Faith and Fleece Alpacas

Reserve Championship halter & fleece

Gracie's Slick to the Max

This guy felt like a long time coming to us. His mom had not been bred for many years by her prior owner and she slipped her first pregnancy for us. So, we were more than grateful when he came along. He has a pedigree including Bracito, Torbio, Macqyver... His name came to me thinking of rock & roller Grace Slick. Slick has been the perfect name.

He was born sturdy and strong and absolutely packing the fleece! We had not seen or felt so many skin wrinkles on a newborn body and neck. They almost flapped over on the sides. We suspected this was an indicator the fleece will just keep coming - luster & fineness like no other we had seen. We mean fine! Comments had been that he could very well be one the nicest this ranch has produced.

We were so disappointed that he did not get a chance to show 2020 do to all shows being canceled with Covid. Since the local show was also canceled again spring of 2021 when opportunity presented, we decided to send him all the way to Nebraska to the Nationals. In his first show at the AOA Nationals he took a first in his class! The judge had all nice things to say about him. Those that got to take a close look made the comment he has an elite fleece type. We were planning to send him on to further shows but unfortunately he ended up being shorn on the ranch shearing day! Words don't describe the sadness felt when his prime show season was cut short.

Because of his amiable demeanor we did decide to continue to show him as an adult. Cheryl Gehly gave him a 1st with a Reserve Champion in walking fleece. With a score of 10 of 10 in fineness as a 2 year old when judges rarely give out 10s! Spring 2022 he went on to receive four 1st places ribbons & 2nds in walking fleece. We still wonder if the near average density scores from certain judges took his fineness into consideration. Dianne Timmerman gave him a 4 of 5 in density and Cheryl Gehly gave him a 3.5 of 5. We feel they know Suris. We hope to obtain a skin biopsy one day. At the AWE he was awarded a 1st & reserve color championship in halter! Comments besides his nice frame, were his fleece fineness and that re-locking all the way down to the belly. Between showing at CABA, AWE, GWAS and RMA if you saw the level of his competition it was really out of this world. We were proud of his show record and did not plan to continue but they needed numbers at Gold Country 2022. Although again he wasn't well maintained pastures, he took a 1st in walking fleece with his highest fleece score!

We had sent his 2nd fleece off for processing, they mill commented they had successfully processed fine fleece before but not any that was that "slick". His histogram just came back 22.1 AFD and 5 SD in his 3rd fleece.

He will hopefully get a date soon. However underutilized as we have a predominantly gray suri herd. For those looking to add positive traits and improve fineness he may do wonders.

Updated 10/19/2022