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