June 7, 2019... National Doughnut Day... go figure... this handsome classic appaloosa boy... Dunkin' was born. At 359 days gestation, Dunkin' weighed in at 19.5 pounds. From the very beginning, it was very clear that Dunkin's fleece was something out of the ordinary. Aside from the spots, which we had bred for, Dunkin's fleece was ultra-fine and ultra-bright. He was cria-shorn on 7/14/19 and his fleece has come in nicely. Dunkin's fleece will be ideal handspun... raw. A spinner's dream! Not one for the mill.
A little about Dunkin's dam... Krispy Kream carries the impressive quality bloodlines of her grandsires SA Peruvian Black Epic and PPPeruvian Grand Master. This quality breeding shows through in her proud carriage, beautiful conformation, super straight topline, upright elegant neck carriage and perfectly straight legs with good strong bone. She also has amazing coverage. At 12 years of age, she is still going strong and an invaluable foundational contributor to the Rare Gem program.
Krispy Kream has fiber and stats to be proud of. At age eleven and half (2019), she was 22 micron and EPDs in the top 5% in 3 categories (AFD, SD, SF) and top 1% (fibers >30)... 331 of the 47,399 female alpacas tested in 2019. Krispy carries the appaloosa gene from the Black Epic line. She proved this genetic propensity when bred to Charles P. Atlas, a non-appaloosa gene carrier and they produced the wildly spotted appaloosa Dottie Biscotti (2011). So, while Dunkin's sire is an appaloosa, he could very well be homozygous for the appaloosa gene as both his parents carry it.
And a little about Dunkin's sire... Rare Gem XXXteme Spots. Spots is a new comer to the appaloosa alpaca scene. Spots' appaloosa gene comes from NGG Lional-- a known appaloosa carrier that has been well-proven in Canada but is rather rare in the United States. In the past... in the United States... the appy program has been focused on achieving the spots which required certain genetic combinations, but unfortunately... not always best known for outstanding fleece qualities. What is so special about Spots from an appaloosa breeder program perspective is that he carries elite-fleeced heavy hitter lines in his pedigree such as Legacy, El Nino, and XXXtreme (out of Hemingway) ALONG WITH the expressed appy gene! Spots sports a fleece you would expect from such a stellar pedigree. He is dense and fine and FULL of crimp! Lasting fineness is in the genes, Dunkin's paternal grandfather-- Sai-Hoji, was 21 micron at 11 years of age.
Update: Dunkin's offspring are hitting the ground and definitely not disappointing! Excited for more to arrive in 2023!