News
20-August-2009
Stunning New Rockefeller Cria
Rockefeller, our full accoyo male imported from the US in 2006 now has 20 cria on the ground. And boy are we happy with them. They have the density that we selected Rocke for, but there is much more than that - lustre, greasy flat lock and great coverage. To top it off, we have had a number of fawn cria from white dams. Come Spring, Rocke will be put over our blacks and browns to see if ye can do the same in colour.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
15 August-2009
Congratulations to Robyn Harrison from Samsuri Alpacas in Queensland for being awarded the Reserve Champion Senior male at the Brisbane Royal with her new stud male Baarrooka Mellencamp. Mellencamp is a light fawn, but is from great colour genetics in dam Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina and sire Jingana Ra. Mellencamp's second fleece is stunning, showing lustre, density and very impressive locking and independence. We look forward to seeing his cria from Robyn's black breeding program in due course.
21-July-2009
Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show
It was the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show on the weekend and, as we were way for all of June, we only entered three of our older (i.e. already halter trained) show animals. Took three animals and came away with 6 ribbons! Chersam D'Angelo (co-owned with Chersam Alpacas) was awarded 1st and Reserve Champion, Baarrooka Kim Wilde was awarded 1st and Champion and Baarrooka Dire Straits (co-owned with McKenzie Park Alpacas) was awarded 2nd and Reserve Champion. Fleeces also did well with two firsts and three seconds.
05-July-2009
2009 Trip to US
We have just returned from another alpaca tour of the US - back for the blacks. As last time we couldn't find the fawn and blacks we were looking for, we thought is was time to go back with a focus on black males. The fawn boy we have recently purchased (see below) is as good as we've seen anywhere, so no need to go looking for more fawns. Also, we had put 3 fleeces in the International Fleece Show, along with a number of other Australian breeders, so were interested in seeing how the Aussies stacked up.
The AOBA show was disappointing this year - way fewer breeders and the depth of quality wasn't the same as in 2006. That said, we did see some spectacular coloured animals.
All three of our fleeces were awared a ribbon: Baarrooka Mr Mister was first in the younger white class, Baarrooka Lethal Weapon was first and Reserve Champion in the fawn class and Baarrooka Dire Straits was 3rd in a large and very strong older white class. Gave me a bit of credibility with the US breeders I had been talking with.
Finished up a frantice 2 weeks driving and flying around the US looking at black males with a relaxing 2 weeks in Hawaii with the kids. Bliss!
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
25 May-2009
Congratulations to Kath Williams from Katydid Alpacas in WA for the purchase of a white stud male Baarrooka Somerset. Somerset has some fantastic accoyo genetics and should complement Kath's already top quality suri lines.
18-May-2009
Well, we have finally settled on a stunning new coloured male, Chersam D'Angelo. We saw this boy at Wangaratta Show and thought he was nice. Then saw him at Wodonga show and thought he was spectacular. We offered to buy him from his breeders, Cheryl and Sam Hearn, from Chersam Alpacas, but they were not really keen to let him go. After much negotiation, Baarrooka has purchased a half share of this beautiful boy. Thanks to Cheryl and Sam for allowing us to share in his future. Unfortunately, he will not be available for outside matings until 2012, but you may be interested in his progeny or females pregnant to him.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
20-Feb-2009
We haven't attended the Wodonga Show for a few years, mainly because they didn't support the coloured breeders by having separate colour classes, but this year they promised to have colour classes and we took our entire show team.
Well, it was definitely worth it! We took out Junior Male Champion and Reserve Champion with ET brothers Baarrooka Awestriker and Baarrooka Intensity. Baarrooka Sade took out Intermediate Female Champion and Baarrooka Dire Straits took out Champion Senior Male. Awestriker went on to be awarded Supreme Suri.
In the fleeces, we were awarded Champion 6-18 m fleece, Reserve Champion 18-30 m fleece and Champion 30+ fleece. Baarrooka Haysi Fantayzee (CH 6-18 m) went on to be awarded Reserve Supreme Suri Fleece.
