Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to the Pronk we go...

L-R: Rocky, Debbie, Terry, Lily (hiding behind Terry), and Kaitlyn

The Monterey Pronk is one of two alpaca shows hosted by

, the oldest regional alpaca breeders association in the Northern hemisphere and home to the oldest alpaca bloodlines in North America of which we are a member. We participated in the California Classic in Pleasanton in April, where Rocky got 3rd place in his class, the other show hosted by Calpaca. It was our plan all along to attend the Pronk, but things were difficult to coordinate and figure out. First and foremost, we had our first three crias to be born on Brookfarm due right around the Pronk. Great timing you say? Secondly, Mark was scheduled to ride the CCC (California Coast Classic) during this same time.

So what to do??? Sarah was planning to be our Farm Hand for the weekend, but she had her company picnic the same weekend, which was actually a weekend at a couple of houses at Russian River. Could it get any more complicated?

Well, I think the Neonatal class we took in July made me even that much more anxious. What if a baby came while we were away and the mother needed assistance? I trusted Sarah fully to be here, but I could barely count on myself or Mark to do any kind of repositioning of baby in stress, let alone my sweet Sarie!

Generally, you allow 345 days for gestation of an alpaca. But you give it a 20 day window of 335-355 days without a worry; and a friend just had a girl at 400+ days. So you see, mother nature cannot be second guessed. We did much calculation in August to try to give us the best guess scenario on each of our girls, based on their history. Who knows, maybe there is a pattern we can count on, or shoot for.

Sweet Lily going through some halter training prior to the Pronk.

Pooh, the first expectant mom, appeared to have a 350 day average, which would put her at about 9/21/07. Carmen was next, although we did not have all her birthing records, and we were shooting at 352 days for her at 10/1/07. Then that left Miski, who appeared to be an early bird. She averaged 331 days for her first 3 birthings, so we estimated 10/6/07 for Miski. So the Pronk was on September 28th and 29th and if all went well, we’d have one cria on the ground before we left, and two more to follow right after we returned. NOT!!!

So thank goodness Miss Pooh’s baby was early. She shot her 350 day average and came in at 338 days with Brookfarm’s Midnight Obsidian (Sid or Sidian for short) on 9/9/07, a true black boy. Then Miss Carmen was not about to wait for no Pronk to happen. That Harvest Moon got her going and at 348 days, and the day before we both headed out in our separate directions, she delivered the most gorgeous rose grey boy (Brookfarm’s Harvest Moonstone “Stone” or maybe “Harvey”), with a bit of assistance from Mark. So Carmen was only 4 days off our target, but before the Pronk -- very good! :-) I’ll fill you in on the Miski later in this post.

Our three companions for the show: Rocky, Lily, and Katie.

It was on September 10th that cousin Terry (& hubby Bob), came by to see the little black boy. As I was telling her how I would be traveling solo to Monterey, pulling the trailer loaded with 3 alpacas, I said, “Want to join me for a fun weekend in Monterey at an alpaca show?” Her eyes twinkled and she said she would consider. She had a complex schedule to work out as well, but she did!

So here we are loading up for the trip. Mark hired Mike Brown to make these cool gates so pacas do not escape when you drop the tail gate, and he also created a divider so we could keep the Rockster away from these sweet, young, innocent girls! The guys at vet check were very impressed with our “custom trailer”!

And away we go, with

“Thomas” as our navigator

to guide our every turn.

It was the “motorways” that

were so confusing ~ but

that is another story.

Sarah had all the instructions she needed, especially for the new grey baby to weigh him morning and night to make sure he was getting his colostrum and nursing well. (She did an absolutely fabulous job driving about 300 miles that weekend back and forth from Russian River for her festivities. I think that girl needs a promotion!.) Mark would not leave till the afternoon so he could monitor things for a bit to see that baby was doing well.

I could not have asked for a better “partner in crime” than Terry. She was my navigator, ranch hand, statistician, you name it, she anticipated it and had it done before I could even mention the word. And all with a smile. She seemed to be having a blast!

A few words of encouragement from Grandpa Rick.

Then the judge does her thing.

And Saturday went perfectly. Rocky showed at the end of the day and ...

VOILA! A Blue Ribbon for the Rockster!

Full Fleece Huacaya Juvenile Male - Fawn

And then about an hour later, drum roll please....

Reserve Color Champion - Full Fleece Huacaya Male

(Out of 25 males ranging in age from 6 months to over 2 years old.

And then on Sunday , we had a wonderful surprise. Mark, Bobby Briones (Terry’s brother), Bear and Merrell (2 other CCC riders) rode into the Monterey Pronk barns, for a visit. They would be stopping just down the coast for the night on this leg of their ride, and invited us out to Lulu’s on the Monterey pier for lunch. I was so into my weekend that I didn’t even know Mark’s schedule this year. So this was such a nice surprise. And timing couldn’t have been better because the judging was just about to stop for a 1-hour lunch break. When judging resumed, we would be the second class to go with the grey girls.

Albeit anti-climatic after Rocky’s wins on Saturday, on Sunday afternoon Lily (2 year grey Female) and Kaitlyn (Yearling grey female) earned a 2nd place, and a 5th place ribbon each, respectively.