So very fine! Steel also inherited his sire's trademark silky handle. As he matured, Steel's uniformity and retained fineness brought him to the very top of his extremely competitive classes in the ring. The judges consistently commented on his extreme fineness and soft handle and now his histogram numbers fully support this. Steel is a handsome male with an excellent breeding background and has matured into an elite macho, who has produced champion offspring of his own! Steel's dam, Crescent Moon's Starbright is a lovely Rayo Del Sol daughter who was a blue ribbon winner and a reserve champion in the ring herself. She was a gentle female and proved to be a topnotch breeder and mother. At 6 yrs of age, Starbright's fleece was still 21 microns. Steel continued his show career just months before his 3rd birthday at the 2012 Futurity placing 1st in a competitive class under judge Peter Kennedy. At the 2012 GWAS he was 1st and Reserve Color and the oldest male in his class at 34.7 months and Judge Jude Anderson commented on his fineness, uniformity of color and beautiful fleece character that is still being retained at his age. This is truly remarkable for a male just shy of 36 months to be so competitive in a class of 48 grey males! The color champion was rose grey, so Steel was the best silver grey male at this show! Just for fun, we brought Steel out again in 2013 for a local show- The International Alpaca Odyssey where he was 1st in both Cottage and Commercial grey classes, and Color Champion in the IAO Cottage Division. Although winning and ribbons are fun and good, but the true test of a great herdsire is in his offspring. Once more Steel continues to shine both in the brightness, fineness and soft silky handle of his offspring's fleece as well as the beautiful look he stamps on each offspring. Steel is co-owned with June Aploks/Starshire Ranch

CONGRATULATIONS to Lindsey Betz and the Betz Family Farm on the purchase of Vintage Cashmere's U-Taupe-ia. Taupie will be greatly missed at Rare Gem Alpacas but he leaves behind a number of lovely offspring to grace our herd for years to come! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Taupie is a striking appaloosa harlequin male that is on a roll for throwing spotted and harlequin offspring. He has sired 53 offspring and 74 percent are either appaloosa or harlequin! While dam selection has a significant influence on such outcomes, it should be noted that the majority of the dams Taupie has been bred to have no genetic influence on this outcome. So for those that don't have existing foundation girls with appy / harlequin lineage-- Taupie has proven to be capable of passing along his appy genetics and produce desired results. So how does this happen? Only part of that story is known, but what we DO know is that certain lines of known appy gene carriers are much more "expressive" than others. Taupie just happens to be one of those. His heritage boasts appaloosa genetics on both sides of his lineage with Aussie Rockford out of Hannahruh on his sire's side and Chiquita Import on his dam's side. In April 2016, Taupie's progeny debuted in the show ring taking a blue in walking fleece and the blue in halter at the California Classic. This first boy was then followed by another appaloosa female and then another appy male-- both very similar to the first. The fourth cria, however, is something extra special! This little girl has expressed every color on the chart, not one pattern-- just speckles and spots from nose to toes-- Rare Gem U-Taupe-ia's Appletini! The unique coloring of this cria looks as though the color from Taupie's Grand Dam, Chiquita Import, is coming through and producing the rarest of rare gems-- her beautiful color seems to morph before your eyes! As much fun as it is to talk about Taupie's progeny... more about him! Taupie has a spotted face, spotted belly, spotted legs, and a beautiful solid platinum-taupe blanket. His top line is a nice medium silver grey, then blending into light silver grey down the sides. UPDATE: 2/2019 Leoopard appaloosa offspring, Sleepy Acres App-solutely Adorable "Dorie", takes Reserve Color Champion at Txolan! Congratulations!!