To say we were delighted to walk out of every halter and performance class we entered with a ribbon in hand would be an understatement! The judge commented that Fiona, our multi-color girl was "well-deserving" of her blue ribbon in the composite class (fleece and halter judged separately, then scores combined), and was particularly complimentary about the quality of her fleece. Angus and Brianna both placed in halter against some of the toughest competition in the country, and our daughters won ribbons in all their performance classes, some of which had as many as 25 entries. Eight ribbons out of eight entries - that will be tough to beat next year, but we'll certainly try!

Fiona, our multicolor girl out of Peruvian Black Jack Jax and our herd leader Clara, won a blue ribbon in the composite class, where the alpaca is judged in the ring for conformation, the fleece is judged separately, and the two scores combined for final placement. The judge was particularly complimentary about Fiona's fleece, and commented that she was "well-deserving" of her first place position. 

Brianna also placed fifth in her light silver grey juvenile halter class, which was a little disappointing as she is a real beauty, but didn't behave as well in the ring as we would have liked. The competition was also excellent - two of the best greys from Alpacas de la Patagonia and two of Fleecy Dale's finest! The judge did comment that Brianna was a great breeding female, and we plan to breed her with our multiple award-winning grey herdsire Ben MacDhui in due course.

The following week, we were surprised and delighted to see this lovely picture in glorious color, on the front page of our local paper, the Goochland Courier!