NEW ADDITIONS TO THE RANCH! THE TUSCAN CRIAS ARE COMING!!!
This fall the Tuscan Gold crias start arriving, and we can hardly wait! He does have one cria, a true black female, on the ground here at Bella Vita. We have had a beatiful light or medium fawn cria born out of Nicolette, our Peruvian Apollo daughter, and sired by Grand Master. She is a beauty with her fabulous fiber characteristics making themselves apparent already in her 3-week old fleece. Bella Chocolat delivered her cria out of Tres Cuartes Black Espresso from Sunset Hills farm, on 6/28, a healthy light or medium fawn male with fabulous looking fiber already apparent.
Maremma News: Gordina and Vinny have bred for a litter of pups due end of August 2008, and we have several pups spoken for already. Maria's spring 2008 pups are all sold and off to new homes and jobs.
Our Maremma sire, Vincenzo, received a unanimous excellent hip rating from all 3 reviewing radiologists at the OFA Foundation. An excellent rating in a dog his size is rare. An OFA rating on the hips of a dog helps predict the incidence of hip dysplasia. Vinny's excellent rating is a great step toward ensuring his pups will have long and sound careers as livestock guardian dogs without the crippling effects of hip dysplasia.
ALPACA NEWS - We participated in the first National Alpacas Sweepstakes auction as charter members and are happy to report a very successful show! Great fun was had by all.
Corazon sheared an amazing 10.8 pounds in 2008 .
2008 SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:
Luciano di Bella Vita - TxOlan 2008 - 2nd place and reserve color champ!
Angelina - TxOlan 2008 - 3rd out of 15 in her first show. At 2008 GWAS, took 6th place out of 15 in the middle section of white juveniles, youngest in that group as she missed her class in the youngest group of juvenile females. This is quite an accomplishment for a white out of a bay black dam to compete against all those strong white genetics.
Zsa Zsamora and Nicolette - GWAS fleece show - Zsa took 1st place and Nicolette right behind her in 2nd place in yearling white fleeces.
Duramax - Spin off contest, 2008 GWAS - 1st place and Judge's Choice with a score of 99.95 from judge Claire Walker. Repeat of his qst place win in 2007 Suri Symposioum spin off competition.
Evana - 2nd place in 2008 GWAS spinoff contest with a score of 98.5. Repeat of her 2007 Suri Symposium spin off competition.
Tuscan Gold - 4th out of 10 at NAS Champion Division, noteworthy because he was at a minimum 2 years older than the other entries in this elite class. Placing this high against juvenile and yearling fleeces says a lot about this male's ability to maintain his fleece characteristics while heavy into his breeding career.
El Corazon` - AOBA Nationals 2008 - 4th in his halter class with Judge Safely commenting, "You gotta love the head on this animal" and raving about his excellent fleece staple length and fiber coverage. Then Corazon took 1st place out of 11 entries and Res. Color Champ in the fawn male fleeces in the AOBA fleece show.
Sparticus - AOBA Nationals fleece show - 1st place and Reserve Color Champion fleece.
2008 GWAS, first in halter, first in fleece.
