Alpaca World Magazine Spring 2005 - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

Running a Show
Class Event
John Gaye and Tim Hey
The show season for alpacas kicks off in a couple
of weeks’ time at the South of England Show at
Ardingly in Sussex. This year more agricultural shows
than ever have agreed to stage alpaca classes so
as many of you as possible should make the effort
and get out there to promote the animals and the
industry. The sight of a show ring full of alpacas is
something that really attracts the public and that
heightened awareness will help breeders, little and
large, to make their businesses work for them.
ring the of
confi dence
In this show section, Tim Hey and John Gaye write
about show organisation, the international judge
Dominic Lane explains what he is looking for in
the show ring whilst the Canadian judge Maggie
Krieger gives an insight into the wheezes that some
Suri breeders pull on the other side of the Atlantic.
The indefatigable Pete Watts, our most experienced
steward, writes about his job and Marty McGee
tells us how to train the bomb proof alpaca for the
show ring.
Show classes are a wonderful way to
market the alpaca industry to the general
public. Breeders will have their trade
stands at various agricultural shows but
the public want entertaining and there is nothing to
beat the show class event with dozens of alpacas
and their owners, all dressed and looking at their
best. In addition the sound of a commentary on a
public address system acts as a magnet to those
who would otherwise have walked by a small pen
of alpacas with not much going on.
So why do we, as alpaca breeders and
owners, want to put on alpaca classes at our
local agricultural or larger national show? The
fi rst reason is to promote and present a new
rural industry to the general public in the most
organised and sophisticated way we can. The
next most important reason for the owners of
this new livestock is to enable them to show off
their breeding and offers others another tool for
the selection of sires and maybe future purchase
of high quality bloodstock. The fi nal reason for
organising these shows is so that all exhibitors can
meet, interact on a personal level with the general
public and market their business.
So what do you need to organise such an
event? There are certain things that are essential:
✱ A sense of humour
✱ A persuasive tongue to encourage others to
help you
✱ A mobile phone in order to be on hand for
weeks beforehand
✱ An ability to delegate
✱ A check list of things to do and when to do
them
✱ Whisky, brandy or some suitable beverage to
calm the nerves as the big day approaches
First of all fi nd a judge – you may fi nd someone
from the list of judges in the UK or you could try
for an overseas judge perhaps from Peru, Australia,
the USA or Canada. The advantage of an overseas
judge is that you may well attract more breeders to
take part in order to have their animals looked at
by someone from outside.
Once you as the show organiser have secured
your judge then it is vital to start searching around
for helpers because your aim should be that on
the day you can take a supervisory role rather than
be tied into one of the many roles that will prevent
you seeing what is going on. The following list is
not exhaustive but may help:
8 | Alpaca World Magazine Spring 2005