on November 15, 2012, and completely surprised us - took a while to figure out that her dam was our medium silver grey Nikos daughter, Isla. Her sire is our white, color-Champion producing herdsire, Tundra, a son of Peruvian Presidio, making this young lady 3/4 Peruvian. She has phenomenal black fiber - uniform, crimpy and soft-handled with very nice density and lovely long staple - she may show as a black, as she only has knee-high white socks on her front legs. Will have to check the most recent AOBA rules on that! She also has the potential to produce tuxedo grey, so is a very interesting, quality young female. Her maternal bloodlines include Felix, Yupanqui, Danko and Peruvian Platinum, and she is a granddaughter of Peruvian Presidio, possibly the best son of Caligula, and a granddaughter of Peruvian Marcela, the white female who produced the notable colored herdsires, "Show Me the Money" and "Silver Dollar". Her conformation, coverage and presence are all excellent, and she will probably be in our Fall 2013 show string. Breaking news: this little lady has white fibers in her blanket and appears to be a poorly expressed dark silver grey. That makes her a keeper for our grey breeding program!

 
 
 Thistledown's Kerensa Compadre ....... black Compadre daughter!
With four black grandparents and a very strong heritage of top quality color, Kerensa is a beautiful black girl with excellent conformation and fiber character - her blanket is just a mass of tight, shiny curls! Her dam, Demelza is our MaPaca ribbon-winning 3/4 Peruvian "black in brown clothing", who exhibits excellent conformation and stature, dense fleece with outstanding crimp, plus coverage from tip to toe. Kerensa is a Cornish name, meaning love and affection, and she is, if anything, even sweeter than her dam in temperament, so the name suits her very well! Kerensa is sired by Patagonia's Compadre, a "double black" son of Caballero Andante from Alpacas de la Patagonia. At 2 years of age, Compadre had a fiber analysis of 20.6 AFD, 3.4 SD, 16.5 CV and 1.2% > 30 microns, with an 8lb shearing weight - these are phenomenal numbers for a true black out of two blacks. Kerensa has produced a black son and a patterned daughter and was bred with our 3X Champion dark silver grey PV Nikos in Fall 2008.

Awards: In her first showring appearance at 8 months of age, Kerensa placed 5th in a halter class of 12 juvenile black females at the 2006 Virginia Classic. Judge, Shannon McConnell, commented that she had not yet developed the fullness of body of the other females in the class. In a juvenile black halter class of 15 at MaPaca 2006, Kerensa won a 6th place ribbon, with the judge commenting that the girls placing 4th-6th had very similar fleece and conformation, and that head-type was the deciding factor. At the 2006 VAOBA Alpaca Expo, a Level III AOBA-Certified Show, Kerensa's fiber won a blue ribbon in the SpinOff where the judge, Cathy Songer, commented that she had, "beautiful fiber" and awarded her 93 points out of 100. Kerensa also won a blue ribbon out of 11 juvenile black entries at National level in the 2006 Fiber to Fashion SpinOff, placed first out of 9 with a score of 94/100 in the big OABA 2006 SpinOff, and won another blue ribbon out of 6 entries in the 2007 Virginia Classic SpinOff competition. 

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 Lakisha ....... 3/4 Peruvian true black daughter of brown AOBA & MAPACA Champion!
If you have ever seen CPeruvian LB Remington, as we did at MaPaca in 2001, you would understand our excitement about having his true black 3/4 Peruvian daughter, Lakisha, in our foundation herd! Remington is one of those males that stops you dead in your tracks and makes you spin around on your heel for a second look. He has phenomenal macho presence, conformation, serious coverage, density and crimp, and a wonderful mellow temperament. Lakisha's dam is a true black granddaughter of Peruvian Chocolateer and The Silversmith, with very good conformation and coverage, plus great handle and staple length. Lakisha has wonderful solid, square, typey conformation, with excellent density and handle to her fiber and a perfect bite. In November 2007 she produced her first cria, Boadicca, a stunning true black female, and Lakisha has proven herself to be a wonderful mother and milker. Lakisha produced a 7/8 Peruvian true black son in 2008 from her breeding with our award-winning, white Peruvian Presidio son, Tundra, and was bred with our 3X Champion dark silver grey PV Nikos in Fall 2008.

