The National Western Stock Show kicks off this weekend in Denver. It’s been running annually here since 1906. Although I’d paid passing attention to it in the news, I’d never been one of the faithful attendees and, until alpacas, never had livestock to pull me there.
I think it was three years ago (give or take) that Alpaca Breeders of the Rockies (ABR) got alpacas into the NWSS. Huge exposure for alpaca breeders , not only to people interested in livestock but to people in other livestock industries that were perhaps less lucrative than alpacas. But some alpaca breeders, like me, were concerned about exposure to other species. This year, thanks to the continuous efforts of certain tireless ABR members, alpacas will be present on the first weekend so they’ll be the first livestock to inhabit their pens. Besides talking about alpacas, breeders will get to show their animals and also sell finished products.
This is all great stuff and great opportunity. I have yet to participate at the NWSS but progress each year makes me think about it more and more. Besides the concern about disease exposure, I also tend to be barely recovered from the holidays by the times NWSS begin, still gasping from the rush and activity of Christmas. Luckily for we alpaca breeders, the tireless volunteers that drive ABR forward are not so easily exhausted.
