As I not so patiently wait for the birth of Chaccuna's cria I find myself thinking about how this amazing female rose to the status of the Grand Dam of Alpacas of Somerset Farm. Setting aside her age (she was born 9/20/2001) and her obvious "presence in the field" there are many factors critical to this solid foundation female. She has solid foundation genetics. Her sire was 5Peruvian Chaccu known for many solid attributes not the least of which was his density. Add to that she is a PPeruvian Vengador granddaughter. Her "presence in the field" comes from her excellent, solid, well-proportioned and balanced conformation. She is strong in bone yet very feminine in her presentation. But it is the expression of so many positive fleece characteristics that place her as the "benchmark" for our huacaya fiber breeding objectives. Although many have come close, so far none of our other females have quite reached her standard of excellence. As fiber producers, breeders often have different objectives in mind when it comes to fleece style. What Chaccuna exhibits that we greatly appreciate is dense, tightly bundled, low micron, high frequency and amplitude (zipper type) uniform in color, length, and micron fleece from head to tail and traveling down under her belly. And the bonus is she stamps her offspring with those characteristics. In turn her offspring are stamping their offspring. The "proof is in the progeny" certainly applies to Chaccuna. An experienced eye is able to look across our fields of alpacas and spot her descendants. As I mentioned, her measurable fleece qualities is where Chaccuna excels and what keeps her at the top of our Huacaya foundation female list. Talk about lingering fineness. At 12 years old her histogram results are note worthy: AFD 25.8, SD 4.9, CV 18.8 , SF 24.7, %>30 15. If you get bored reading histogram and EPD results this next section may not intereste you. If you are interested in seeing the pattern of inherited characteristics you might want to make your way through this information. Here are her EPD (Expected Progeny Differences) results as a 12 year old production female: Trait Value Acc Rank AFD -0.938 0.377 3080 of 27776 In the top 11% in expectation for improving fineness* SDAFD -0.33 0.376 1817 of 27776 In the top 7% in expectation for lowering micron* %F>30 -4.5 0.387 2265 of 27776 In the top 8% in expectation for improving uniformity* MC 2.551 0.376 1955 of 27776 In the top 7% in expectations to create higher frequency of crimp* %M -1.768 0.186 3131 of 27776 In the top 11% in the expectation to reduce overall fiber medullation* *than the breed average for all huacaya females and all colors Let' see, has this carried through to her progeny? I would say so.... Here are the results for Chaccuna's beige son (ChaccuLatte) at age seven. He is standing stud at our ranch: ChaccuLatte's Histograms starting with the most recent at age 7: 5/6/2013 AFD 22.5, SD 4.9, CV 21.8, %>30 CF 95%---7 year old breeding male May 5, 2011 AFD 21.8, SD 5.2, CV24, %>30 4.9 5 year old breeding male June 16, 2010 AFD 19.9, SD 4.8, CV 24.2 CF %>30 3.8 Apr 5 2007 AFD 17.6, SD 3.9, CV 22.2, %>30 .9 Apr 2 2006 AFD 17.5, SD 5, CV 28.6, %>30 2.0 2013 EPD Results: Top 1% %F>30 -8.246 0.453 77 of 14637 Top 3% AFD -1.877 0.425 238 of 14637 Top 3% SF -1.798 0.448 330 of 14637 Do these great traits coming down from Chaccuna pass through her offspring? The answer is yes. Here are the "stats" for Latte's offspring: Latte's 2009 light fawn female "Latte's Mocha Twist" 2011 histogram report: AFD 18.7, SD, 4.9, CV 26.3, %>30u 2.4 Her 2013 results as a four year old: AFD 18.8, SD 4.9, CV 25.9, SF 19.1, %>30u 2.4 Her EPD results: Check out these EPD results at 4 years old: Top 3% AFD -1.557 (#759 of 27776) Top 3% SF -1.592 (#739 of 27776) Top 4% %F>30 -5.501 (#1151 of 27776) Latte's 2010 white female "Latte's Kizmet" is an absolute knock-out. Her fleece is exhibiting all of Latte's positive characteristics...high frequency and amplitude and dense with tight bundling.Her 2011 histogram report: AFD 17.6, SD 4.6, CV 25.9, %>30u 1.5 Latte's 2012 light fawn male is the "spitten image" of his sire. Absolutely gorgeous fiber...fine, high frequency and amplitude with tight bundling. Latte's 2014 light fawn female appears to be demonstrating all the positive characteristics as her half-siblings. We are really excited about the possibilities of the cria she is carrying. Maybe, just maybe this will be the female that will eventually replace Chaccuna in our breeding program. If she has a female that will be a tall order but we believe this is a breeding that could do that. You can find out more about Chaccuna on her Openherd page http://www.openherd.com/alpacas-for-sale/10707/paradise-ridge-chaccuna. Oh by the way, Chaccuna is not for sale but many of her direct descendants are. ChaccuLatte is currently standing stud at Alpacas of Somerset Farm as is her grandson Razzmatazz. You can find out more about them through our site.