If breeders do their job right, eventually there is always a next-generation advancement that will bring something new to the table. CCNF Bataclan represents the amalgam of some of the most exciting and prepotent lines that we have ever worked with here, going back over 18 years in some cases. Bataclan's sire, 2017 Futurity Herdsire of the Year CCNF Elixir, really needs very little introduction at this point. Though Elixir has given us several excellent sons, when Bataclan first started working, he represented Elixir's first white son that had the mojo to regularly steal females off of his sire's breeding list. Consider what Elixir has meant to us over the past few years and then let the statement above sink in. Yes, Bataclan is that special. Maternally, Bataclan combines the genetics of Snowmass Sub-Zero (a Champion 6P Monarch son) and our Futurity Champion, MFI Peruvian Precocious, who is of course himself a son of the mighty Jeremiah. Just on paper alone, the pedigree is fairly drool-inducing but the specimen in person also happens to walk the walk as well. With a more compact size and build, that most closely resembles that of his Champion dam, CCNF Daliance (Snowmass Sub-Zero x CCNF Flirtatious), and a fleece that is both dense, bright, and very well organized, Bataclan is absolutely poised to be the next big thing here at his birth farm. Update - Spring of 2022: After 2+ pandemic-laden years where his offspring primarily competed only via the AOA National Fleece Show (albeit winning several banners, including the Female Judges' Choice in 2020 for his daughter, CCNF Electra) the Bataclan kids stormed into their first-ever Futurity winning the Light Get of Sire Class, 6 individual blue ribbons, 1 Reserve Championship (White Huacaya Male), 2 Championships (Light Huacaya Male & White Huacaya Female), and the Judges' Choice Female Huacaya! All of which led Bataclan to ultimately lay claim to the prestigious 2022 Light Herdsire of the Year, an honor his sire, Elixir, had previously claimed on three prior occasions.

It actually occurred to us multiple times as we were campaigning CCNF Snow King in the spring of 2019 on the halter show circuit, that the very fleece traits that make him so attractive to us as a Herdsire, were the same ones causing him by the month of March to look like a red-hot mess. In short: a dense, fine, long-stapled fleece, which when combined with several days on a trailer and a touch of heating vent at the show facility…and voila! Even after putting him under show fans set to high for three days before going into the ring, the eye didn’t always agree with what the hand was feeling this spring, so huge credit to the judges for understanding what it was that was in front of them. The simple fact though is that no show result would have changed his status on his birth farm, even if he had gotten the gate and made the walk of shame. For our part, we had projected this guy to be a Herdsire since before his 1st birthday. Snow King is the son of arguably our best Elite Legend daughter ever, CCNF Elizabeth, herself the maternal granddaughter of her name-sake, the powerful ’93 import PPeruvian Elizabeth, who joined our program in ’02 and lived out her days here with us. Combine those powerful genetics with Archangel, then add Elite Legend, producing young Elizabeth and then breed *her* to MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money, our Futurity Champion and JC winner, and Snow King was the excellent result! While there is no question that Snow King’s value to us specifically is elevated some by his pedigree and it’s lack of relative closeness to several of our white/light female lines, it is ultimately his fleece traits that put him over the top. Dense, fine, and bright? Yes, please: we’d *always* like more of that! Update, summer of 2022: Snow King has not only proven that he is more that capable of siring quality offspring (several of whom were part of our BoTY-winning show team at the '22 Futurity) but he has continued to age with grace and was just awarded not just the Reserve White Male Championship at the 2022 AOA National Fleece Show but was also chosen as the the Judges' Choice Huacaya Male, while being just shy of his 5th birthday. In essence, he has turned into everything we could have hoped for.