Q&A WITH AN INTERNATIONAL JUDGE
> Judging alpacas in the ring – oral feedback from a judge gives you a better idea where you stand compared to the rest of the class
How do owners identify top quality alpaca in terms of conformation and fleece quality and is good conformation different in males and females? Owners can choose between different ways to get information about an alpaca either they trust the certificates, show awards, and fibre screenings – or they pull up their sleeves and get their hands on the alpaca themselves. The best option, of course, is to do both. Apart from the slight deviations in size and weight, there are only a few differences between males and females. And it’s mainly about the genitals. Studs need to have two palpable testicles and the dam’s vulva needs to be big enough to make penetration possible. That’s it! Age is far more important than sex. First and foremost good quality means a healthy alpaca. Top quality, however, can be certified by fibre screenings and show awards on a transregional or national level. An alpaca is like a puzzle, you need to create the whole image piece by piece. Nothing works better than observing alpacas in real life. Depending on your experience, you might want to use some rules of thumb: Beautiful, consistent crimp counts as a good indicator for both micron and uniformity amongst the blanket. An alpaca in motion often reveals faults or strengths in its physical conformation. Use every piece of information that you can get, ask questions, look at the pedigree and show awards. What kind of show was it? How many alpacas were registered? Choosing an alpaca is more complicated than a job interview. Alpacas won’t tell you about their qualities – you’ve got to find them. Added to this you also have to look at the pedigree and not only the animal itself.
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How do owners learn to identify quality animals and recognise negative traits or faults? Practice and mentoring are the main ingredients for successful alpaca judging. That’s why the training for professional judges takes years. Alpacas can be quite overwhelming, especially in the beginning. The easiest way to get to learn the traits and quality is to look at one’s own herd. Read up on standards, take a micron chart, a national evaluation scoresheet and judge your alpacas as best as you can. Then, let it be judged by others. Fleece shows, for example, give you a profound evaluation of your alpaca’s fleece, with comprehensible scores and details. In the best case, you let an expert judge your herd at your farm. It doesn’t need to be the world’s best alpaca judge, but someone without “farm blindness”. An objective, independent, and reasonable opinion can reveal one’s own blind
Robin Näsemann – Alpaca Judge
Robin Näsemann was born in Germany, went to school in England and has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Lugano, Switzerland. His family began breeding alpacas in 2003 and has a herd of 70 alpacas in Germany. Robin is a certified screener for the AZVD (Alpaca Breeders Association of Germany) and has screened alpacas throughout Europe and South America. He is an Alpaca Owners Assocation (AOA) certified judge for halter, fleece and performance and has judged alpaca shows in the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
