our newest Treasure

We proudly welcome Casanova's Tesoro d'Aragon as the newest member of our alpaca herd, born January 17, 2008. He and his mom, Windancer, will come in March to the home we have been preparing for them.

When he arrived, we were somewhat daunted to hear that it was a boy, the 10th male in a row born to us. The common theory is that if the cria is a girl, among her attributes is that she will be a good 'oven' for the next generation. Only the highest quality males (top 5%) are herdsires, so 'lesser' males are generally relegated to fiber animals or companion animals. But this was our best breeding (grandsire Yupanqui x sire Snowmass Casanova), and we anticipated great results. We are not disappointed!

Tesoro ('treasure') is our chosen name for him. From his photos and the exclamations of other alpaca breeders who have seen him, Tesoro's fleece is exceptional: curly and crimpy and dense right to the skin, comparable to his half-brother, Canzelle's Swahili, who is now a multi-show ring champion. The ranch manager says it's their best fleece ever. (Tesoro is even attired in a royal purple cria coat.)

So we are hopeful that this boy will grow into a fine herdsire. Male alpacas mature at 2.5 to 3 years of age, then there's the 11.5 months to wait for the offspring to arrive. Looking ahead to 4 or 5 years, he is our treasure.