Awards: In her first showring appearance at 9 months of age, Lakisha placed 4th in a halter class of 12 juvenile black females at the 2006 Virginia Classic. Lakisha's juvenile blanket had a 4lb annualised shearing weight, and was awarded a second place by Jill McCloud in the 2006 PAOBA fleece show. Cathy Songer awarded her fiber second place in the SpinOff at the 2006 VAOBA Alpaca Expo, with a score of 90/100, commenting that she had "excellent color integrity (no bleaching)", and Lakisha placed fourth in a full fleece halter class of eleven at this Level III show. Her fiber also placed first in a class of 7 at the 2006 Mid-America SpinOff, second in a class of 8 in the 2007 MOPACA SpinOff competition, with a score of 90/100, and her 22 month shearing won a second place in the 2007 PAOBA show.

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 Spring Blush ....... Champion producer & full Peruvian daughter of maroon 3X Champion!
Blush is a Champion producer who consistently produces award-winning offspring with dense, crimpy, soft-handled colored fiber. This full Peruvian maroon daughter of two maroon parents offers exactly the kind of quality and rare color we value in our breeding program. Her sire, King Crimson, is the Champion full Peruvian maroon son of two true maroon parents. King has won numerous halter and fleece awards at regional and national level, including Best Hand, Best Luster and Best Brightness awards for his magnificent fiber. Blush's dam, Peruvian Daphne, is the rare true maroon daughter of two 6Peruvian imports. Daphne also possesses excellent fiber quality, strong, square conformation and a beautiful huacaya head. Blush produced an award-winning maroon daughter from a breeding to silver grey, a second place winning son from her breeding to our white herdsire, Tundra, and a blue ribbon winner & Reserve Champion son from a repeat breeding to Tundra in 2008. Every one a winner!

Awards: In her first show, Blush placed third in a large, competitive juvenile brown halter class at the 2004 North American Alpaca Show in Kentucky. Blush's yearling fleece was awarded a third place ribbon by Kristin Buhrmann at MaPaca 2005, a second place in the HandCrafters' SpinOff at the 2005 Blue Ridge Classic Alpaca Show, with a score of 91.5/100, and a blue ribbon in the Handcrafters' SpinOff at the Level 4 OABA 2005 Fleece Show, with a score of 92/100. Blush won another blue ribbon in the 2006 Southern Select SpinOff competition, with a score of 91.5/100, and a blue ribbon in the 2006 MOPACA SpinOff with a score of 95/100. 
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 DSF Iris ....... award-winning daughter of Champion rose grey, McGinnis!
Iris is the brown / recessive black daughter of the Champion rose grey, McGinnis, who sired both the grey Color Champion female at the 2004 AOBA Nationals, and the 2005 grey Futurity Champion female, who went on to sell in the Futurity auction for $80,000! McGinnis has excellent, soft, crimpy rose grey fiber and a reputation for producing quality offspring.

Iris is a very attractive female, with soft-handled crimpy fiber, wonderful staple length, and good coverage. She is very balanced, with straight legs, lovely overall conformation and a perfect bite. She inherits her even, rich, brown coloring from her 3/4 Peruvian dam, and has excellent potential to throw quality black and grey. We actually prefer to breed our grey males to solid, dark-colored females with a grey heritage, to produce grey and black offspring. Iris should grow up to be an important asset in any breeding program, and as we watch her develop, we are leaning towards keeping her for ours! Iris produced a beautiful true black son from her breeding with our silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui, and was bred with our 3X Champion dark silver grey, PV Nikos for her Fall 2009 cria.

