Our first trip up to the Minnesota Alpaca Expo

And Minnesota makes SIX for Right of Way

But the coolest thing was his Cactus Jack half brother was also the Reserve Champion!! We'd say that says something for the Cactus Jack line.

One of the reasons we signed up for Minnesota was the judge. Peter Kennedy is from Victoria Australia and his Canchones Ranch focuses exclusively on Black Alpacas. We first met him in Peru a few years ago on the Vicuna Chacu roundup and he has earned our respect as a judge here the in U.S.

Other highlights of the weekend were a FIRST PLACE for our TFA Peruvian Sharon in the Beige juvenile females - she is a lovely daughter of Highlander. Our two medium brown juvenile boys - Tiskilwa Eagle Feather and TFA Darnell were 4th and 5th of 11. As the youngest two in the class all of Peter's comments were on size. These guys are growing and will be back to impress next year!

We got Babies hitting the ground which will make it difficult to decide on a show string for next fall.

Spring Bling added some bling for TFA

The first show of the season is always a little nerve racking - was I being barn blind? are the crias ready to show what they've got? has the competition surpassed us? Amanda is the judge - will she respect us????? We walked in to Spring Bling without any expectations but a lot of hopes - and boy were they answered!!!

Peruvian Right of Way - Brown Huacaya Male Color Champion!

Amanda loved him - and so do we!

In show order, immediately after Brown male huacayas come out of the ring the fawn female suris go in - and it was debut time for TFA Aimed and Ready (Ari) our daughter of Armed and Dangerous. Before she went in, A&D's owner reminded me that Ari was the cross she always wanted to do, but was never able to - a Cantano's Blazing Son daughter (our Golden Sunlight) bred to A&D. Well I guess the cross was good enough because Ari was the Fawn Suri Female Reserve Champion!As a huacaya guy I thought that was kind of neat, but the suri people quickly told me we had beaten some very well respected farms. We quickly made the decision to ship her to the Futurity Show with Andean Vista to see if A&D can again be recognized.

While those two were our highlights, we certainly had others represent us very well:

TFA Cahokia - 1st place brown male huacaya

Tiskilwa Urubamba - 2nd place brown female huacaya

Tiskilwa Northstarr - 2nd place medium fawn male huacaya

Tiskilwa Peace Pipe - 3rd place rose grey male huacaya

Accoyo Kama Sutra - 2nd place to the Reserve Champ white female huacaya

Peruvian Elynora - 3rd place to Kama Sutra white female huacaya

So we can hold our heads high for a few days - but the game starts all over at the next show in Minnesota in a few weeks.

Show season is always amazing - it seems that all of the farms have better animals every year. It is amazing to think back to our "Good" animals from 5-7 years ago and know they couldn't compete today.

Show season is also a great time to catch up with all of our alpaca friends and hear what they've been up to both on and off the farm. We hope everyone enjoyed the show as much as we did.

The Blizzard of 2011

It had been predicted for several days, lots of snow coming with high winds followed by artic temperatures. The morning of Feb 1 Chad and I talked - it had started snowing in Tiskilwa but had not yet started in Chicago. He was prepared - all the animals were inside, the tractor was facing the door ready to begin the cleanup, he was planning to stay at the farm for the duration. As we were hanging up, I said my biggest concern was that he should lose power..... a few hours later he texted that the farm, and most of western Bureau county had, indeed, lost power. With winds already at 40 mph, this wasn't going to be good. Fortunately, within 3-4 hours, the crews had restored power and he didn't have to break ice in the animals water. He made it to the barn about 11pm wading through drifts to his waist.

The snow didn't stop until mid-day the next day, with 20" as the official count, but a 6-8 foot drift between the house and barn. It took a few hours just to get the barn doors open to check on and feed the animals. It was very late in the day when a plow finally made it down 1100 North Avenue - remember, we are the only house on the road. By that night, freezer burned corn dogs left over from summer were no longer enticing him and he made home to see his kids. The cold came the next several days, as did more snow... but the worst was behind us.