Phew! What a day.
12-Oct-2008
Baarrooka attended the Wangaratta Show - this was the first year it had an alpaca competition and as it is one of the closest shows to us, we thought we should support it. It was very well run and had a great response by exhibitors - especially suri breeders.
We were also very pleased with our results. Baarrooka Sade, a gorgeous fawn female was awarded the Junior Female Champion, three older boys took firsts in the Adult class: White - Skyhooks; Fawn - Wham! and Brown - The Style Council. Skyhooks went on to be awarded Adult Champion and Supreme Champion. Fleece results were also very good with all firsts and seconds.
07-Oct-2008
Alpaca Open Day
Baarrooka participated in an Alpaca Open Day trail, which involved four Alpaca Studs in the Strathbogie area. The Trail was held in conjunction with a regional promotion weekend on 4 and 5 October and was advertised regionally through newspapers, radio and television.
The weather for the weekend was perfect and a good number of people visited to find out more about alpacas and their fibre, have a pat, feel some fleece, taste some wine and buy some yarn. We were very pleased with the response and hope to hold additional Open Days in the future.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
15-Sep-2008
Supreme Brown Suri at Victorian Colourbation 2008
Baarrooka Lethal Weapon has taken out Supreme Brown Suri at the Colourbation Spring Carnival 2008. This young male has spectacular greasy, lustrous and locky fleece. He has taken more than one judge by surprise on opening up his fleece. This is one that you have to put your hands on to appreciate such a magnificent fleece - and in a rich dark colour. Sired by Surilana Omar (SW), his dam is Baarrooka Queen Juliana (SLB), an Arequipa King daughter of Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina, so there are some special genetics there, with lots of colour.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
05-Sep-2008
Cedar House Desert Prince added to Baarrooka Herdsire Line-up
I have been looking for a quality coloured male for the past 3 years, both in Australia and the US. I have also been purchasing matings to various coloured males at other studs. However, I was not able to find a male that had very strong colour genetics as well as being proven homozygous that I was happy to put over a large proportion of my herd.
While talking to various coloured suri breeders and looking at the best producers in my own herd, the name of a well known suri kept popping up - Cedar House Desert Prince. Older genetics, but proven genetics. He is homozygous suri and, importantly, he also has the ability to throw coloured cria from white dams (72% c.f. 11% white from coloured dams). Knowing that he was for sale, I approached Ian and Angela Preuss from Surilana and purchased their share. I propose to use him over my top white females with the hope of producing some quality coloured females (and males) to breed on with. Drive-by and on-farm matings will be available to other coloured suri breeders.
22-Aug-2008
Baarrooka Herdsires sold around Australia
The past few months have been very busy in the sales department, particularly sales of coloured junior herdsires. The following junior herdsires have been sold and will be starting their herdsire duties in the near future:
- Baarrooka Dire Straits (SLF)- a very dense and lustrous male with very good locking and a very typey look - coverage from nose to toes. Almost full Accoyo, he is an ET boy from Baarrooka Cordela (SW) who won Supreme fleece awards for both her first and second fleece and Surilana T-Pito who has enhanced Cordela's already impressive fleece stats to produce this male with a great breeding future ahead of him. His co-owner is in NSW.
- Baarrooka Mellencamp (SLF) - a great example of what can be done with ET, his dam is the incomparable Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina (SLB) who was still winning broad ribbons over whites at the Melbourne Royal when she was 3 years old! His sire is the well-regarded Jingana Ra. This male has spectacular relocking in tight, fine corkscrews evenly across his body. With Desert Prince, Royal Russet and Senator also in his pedigree, this boy will be used in a coloured suri breeding program in Queensland to great effect.
