Additional Ideas For Helping You Buy That New Addition To Your Herd!

As avid show supporters we support our industry’s desire to produce high quality alpacas. Therefore,  we have ensured that consigned alpacas meet a standard that we all know about – the AOBA show system. it is the only commonly accepted benchmark this industry currently has to gage the quality of an alpaca.

How are the alpacas in this auction different and how do they qualify to be selected?

· Female and Male entrants must have won at least one ribbon in an AOBA certified Full Fleece Halter or Composite show.

· Production Female entrants must have produced (2) cria that have each one at least (1) ribbon in a AOBA Certified Full Fleece or Composite Show.

· A Packaged Deal can be a combination of any qualifying Female, Male and/or Production Female.

· Show records will be verified and all show placements will be posted on the auction site in the manner of “1st of 14” or “5th of 8”.

How do I put value on show results and placements?

· If an alpaca is shown and it wins repeatedly, or places with lots of competition while shown under different judges, then the alpaca has demonstrated very desirable traits consistent with the show standards.

· Class placement against competition is a way to evaluate or create a scale to help evaluate quality. A 1 of 1 is the same as a 6 of 6, a 4th of 12 three times shows consistency and potential quality for your evaluation.

· You can create your own rating system, based on the number of shows, how much competition there was, and the number of awards under different judges.

Remember, that this is our only recognized standard for valuating alpacas, but also remember, that some breeders participate more than others for various reasons.

How do I know which alpaca is worth buying?

The only person to truly answer this questions is you, the buyer. You must gather the information you need to make a buying decision that you are comfortable with and that is not a shot in the dark or filled with one-sided information.

We believe that if you follow some of these guidelines it will help you make that decision. With the power of the internet you can find out all types of information about farms, alpacas, and yes even the quality of alpacas.

Seller Information

· You should review what you can about the seller and their farm and alpacas. Most sellers have web sites and provide alpaca and support information on the internet.

(Did we mention that we provide links to the consignors web sites on each lots page)

· During the auction period use the “Messaging” system in the auction site to communicate with the seller and ask additional questions.

Alpaca Lineage

· A lot of alpaca breeders are looking for specific blood lines to add to their herd. This information is offered via most farms internet or marketing material. But, you can find it also using ARI’s web site, all you need is a alpaca name or ARI#.

Show Results

· For alpacas in the auction we have already verified the show results and searched the additional records for additional information. We recommend that you do the same when evaluating any alpaca purchase to validate show results.