Alpaca World Magazine Spring 2005 - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

Special Feature Ring of Confi dence
Immediately Prior to
the Show
You and the penning steward must come up
with a plan for the reception and housing of the
alpacas that must be made clear to all the owners
when they arrive. You will need assistants to help
with this. Firstly the pens must be constructed
according to your plan – allow lots of room as
each owner will almost certainly want a small area
for their possessions and for themselves. Females
must be separated from males, and there may well
be a requirement for a few more secure pens for
large stud males. Each owner’s/exhibitor’s pen(s)
should be clearly signed, not least to prevent
people from taking more than their prescribed
space. Ensure that there is suffi cient room for a
one way circuit for animal movement during the
show
Owners may need some help in getting their
animals into their pens with the minimum of
fuss or escapees. Although the odd rampaging
escaped alpaca does provide the public with
great entertainment, it does nothing for the blood
pressure of yourself or the owner of the animal.
You may well need a steward to help owners
manoeuvre their vehicle and trailer into position
to unload. Here a man (yes that is a very sexist
comment) can be very useful if he is skilled
in reversing trailers and this can save hours of
time and embarrassment for all concerned;
although watching trailer reversing can be hugely
entertaining for the onlookers. Perhaps it should
be considered by agricultural shows as another
form of attraction.
On the Day
Your judge will not arrive until just before
the show is due to start and they will expect
everything to be just about ready to go. They
will either arrive independently or under the
supervision of the agricultural show organisers,
this is to ensure that there can be no possibility
of perceived undue infl uence by anyone who is
showing animals.
Ensure that there are enough programmes for
every exhibitor, to be given out on their arrival, so
they can be prepared for their inspections and to
give away to the general public. They like to follow
the classes as well and it puts exhibitors names
in their hands.
You and the stewards must be very much
aware of the start time and must work to that
religiously. A late start rebounds throughout
the rest of the day and may well mean that
the alpacas miss out on the parade of the
champions or even that the classes continue on
after the show is over and the public have gone
home.
Each and every animal will need to be
inspected before the classes commence. You
will need an inspection steward and their team,
usually including a vet, to check their health and
at least one, probably two, stewards to check the
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