Cognac is an Incan alpaca type - very compact, strong boned, and correct in his conformation. He is loaded with ultra-fine colored fleece genetics. Photographs don't do justice to his gorgeous color - he is truly the color of a fine glass of Cognac. With only 10 months of growth between shearings, his fleece weighed in at over 7 pounds. And what fleece it is - you won't find many dark fawn males with 18 micron fleeces. Cognac's sire, 5Peruvian Red Hot, is a Vicuna quality brown male out of the elite North American Alpaca Stud also with an 18 micron fleece. Red Hot's progeny have been consistently winning their classes at the All American Futurity. Peruvian Red Hot has been an integral part of the Snowmass colored program. Julie Skinner notes that Red Hot was born out of Black Peruvian Dam and was such an incredible cria, unrelated to any of the colored alpacas in their program, that they never even dared take him off the farm. Snowmass was able to use him over all the offspring from most other males their herd, to deepen the fineness and consistency of their colored breeding program, placing Red Hot squarely among the top colored males Snowmass has ever used. Cognac is among the very few Red Hot sons available for outside breedings in the country. Of equal importance in Cognac's lineage are his two grand dams - 5Peruvian Ajoyani and 6Pervuvian Silent Night. These are two of the most significant black dams imported from Peru that served as the foundation of the colored herd at Snowmass Alpacas. It is particularly rare to find both of these lines represented in a single male. In 2014 we had to bid a final farewell to Cognac. His genetics are captured deep in our herd and we miss him greatly. We keep him listed here as a lasting tribute.

Blue Gate Alpacas is very selectively adding females to our foundation herd. We are pleased to welcome our latest addition, Ember's Galadriel. Galadriel is a beautiful and rare young lady. Her sire is 6Peruvian Accoyo Elite, a stud known for holding his fine fleece well into his adult years. Her dam is a daughter of 4Peruvian Legacy, another extraordinary Accoyo stud. Her grand-dam, Blaze, adds a dose of Chilean color without sacrificing fleece quality. The combination of Elite and Legacy have produced a small number of extraordinary alpacas. We are proud to say that Galadriel is one of the few. Crescent Moon Ranch has now closed outside breedings to both Elite and Legacy - making this genetic combination even more difficult to attain. Galadriel has picture perfect conformation and gorgeous fleece that is in keeping with her heritage. Her fleece is bright, crimpy, and fine. We are pleased with her consistently fine fleece statistics. Galadriel is bred to our elite herdsire, Snowmass Porteus. We can't wait to see the combination of the finest genetics in North America. With Galadriel's one dark grand-dam we are hoping that Porteus can coax out a cria with the same fleece as Omega and Grand Marnier.