The focus of our close to 20 year breeding program has been fleece - fine fleece, dense fleece, fleece with a long staple length & fleece that is consistent in fineness, crimp & color. Our primary focus has been fleece. When cria are born, we evaluate them on their fleece quality & conformation - color is often a bonus & has not been a focus for us. So when we got that "gotta have a grey" compulsion and began looking for a grey herd sire to breed to some of our best fleeced girls who have generations of ancestors here on the farm, we had some very high expectations in mind. We don't want to just produce greys. We don't want to just produce a nice grey. We want to be able to produce nice greys as consistently as we've produced elite fleeced whites & fawns. When I saw Mattie for the first time, I was impressed. When I felt Mattie for the first time, I was in love. Then the research began & the fleece samples were requested & the micron reports were gone over with a fine toothed comb. It quickly became evident to me that Mattie could produce beautifully fleeced cria consistently for our farm. His fleece is exquisite. With a low micron and a low CV, his fleece has a buttery feel & an uncommonly soft handle, especially for a grey. His staple length rivals some of the best at my farm. He has consistent, tight crimp & has few spots on his blanket. Mattie's genetics are among the best in the business. His sire is Lancaster, owned by Flying Pony, whose genetics are so sought after, he has over 300 cria. Mattie is among only 6 grey males that Lancaster has ever produced. Lancaster's sire is Conan whom we've admired for years. We have several Conan offspring here on the farm and rarely part with these genetics. Mattie's dam is a ribbon winner herself who has produced gorgeous cria including a Judge's Choice winner. We are proud to co-own Mattie with Gentle Breeze Alpacas & Out of Sight Alpacas.