Awards: Iris placed second at her first show, in the juvenile dark composite class at MAPACA in 2007. Kevin O'Leary judged her conformation in the showring, and her fleece was judged by Wade Gease. Her fleece went on to win a blue ribbon in the 2007 PAOBA fleece show, a second place in the 2007 LA Deep South Spinoff competition, a second place in the prestigious 2008 National Fiber to Fashion Spinoff and a blue ribbon in the 2008 LA Deep South Spinoff competition. In 2009, her fiber won a first place in the extremely competitive MAPACA Spinoff - our two girls. Iris and Brigit, placed first and second out of all the male and female entries in their class!
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 Caterina ....... half-accoyo Champion granddaughter of Camilio and Victor's VAccoyo!
A half Accoyo granddaughter of Accoyo Camilio and Victor's VAccoyo, Caterina is well-furnished in beautifully marked fleece, conformationally correct and nicely balanced with good bone. Her fiber is just gorgeous - bright, with well-defined crimp extending to the ends and consistent throughout her blanket. The 2003 fiber analysis of her brown fleece only, was 21.8 AFD, 4.1 SD, 18.8 CV and 2.2 > 30 microns. Cat has an outstanding solid maroon sire, and a dark fawn dam who both shear 8lbs of fiber annually. Her dam is the winner of many blue ribbons and two reserve championships, and a daughter of Victor VAccoyo, who is no longer available for outside breedings. Cat has an irresistible, well-shaped head and wooly topknot, a light brown skirt, matching shoes, earrings, eyeliner and freckles! She produced a black son with white face from her breeding with our true black full Peruvian Champion, Knightrider and was bred with our award-winning, white Peruvian Presidio son, Tundra, for her Fall 2009 cria.

Awards: Caterina's fleece won a blue ribbon in the yearling multi class at MaPaca 2004, and Reserve Champion in the grey/multi category, with 200 fleeces in the show. Her 2004 fiber placed second in the HandCrafter's SpinOff at the 2005 Virginia Classic Show, first out of 13 entries at National Level, in the 2005 AOBA Fiber to Fashion HandCrafter's SpinOff competition, and another first at the AOBA National HandCrafters' SpinOff in June 2005. Caterina's 2005 fleece was awarded a red ribbon by Kristin Buhrmann at MaPaca 2005, the largest alpaca show in the country, which attracts top breeders from as far away as Oregon and Washington. In her first halter class entry, at the 2005 Blue Ridge Alpaca Show, Caterina won a second place ribbon and compliments from the judge for her excellent handle.
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 Thistledown's Nola Mavericka....... Champion daughter of Champion Peruvian sire !
This beautiful, MAPACA fleece Champion is the daughter of Champion pinto herdsire, Peruvian Maverick, and our MaPaca blue ribbon-winning pinto, Fiona. She is also half sister to the 2005 Virginia Classic brown female Champion, Thistledown's Myfanwy. Nola is a rare, 7/8 Peruvian brown, black and white "tricolor" - her head, neck, body and back legs are brown, her nose, ears, eyes and gums are black, and her front legs are white, with little brown shoes on each front foot and spots on her knees. VERY cute! She also has two full Peruvian black grandparents (Peruvian Matador and Black Jack Jax sired by 4Peruvian Black Magic). Nola is one of the most gentle, even-tempered alpacas we have ever owned. Her name means "famous" and is also a pet form of the Irish name Fionnghuala. Nola is absolutely covered with crimpy, dense, lustrous fiber, and just brimming over with presence and style! She produced a 15/16 Peruvian maroon son from her breeding with our true black Champion, Knightrider, and we repeated this breeding for her Spring 2009 cria.