- Baarrooka Master Ike (SMB) - another coloured boy set to ramp up the coloured breeding in QLD, Master Ike is from a beautiful MF Desert Prince female (dec.) with a top quality female line from US Peruvian genetics. His sire is Somerset Arequipa King, who has produced numerous stud quality coloured males. Master Ike has been certified and begun his career as a herdsire.
- Baarrooka Simply Red (SLB) - another ET boy from Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina, this one was sired by Pinjarra Gold Rush, who has been assessed as a Wool Sire under the SRS breeding system for his fineness and density. This male has very solid colour and Peruvian genetics and should make a real impact on suri breeding in his new home in Tasmania.
Congratulations and thankyou to their new owners.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
11-Jun-2008
ET Results for 2008
The last of the 2008 ET cria are here and there's some stunners in there! We had a total of 24 ET cria for the year, of which 8 were female and 16 male (not as good as our past 50:50 ratio).
We are particularly excited about 4 cria (2 males and 2 females) from Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina and Pinjarra Machu Mayu. They are only 4 weeks old, but are tall and athletic and have great greasy and lustrous fleeces. Also 2 little males from Baarrooka Cordela (the dam of Skyhooks and Dire Straits) and Surilana Omar are looking pretty impressive as well. They will be too young for this year's show season, but watch out for them in 2009!
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
11-Jun-2008
First cria from US male!
Our first cria from our US boys has arrived! Baarrooka Mondo Rock (the last of the '80s Countdown band names!) is a light fawn male from Young Accoyo Rockefeller and is a stunner. More cria from him are due by the end of the year. It seems we are right that he is passing on his extreme density, but we are also seeing fantastic lustre and an amazingly soft and silky handle. And look at that strong bone. WOW!
1-Jun-2008
Baarrooka Celebrates Second Generation Stud Breeding
Many of you would have seen Brioude at various shows and events. Many may also have noticed how competent she is as an animal handler. However, at the age of 10, she is also a studmaster. With the purchase of two pregnant females, she now has a herd of 3 females and 3 males. Brioude is focusing on breeding blacks and greys (no competition for Mum!) and her foundation animals include Baarrooka Cherry Ripe, a rose grey, Aviana Farms Secret Image, a medium grey and Aviana Farms Kelene, a tuxedo black.
Rather than registering a new name for her small herd, Brioude has decided to use the prefix Baarrooka Breeze for her cria (as in Brie's alpacas). With all the terminology down pat and a clear idea of what she wants to breed, keep an eye out in coming years for the Baarrooka Breeze animals in the black and grey classes.
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Mar-2008
Champion Brown Fleece at Inaugural International Alpaca Fleece Show
The first World Alpaca Conference was held in Sydney, Australia in March of this year. As part of the conference, international delegates were able to attand the judging at the Royal Sydney Easter Show, as well as visit a range of alpaca studs and enjoy the beauty of Sydney and Sydney Harbour. In addition, the first Interntation Competition was held in joncuntion with the conference. Fleeces from around the world were entered and, in addition to the usual champion fleece places by age groups, colour champions were awarded and International Fleece Challenge points for best white and coloured hucaya (best 5 fleeces) and suri (best 2 fleeces) culminated in the awarding of trophies to the best performing countries. Australia won all of the trophies as a result of having the most fleeces entered. However, the challenge is on for future years when the International Fleece Show will be held in the US (2009), Peru (2010) the UK (2011) and New Zealand (2012).
Baarrooka was pleased to receive 4th place for a little 6 month old fleece in the very strong white 6-18 month class and first in the brown 6-18 month class with a very dense and greasy fleece from an ET boy, Baarrooka Simply Red ET. This fleece went on to be awarded the Brown Champion award.
28-Feb-2008
Ribbon haul at the 2008 Canberra Royal
We didn't take home the big one this year, but the Baarrooka Show team excelled again at this year's Canberra Royal. We took 6 Juniors and our spectacular new US boy - Lafite's Peruvian Encore. All animals ribboned with firsts for UB40, Skyhooks, Wham! and Hot Chocolate in the Juniors and Encore in the senior class. Skyhooks went on to take out the Champion Junior Male, while his full brother Dire Straits was Reserve Champion. Encore was awarded Senior Champion Male.
