Pedro's Pride Ranch Takes Honors

Estes Park, CO, June 18, 2006:

007's Leila, owned by Pedro's Pride Ranch took top honors in her color and age class at the Estes Park Wool Market Fleece Show. Judges commented on the brilliance, tight crimp and uniformity of Leila's rich, white fleece.





















Photo:
Leila displaying her 1st and 2nd place ribbons from 2003 and 2004 Alpacapalooza Fleece Shows. She will add another Blue from the Estes Park Wool Market show.

Pedro Armendariz, also owned by Pedro's Pride Ranch, took third in the same class for his fleece. Pedro's fleece exhibits unusual density, bright white color with brilliant reflective qualities. His staple length is greater than Leila's (who is a producing dam), but it lacks some definition compared with her fleece.

Because the class was based on age and color, Leila and Pedro competed againt one another; thus, Pedro's Pride Ranch took two out of the top three awards in this class.

Photo:
Pedro's fleece sample from the 2006 shearing where he produced 12 lbs of wonderful white fiber. His shearing and the weighing of Pedro's fleece were witnessed by an independent fleece sorter.

















Pedro and Leila have produced two crias: Lilly, who took ribbons in the only two shows she entered and Paloma, who is two months old and already showing the presence and conformation that should take her to the show ring next Spring. Both crias display exceptionally dense, brilliant fleece with strong crimp.

Yarn spun from Pedro's fleece has been an excellent seller at Pedro's Pride Fashions. Yarn from both Leila's and Pedro's 2005 fleeces is on sale at the Alpaca Market in Eugene, Oregon this weekend. One excellent feature of the yarn from these two wonderful animals is the way it holds dye and stays true to a full range of colors.

All my best to you all
Ken Larson

More Baby Pictures--Crias!!!

I have received more cria photos from around the country. I tried to post them all, but a few were too small or I was too lame to figure out how to make them work. I'll keep trying. I think it is really fun to see these little Alpacas and to get comments from their owners. Thanks, for sending them. [Please note that no matter how hard I try to get these all formatted and lined up so they look good and make sense, it all changes when I post it to the blog. I just hope you can match the photos with the names. If not, enjoy the photos and contact the owners.]

To the right are listed links to useful and interesting websites. A new one has been added that you should visit. It is Gateway Alpacas. In addition to a nice ranch site, this site offers a Directory of other ranches. John was kind enough to add a link to our site at www.pedrospride.com and we have placed a link to his site here and will add on at our ranch site at www.alpaca-usa.com. Please take a look at Gateway Alpacas.

Also, to the right, you will see a new link to Cabin Cria-Tions, www.soggybottomranchalpacas.com. Geri sent in a cria photo and also information that should interest all of us. Her company manufactures and sells cria coats. We use cria coats on almost every newborn and we even have a set of medium sized ones for youngsters who might need some extra help in cold weather. Cria coats are one of those things you need to have on hand BEFORE you need them, so I would advise stocking up, even in the hot summer months. Take a look at Geri's products at her very nice website.



Introducing SBRA Coppertone Kid, a wonderful cria with credentials to match. His photo here is at the Soggy Bottom Ranch at Gresham, Wisconsin. Go to Geri's website for details and contact information.

Shown here having fun with a dust bath at her ranch in Blairville, Georgia, is Lady Co Co.

Lee and Joanne Mansfield sent a few photos of their crias. What a wonderful bunch of little ones they have. Below are some more cria photos from the Mansfields:

No wonder their ranch motto is: "Our alpacas are not our whole lives, they just make our lives whole." You can find their ranch under Alpacas 4U2C at www.alpacanation.com.

Here is Sir Wilson running at only five days of age:

Showing off the amazing variety of colors at their Georgia ranch are Night's Jewel and mom:

LeeAnna Wunder Jorgenson, on Whidbey Island, Washington, said she is relatively new to the alpaca business. These two photos of her first cria, Phobos Gold Nugget, at only four hours of age, show that Lee Anna is already having fantastic success. When her website is up, we will post a link on the blog. Thanks, for sharing these cria photos, which prove once again that there is not much cuter than an Alpaca cria. Send some more photos when you can.