Awards:  In her first showring appearance, Nola placed 2nd in a halter class of multi females at the 2006 Virginia Classic, against primarily fawn and white alpacas! Judge, Shannon McConnell, commented that all the females in the class had very similar crimp and lock structure, regardless of color. Jill McCloud awarded Nola's juvenile fleece a blue ribbon in the 2006 PAOBA fleece show. Nola won another blue ribbon at the 2006 Virginia State Fair Alpaca Show, which had over 100 entries. Jane Tellier awarded Nola second place in the halter class at the 2006 VAOBA Alpaca Expo, a Level III AOBA-Certified Show, and her fiber won a blue ribbon in the SpinOff at this show. The judge, Cathy Songer, who has over 20 years of spinning experience and has judged at AOBA Nationals and regularly judges the Virginia Classic SpinOff, commented that Nola's fiber was, "one of the nicest fibers I've ever spun" and awarded her 97.5 points out of 100! Nola won another blue ribbon for her fiber in the SpinOff competition at the 2006 Mid-America Alpaca Show, a second place ribbon out of 15 entries at National level in the 2006 Fiber to Fashion SpinOff, a second place in the OABA 2006 SpinOff and another blue ribbon in the 2007 Virginia Classic SpinOff competition. In 2007, Nola won the Championship and a blue ribbon for her fleece at the MAPACA Jubilee, and another blue ribbon in the AOBA National SpinOff competition. In 2008, she placed second in the fleece show at MAPACA 2008, the largest alpaca show in the US.
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 Chiffon - full Peruvian proven producer of Champion colored offspring!
Chiffon is the daughter of the renowned fawn Champion, Sunset Hills Andean Gold, who has won numerous blue ribbons and Championships in both fleece and halter, including the prestigious "Spirit of the Fiber Industry" award at AOBA Nationals, winning over every color of fleece! Her paternal grandparents are 5Peruvian Santana, who was still winning blue ribbons for his fleece at 5 years of age, and Tell VAccoyo's Secret, a granddaughter of PPeruvian Victor, with Victor on the top and underside. This might go some way to explaining Chiffon's remarkable handle, for which Victor is renowned. Her dam is Fantasma, a multiple color Champion-producing daughter of PPPeruvian Augusto. Chiffon was never shown, but as soon as I felt her fiber, and saw the color in her pedigree, I knew she would be a good fit for our breeding program. She has a fine, crimpy fleece, which is bright and buttery to the touch, plus abundant, consistent coverage, from head to fetlock. At 10 months her fiber statistics were AFD 19.0, SD 3.5, CV 18.6 with a comfort factor of 99. Chiffon's first cria for us was Fergus, sired by the black male, Interceptor. Fergus was awarded brown fleece Champion as a juvenile at both MAPACA and PAOBA 2012. Chiffon's 2012 cria is a dense, crimpy, robust and beautiful indefinite light / dark fawn / modern rose grey son of our Champion silver grey Ben MacDhui. Chiffon is currently being bred to A Paca Fun's Norrington, the multiple Champion black son of the multiple Champion Silver Legend of KPR. 

Champion Producer: Chiffon was never shown, but her first son, the medium brown Fergus, won two Championships and two blue ribbons for his fleece at MAPACA and PAOBA 2012, and a second place in halter at 6 months of age at VAOBA 2011.

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 Yupanqui's Bronwen ....... award-winning half-accoyo proven to produce black!
Bronwen is a full Peruvian, half accoyo female, with dark eyes and toenails, and dark markings around her nose, head and ears. Her award-winning dam, Jewel, is the only white offspring of 5Peruvian Chinchero, a true black herdsire imported from the Maychapampa herd in Peru. Jewel's dam, Marcela, produced the famous grey herdsire Silver Dollar, and the nationally respected fawn herdsire, Show Me the Money. Bronwen's sire is Ppperuvian Accoyo Yupanqui (deceased), the number one pick of the 1996 importation, who has produced multiple ribbon winners in a whole rainbow of colors. At 11 years of age, Yupanqui's fiber analysis was 24.0; 4.6; 18.9 and 7.4 > 30 microns, with wonderful crimp and a handle comparable to many yearlings. Bronwen has produced two true black females, from  breedings with our Champion "double black" herdsire, Peruvian Knightrider, and our silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui. She was rebred with Knightrider in Spring 2008.

Awards: Bronwen won a blue ribbon in her first showring appearance, at the 2004 VA State Fair. Tim Lavan awarded her second place in a white yearling female composite class at MaPaca 2005, the largest alpaca show in the country, attracting top breeders from as far away as Oregon and Washington. 
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