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!!

Congratulation to Marilyn and Michael Kennedy of That'll Do Farm on their purchase of Grace bred to RG X-Man and cria Bigglesworth! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3-in-1 package for multi-breeders! This TB 3X banner winner carries a pattern gene from her sire and has thrown multi and harlequin appaloosa 3 out of 4 times. Package also includes 2022 harlequin cria sired by champion harlequin, Hercules of IPH… and another in the oven! Grace is bred to appaloosa stud, Rare Gem X Man! Great diversity of pattern genetics in this package consigned to the Parade of Champions Auction-- June 3, 2023 in North Salem, New York. Telephone and Online bidding information coming soon. Please check back for more info. Bred and born at Rare Gem Alpacas. LOVE this girl! Gorgeous fleece. Nicely conformed. Sweet, quirky personality! Cutest teddy-bear head. Fleece show banner winner at 1 year old! Then two more banners, 3 firsts and a second at the Txolan Sweetheart Spectacular @ 20 months. She has it all. Grace O'Malley comes from an extremely productive line. Grace's granddam, 5Peruvian Indigo Ink, was on the last import from Peru and before she passed at age 16, produced 14 registered cria in the United States!! Corky, Grace's mum, has produced 6 cria so far... all females. Grace is following in her dam and gdam's hoof-prints. At just age six, she has produced 4 wonderful offspring and is pregnant with her fifth! She is an easy breeder and wonderful mother. She has always gotten pregnant with just one breeding and holds her pregnancies and maintains a solid weight even while nursing her cria. She was even pregnant when she was winning banners at Txolan in 2019. Nothing much bothers Grace. Grace's sire is champion pinto out of TB, Black Mesquite. Although solid in color, Grace carries a pinto pattern allele from her pinto sire. Grace has thrown two pintos, one solid and a harlequin appaloosa so far. The second pinto was truly unique-- his blanket was black at birth... yes, a black pinto! He is stunning. And then for his next act, he roaned out and turned a lovely silver grey. Something I have not seen before. Grace is also the maternal sibling to the deceased Lady London. Another truly unique alpaca. Lady London was the result of pairing Grace's True Black dam with a harlequin appaloosa. Lady London, was a blue grey modern. She had no white fibers and extremities leaned towards black. The coat color was so striking that we attempted to replicate it through ET... unfortunately, unsuccessfully. A picture of Lady London has been included in Grace's profile pictures. Cria at Side-- Mr. Bigglesworth is currently a fawn-taupe with black spots. As harlequins do, he will darken over time. In addition to the coloration that we hope for, Mr. Bigglesworth is sporting a very curly, bundled fleece and lovely phenotype with nice bone and straight legs from the get-go. This young male's pedigree is packed with harlequin.