We also entered 5 fleeces, all of which were awarded first place in their classes.
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Jun-2007
ET Program Produces a String of Elite Progeny
We have just finished our second birthing season of ET progeny and have been very happy with the results. In 2006, we had 11 ET progeny, 6 females and 5 males, mostly white. In 2007 we have had a total of 20 cria, of which 10 were female and 10 male. This group of progeny, from 5 females are stunning and include a number of fantastic coloured males from our champion brown suri, Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina. Watch out for these boys in a couple of years - they are definitely destined to be herdsires!
25-Feb-2007
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Baarrooka Elara claims Supreme Champion Suri at the 2007 Canberra Royal Show
We were very pleased to be awarded Supreme Suri, especially as there were some stunning animals in the Championship line-up. It was a special thrill to see a colour win over the whites!
Baarrooka Elara is a stunning female, with presence, perfect conformation, a fine (19 micron) and lustrous fleece and amazing independent locks. She is an outstanding example of a coloured animal with all the characteristics we are breeding for in a suri. On top of that she has a superb temperament.
We are hoping to produce some more stunning coloured suris by using white males over our best coloured girls in our ET program. We have had much success from Baarrooka Queen Wilhelmina and have a range of coloured crias, from light fawn to dark brown. Three are the same golden colour as Elara.
1-Jun-2006
Visit to US Alpaca Show and Suri Studs
Wow! We just got home from a trip to the US where we attended their national show, held in Louisville, Kentucky. Think of the biggest show you have ever been to and multiply it by about 6! We actually found another 2 sheds full of alpacas after the first day. After 2 days at looking at animals in their pens, we parked ourselves next to the show rings (males for me, females for Russell) and watched the judging. The depth of quality, particularly in the coloured classes was outstanding. Many of those animals 'shown the gate' (or excused from the ring) were ones that would have been a top herdsire in Australia or New Zealand. To give you an idea of numbers - in the male suris, there were 12 Senior Juvenile True Blacks, 11 Junior Juvenile True Blacks and 10 Juvenile Bay Blacks (all would be in our Junior Black class), there were 18 Dark Brown, 14 Medium Brown and 10 Light Brown Juniors (imagine even having 10 brown suris in a class at our Nationals). And in the whites, there were 64 Junior males.
We followed up the AOBA Show with visits to a number of breeders in Ohio. We looked at many animals, but were particularly looking for animals with Baron, Torbio and Ramilo lines. We were particularly impressed with a Pperuvian import dam who had sired a number of herdsires and wanted some of her genetics in there too. Although we were looking for colour, as well as white, we were not able to purchase the black male we wanted and we did not find a fawn male that met all of our criteria. We are still looking and may take another trip in the future (if our ET program doesn't produce one first!). We did come home with 2 stunning white males who we hope will have a significant impact on our and Australia's suri herd.
We finished off our trip with a visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Pennsylania - Falling Water and Kentuck Knob and a Bruce Springsteen Concert in Washington - another two of my obsessions, I mean, interests!
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
16-Oct-2005
Baarrooka embarks on Embryo Transfer Program
We have decided to include Embryo Transfer technology in our breeding program to allow us to increase the number and quality of our elite females. Because of the long gestational period in alpacas and due to the normal allocation of chromosomes from each parent to the offspring, it may take 2 or three matings (up to 4 years) to determine the worth or otherwise of a mating decision. By using ET, we can assess multiple mating choices within a year and by producing more than one offspring from each breeding, we can see the range of quality and consistency in offspring from that match. We hope that our use of ET will fast-track our breeding and, in particular, allow us to improve the quality of the coloured component of our suri herd.
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Phone: +61 3 5790 5288 Fax: +61 3 5790 5205 Email: mail@baarrooka.com.au