At Autumn Sun Alpacas, we know that is no secret that this true black herdsire is an all-around package that you will want to cover any dam, light or dark colored! Secret is a black that had no fading at his tips or interspersed white fibers when he was showing (he's getting a few 'old man' white hairs now). This isn't surprising with a lineage that includes notable black sires like Othello, recently deceased, and Snowmass Nova's Dark Quest. With his distinctive head and leg coverage, along with his inky black fiber, many stopped and stared at Secret the ring. And worthy of that attention, his fiber has extreme density, bright shine, bundled crimp, and soft handle. These are traits that you want to add or amplify in your breeding program! This is obvious in the 10x champion true black son, AutumnSun's Black Maelstrom. We were fortunate to have had our program benefit from such an exceptional offspring, especially as he was just one of only a few we have performed to Secret! We have the fortune of several excellent herdsires, including grey and black, so Secret has had to be patient. And, Maelstrom is just as a precocious stud just as his sire, as both started breeding under 2 years old. Father and son both breed black well into our program. As our Secret is getting up there in years and we we don't want to overtax him (he is still breeding for us), we are closing him to outside breedings.

Rose was a beautiful uniform medium rose grey with heathered legs, a white face / tuxedo markings, full leg / face coverage, and captivating 'movie star' dark eyes framed by adorable fuzzy ears. With high frequency / amplitude crimp consistent from head to tail, high luster for grey, and the handle of her fiber, she showed off uniformity of micron. Judges commented on her consistent micron and crimp style between white, brown, and black fibers in compliment to her fantastic density. This was not surprising from a pairing of champion Kanaka, son of grey champion Avatar, and Lola, one original foundation dams of several ribbon winning cria. Showing just 5 times (back in the timeframe where showing was only until breeding age of ~18 months old), from just over 6 months to 18 months old, she secured Reserve Champion 3 times among impressive competition and judged by several different notable judges. Her impressive show record demonstrates her consistent, quality fiber and conformation and stands as testimony. With her conformation, independent personality, easy birthing history, was a wonderful foundation dam. To compliment and amplify her fiber qualities, we chose only exemplary service sires. By Snowmass Enlightenment she produced Longbow, a regal male that looked just like her! He secured his own wins and produced his own fantastic crias. Bred to the note-worthy Patagonia's Lennox, Rosie produced a spectacular MB male, Smokejumper, who won several blue ribbons and banners in his maturity with lingering fineness that won halter and fleece champion banners, fleece Spirit of the Industry banners and even Judge's Choice! We lost this majestic male in a freak accident when he ran headlong into a fence post and broke his neck. He left us with 3 girls. From the incomparable Annual's Bea-2 Bomber, Rose produced a stunning LRG boy that we named Dauntless. He has taken home a slew of blue and purple ribbons and has produced lovely black, dark brown, and grey crias for us. Her 2019 cria with Secret was a CMSG brother to our 13x black champion herdsire, Maelstrom. Daedulus looked awesome but this special boy's show career was a 'victim' of our 2019 focus on our boys' 4H sheep program and the 2020's COVID-19 restrictions. We were happy to have found him the right home instead. In 2020, Rose finally graced us with a girl! This classic MRG girl looked just liked her and we were jumping in joy. Tragically, she had aspirated a little and seemed fine until the next day when she suffered respiratory distress and died suddenly. Forlorn, we have bred Rose back to Maelstrom in hopes lightening will strike twice in one place! Lastly, sadly, was a breeding never realized. In 2021, at the end of her pregnancy, Rosie birthed a grey male prematurely and then died in the next day. It appears that she had cancer and tried to have her last cria but couldn't make it to term. It was a very sad day for us, for losing a very special dam.