The International Alpaca Odyssey show was originally created to bring the International Show Rules to North American Alpaca breeders in an active setting. The founding members of the IAO committee believed that the International Show Rules needed to be utilized in such a way that the North American Alpaca Industry could see and experience those rules first hand and then adopt those facets of the International Rules that made sense for our industry moving forward. At the heart of the IAO managing committee’s motivation was to be an idea house and proving ground for new innovative show rules that could possibly benefit the North American Alpaca Industry as a whole. Moving forward, now that a majority of the facets of the International Rules have been adopted into the North American Alpaca Judging Systems, IAO managing committee feels its time to showcase a brand new set of Alpaca Judging Rules for the North American Industry to experience first hand, at the 2010 IAO show.
As an industry we acknowledge that while it is important for continued improvement in our national herd in pursuit of a commercial fiber market, there needs to be equal recognition for the alpaca that is serving the existing small processor market today and into the future. The basis for the new set of rules is the idea that the current North American Alpaca herd can be seen as two sectors. One sector is focused on breeding goals whose outcome is the best possible alpaca for large-scale fleece production to a commercial mill. The other sector is focused on our current cottage industry model where it is the value of today’s fleece to the cottage industry processor [hand spinner to the mini-mill].
There exist in the world alpaca industry a number of quality breed standards. Each year the show will choose a set of established breed standards to judge to. The choice of breed standard will be published with the exhibitor entry forms. Ranking of traits in the IAO rules will supercede any rankings listed in the breed standards.
Commercial [Large Processor]: The Commercial Show Division is focused on those attributes of the sound alpaca, which will be of benefit to a future commercial grower supplying alpaca fiber to a North American commercial mill industry. This division shall be judged on fleece traits valued in commercial fleece processing with emphasis on fineness and uniformity. Fineness is important because the most elite products are made from the finest fleece and thus command the highest $ per kilo. Uniformity, for the North American herd is paramount, to reduce the cost of sorting the fleece as North American labor costs are higher. Conformational structure will remain a significant emphasis, as the fiber producer cannot afford ill health and ill thrift in a commercial herd. The color divisions within this judging system are based on the projected color groups that commercial fleeces will be sorted into.
Cottage [Small Processor]: The Small Processor Division is focused on those attributes of a sound alpaca whose fleece will be valued in our Cottage/Craft Market, as it exists today. This division shall be judged on fleece traits valued in small processor fleece processing (hand spinners, hand processors mini-mills, etc), with no judgment on uniformity of color. Fine fleeces with excellent handle and brightness are those that are in demand by today’s small processor. Since all colors are valued equally in the Small Processor marketplace, the color divisions will not be yarn based but base fleece coat color.
