We have many outstanding tuxedo grey herdsires on our farm, but this one, who arrived spring 2017, has just rocketed himself to the top of the list. This is the one who was "meant to be." I fell in love with Tabokia in early 2016, when I saw him, along with his 1/2 brother Al, on the website of Dancing Elk Alpacas while on a quest to add a son of Neversummer's US Steel -- hands-down one of the very best sons of .38 Special -- to our breeding program. Both had fiber stats that were absolutely fantastic -- the sort of sustained fineness and uniformity that is precisely what we are breeding for -- and Tab had the ultra-compact, super heavy, massive-boned build that we are breeding for as well. The only problem was that he wasn't yet for sale ... His brother was, but he was a somewhat taller animal. I knew that Tab was perfect for us, so I waited ... And kept him in the back of my mind. And then -- When Kim Quesenberry contacted me asking if I was still interested in Tab, I had a feeling there was no way I could say "No" -- but it wasn't until I reviewed his pedigree again that I truly realized why. Tab's sire, US Steel, has been producing some incredible offspring and dramatically improving the dams he is bred to. It also helps that, by and large, he has been bred to some amazing dams. When I first saw a photo of Granite Bay Royal Steel, I was amazed. He embodied everything I was looking for in an alpaca: conformation, breed type, absolutely unbelievable substance of bone -- and in clear silver grey. Of course, he wasn't for sale ... And since he went on to win Futurity in 2016, it's no wonder. Thus, when I looked at Tab's lineage and realized that he is 3/4 brother to Royal, I knew it was truly meant to be. Tab and Royal share a maternal granddam, HVLA Sterling Silver. To say that Sterling is a power producer is an understatement: Her 2nd daughter, Silver Splash, produced Royal; her 3rd daughter, Silver Spice, is a Futurity R-CH ... And her first daughter, Su Jen, is a R-CH and is Tab's mom. Tab is, indeed, the embodiment of so much of what we are breeding for. His fiber displays that awesome combination of sustained fineness (16.6 AFD on his 2nd fleece; 18.7 on his 5th), uniformity, density and staple length that we are focused on. His conformation is impeccable, his coverage phenomenal, and he has the greatest circumference of bone that I have seen on ANY alpaca ... PERIOD ... Even those much taller and larger than himself. His compact height is truly ideal. He is stout, with a terrific body capacity, and displays beautiful breed type with an excellent head. Last but never, ever least, his temperament is ideal: curious, gentle and tractable. His biopsy confirms his true excellence: he is among the most uniform alpacas that Ian Watt has tested. Period. Regardless of color. (Results under "histogram.") 2018 histo: 18.7 AFD / 3.7 SD / 19.6% CV / 99.5% CF on a fat happy boy = LASTING fine. :)