Things weren't much better in Chicago. I was on Lake Shore Drive inching along and realized the other cars weren't all wheel drive like mine and decided to get off the Drive and take surface streets - one of my best decisions of the year!! We were buried in - even our heated driveway couldn't keep up - and were running out of space to put snow. A front end loader finally made it to open the street 2 days later, yes, Chicago.... the City that Works! Go Rahm!!

So when is spring????? We need some good weather so we can install a generator!!

Knight Rider's first cria

It's official, Knight Rider has his first cria on the ground! With that, many questions are answered. Our partners, Irish Meadows put him with his first girl when he was 18 months old and he knew what to do! The cria is a bay black boy with a gorgeous head, just like his daddy. He is gaining weight quickly and we can't wait for the Delaney's to put him in a show. He'll be just old enough for the Interstate 80 - maybe we can entice them to bring him along...... Now we just need to wait for two others to have a Get!

Winter doldrums mean signing up for spring shows

We had dinner with some alpaca friends last night who said they just needed to be around alpaca people to perk them up - I couldn't agree more that in the midst of winter, talking with other alpaca people about breeding decisions does seem to make spring seem closer!

So when spring finally comes Tiskilwa will be back in the show mode - and we think we have some exciting young juveniles to add to our string. Look for Aimed and Ready, Darnel, Northstarr, Peace Pipe, and others to grace the Tiskilwa lineup.

March 19-20 - Spring Bling Alpaca Show in Neenah, WI - we always like this relatively small show and we're excited to show in front of Judge Amanda Vandenbosch. Tiskilwa will also be presenting "Tax and Financial Aspects of Alpaca Ownership" to tell breeders that 2011 is the year to build a new barn financed in part by Uncle Sam.

April 2-3 - Minnesota Alpaca Expo - this is a new show for us this year - we have traditionally gone east that weekend, but we were enticed to go north when they announced Peter Kennedy was judging! He is an Austrailian who specializes in black and we have great respect for his judging style.

April 30 - May 1 - Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in Madison, WI under Judge Polly Michaelis. This is the most difficult show to get space at, but IF we get in we have again been asked to speak on taxes issues.

May 7-8 - The Interstate 80 AlpacaFest - our show in Princeton IL. We are excited to have Sharon Loner coming to judge for us. Our goal is a fun relaxed show just before shearing - please join us!

1st Annual Springfield Riverside Alpacafest

Some old friends from IAOBA did the same thing we did - we were all upset that IAOBA cancelled its annual show so we started our own shows! Ours in the spring in Princeton, IL and theirs in the fall in Springfield, IL. For a first year show it was a resounding success - Great Job guys!

Not a bad show for Tiskilwa either. Our newest member of the "Chiefs of Tiskilwa" - MFI Peruvian Right of Way - a son of Cactus Jack - was the Brown Male Color Champion! We were standing with the owners of Jack when ROW was awarded - and they were as happy as we were. To quote Kathi - "Jack just beat Jeremiah!"

Not to be outdone or overlooked - another of our Chiefs - TNT Peruvian Highlander - won the Get of Sire as represented by his offspring - TFA Cahokia, TFA Peruvian Sharon, and Autumn Sky's Peruvian Deucalion.

Springfield was also the debut of the Tiskilwa "Scratch and Win" herdsire promotion - all attendees received "lottery" cards worth up to $1000 off a breeding to select Chiefs.

Show season is now over for the fall and it is back to the barn to decide who will represent us in the spring - we've been pleased with the 2010 crias and will show more fawn than ever in the spring.

Northern Illinois Alpaca Extravaganza

Just a quick post - this was a great show - as always. We did well. Our newest member of the Chiefs of Tiskilwa - MFI Peruvian Right of Way - was the Brown Male Reserve Color Champion - we are very proud of him. Guess he was worth buying at the Magical auction!